What's for dinner? {Easy Chicken Enchilada Casserole}

Today is my first food blog.  Eep!  I actually enjoy cooking and baking, but I am by no means a chef or baker.  And I am a big-time "recipe follower."  But, it isn't always realistic to follow a recipe.  "That looks really good, but I'm missing two of the ingredients!"  What's a girl to do?  Improvise!  

I mainly go in my own direction in the kitchen when we are almost at the end of our grocery-rope.  Meaning, we are due for another trip to the grocery store.  I meal plan, we grocery shop, and I usually have about two weeks of "planned meals" with recipes included.  When the planned meals run out, I'm on my own for throwing stuff together.  My hubby loves the thrown together meals because they usually end up being some sort of casserole.

He even told me as we sat down to a dinner of a randomly assembled chicken and noodle casserole, "This is so good.  You could make a recipe book called 'Crap I Threw Together'".  He makes me laugh :-)

So, anyway, today I am sharing a super easy meal that I'm sure there are hundreds of variations for.  I'm going to try and add lots of disclaimers because casseroles are so versatile {which is actually one of my favorite things about them.}  This is a dish I pick up the ingredients for when I see they are on sale so I can have them on hand.  Turning the enchiladas into a casserole is a great time saver-- rolling enchiladas can be so tedious!  So, take the ingredients you have and tweak it to make it how you want it!

First things first.  Here's what you'll need:

• 5 chicken tenders (We buy the big bag from Costco, which I love because they are small, cook fast, and the bag lasts us for awhile. Had they been chicken breasts, I probably would've used 2 good sized breasts.)
• 12 small corn tortillas (I used white ones- they were on sale.)
• Veggies of your choice (I used half of a bell pepper and about a 1/2 cup of chopped onion, but even if you have no fresh veggies on hand, the casserole will still turn out yummy.)
• Green enchilada sauce (I buy a big can of this whenever it's on sale.  You only need about half of the big can, or one small can, so I ended up freezing what I had left over.)  
• A small can of diced green chiles
• 8 oz cream cheese
• About a cup of cheddar cheese (I had pepper jack too, so I did half and half)
• Foil for covering the casserole in the oven

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9x13 casserole dish.  Chop any veggies you're using while your chicken is defrosting.

Now cook the chicken in a large skillet until there is no more pink.  I sprinkled my tenders with a little bit of salt and pepper.  

These Costco chicken tenders cook so fast!  And they are much more practical when cooking for just two people.  

Now layer 6 of the tortillas on the bottom of the greased casserole dish.  They should fit nicely with barely any bottom of the dish showing.  I'm not sure how the bigger tortillas would work in this case- I'm sure they could be made to fit. These white corn ones I purchased at Safeway were very inexpensive and came with a lot of tortillas.  

Next, shred the cooked chicken and place it back in the pan.  (I shred using two forks and pulling the chicken apart.  It's my least favorite part of the enchilada-making process.)  Then, put the shredded chicken back into skillet.  Like this:

 Then, add your veggies, chiles, and cream cheese.  Like this:

Mix these ingredients on medium heat until combined, like this:

Now you're ready to spread the mixture onto your tortillas in the prepared baking dish.  Make sure to spread it evenly, all the way to the sides.

Next, layer the remaining 6 tortillas on top of the chicken mixture.

Top with the enchilada sauce.

Once the sauce is poured, cover the casserole with foil and put it in the oven for about 30 minutes, or until heated through.  

Then, top with cheese.  {yum}  Place back in the oven for another five minutes until the cheese is melted.  (No foil needed for this part)

Then, remove from the oven and serve it up!  

 If you're feeling fiesta-y, have a margarita with this dinner, like we did.  Enjoy!  

Don't be afraid to make it up as you go!  I don't measure anything when I make this, I just use what I have and run with it :-)

I'd love to hear any other variations of enchilada casseroles!

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