Month-of-One-Pan Meals: Chicken "Enchiladas: Florentine

Welcome to my annual Month-of Recipes on this blog. Go rummaging in the attic here and you’ll find past recipe months for appetizers, chicken, soup, mini-desserts, and more. The way it works is, for each day in February I post a recipe that fits the category. This month is one-pan meals, excluding pizza, most casseroles, and slow cooker recipes.

One of my busy-night stand-bys is using leftover chicken in enchiladas with green sauce.

So this dish isn’t technically enchiladas because I didn’t roll up the corn tortillas and nest them. However, all the ingredients are there plus a special nutrition booster. Now, we all know that chicken enchiladas aren’t going to make the best nutrition list, right? Maybe that’s why they taste so good!

When I served this, I commented that doing this month’s recipes, I noticed that we eat chicken frequently and if that bothered him. His response was perfect. “Do we? I guess I didn’t realize that. They’re always so different.”

Since my original recipe isn’t a health food, I decided to up the nutritional value in this dish by adding spinach. Here’s one of his favorite dishes changed up, and DH loved!

Chicken “Enchiladas” Florentine (serve 6)

15 ounce can green chile sauce

10-12 corn tortillas

2 cups fresh baby spinach

2 cups cooked chicken, shredded

2 cups shredded cheese (I used a combo on cheddar and Mexican Blend)

Avocado chunks, shredded lettuce, diced tomato, plain yogurt (or sour cream)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a pan with non-stick cooking spray.

Pour about ¼ of the can of green chile sauce into a baking dish.

Cover the sauce with corn tortillas broken to fill the spaces.

Put spoonsful of sauce in light layer on each tortilla.

Layer on half of spinach. On top of that put ½ the chicken. Top with ½ cup cheeses.

Repeat another layer. Top with remaining corn tortillas, rest of enchilada sauce and remaining cheese.

Bake for 30 minutes until bubbly and cheese is melted.

 

Top with avocados, lettuce, tomatoes, and yogurt.

DH’s Rating: 5 Tongues Up!

“Oh, good! You made this again. I love your chicken enchiladas.”

“Well, this one isn’t quite the same. Instead of making the rolled up enchiladas stuffed with chicken, cheese, and enchilada sauce, I went easier and, um, a little different.”

Him, biting into his first forkful. “Hmm. Good. What’s the green stuff?”

“Spinach. And I layered the tortillas rather than rolling them. A whole bunch faster ‘cause I was running late tonight.”

“Easier is better, right, and the flavor is still there, so good for you!”

Worldy Wednesday: Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas

Welcome to my annual recipe crush. Each February I choose a theme, and provide one or two recipes each day for the whole month. This year the theme is Weekly Menu Planning. What are the categories, you ask? We have Sunday Special, Meatless Monday, Taco Tuesday, Worldly Wednesday, Thrifty Thursday, Fishy Friday, and Celebrate Saturday.

Broadening the family palate to include different flavor profiles is part of the job of the family cook. We’ll explore different ethnic-inspired dishes this month without breaking the bank for special ingredients and without going too far outside the tastes of children (or picky spouses).

So we had Mexican last night! Again! Big deal. We live in Arizona. I couldn’t be faulted if we only ate Mexican food. For ethnic-inspired dinners, I couldn’t ignore Mexican this month. Interestingly, Mexican and Chinese foods are ubiquitous. I don’t think Americans even think of them as ethnic, since we Americanized and eat them so much.

But we don’t always eat Mexican. And if you follow me, you know that. Still . . . we may eat more Mexican-inspired dishes than people living in New York City. Just sayin’.

To make my easiest-ever chicken enchiladas, go with leftover chicken. Seriously. It’s much faster that way. I always have bags of leftover chicken meat in the freezer (just as I have salmon) for fast meals. This one qualifies as a good weeknight meal because it is fast and easy. Dinner can be on the table in a little more than a half hour.

Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas (makes 8)

2 cups shredded chicken

2 cup shredded Mexican cheese blend, divided

15-ounce can of green enchilada sauce (read label for heat level)

8 corn tortillas

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spray a baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Pour ¼ cup of enchilada sauce in bottom of dish.

Mix chicken and 1 cup of shredded cheese with ½ cup enchilada sauce.

Distribute among the eight tortillas. Roll up tortilla shells and pack tightly into baking dish.

Cover chicken enchiladas with remaining sauce. Cover the sauce with 1 cup Mexican cheese blend.

Bake in oven for one-half hour or until cheese is melty and browning.

Serve with plain yogurt (or sour cream), sliced tomatoes, and lettuce ribbons. Serve black beans and corn for sides.

DH’s Rating: 5 Tongues Up

“Oh, good! I love these enchiladas!” And he does. He also loves that when I make them for the two of us, there’s a chicken enchilada lunch in his future.