Steve's Kitchen: Terri's Chicken Enchiladas

For the bulk of my life, my Sister Terri is responsible for one of my top ten absolute favorite dishes. My earliest memories of this particular dish take me back to the Warrendale area of Detroit Michigan, on good old Grandmont avenue by Warren.
I can remember Terri boiling chicken and then picking it off the bone, in preparation for this dish. (Which is funny because thinking back, I used to get grossed out by the stretchy skin of the chicken.) How could something that gross be turned into something good? I also remember my sister used to mess with me and make me think I was going home before dinner, haha. (still not funny.)

This dish for me is the essence of comfort food. Simple, easy, and ridiculously good. But also something one would not want to make too often. That is, unless you want to freak out your doctor at your next checkup. But again, to me, that is really what makes great comfort food.

According to Ninjawords.com, enchiladas are defined as "A Mexican dish made by wrapping a filling in a tortilla, then baking it in a sauce." Most would argue that to really be an enchilada it would have to be a red sauce, but to you I say, shut up and try these. They are tortillas wrapped in happiness and smothered in splendor. LOL

Since making this recipe the original way for many years, I have altered and changed a few things in my personal recipe, but here I will give you the original recipe, as it started and came to be loved. I'll identify my few changes in the pictures portion.

TERRI'S CHICKEN ENCHILADAS

16 Small Tortillas
4 TBSP Butter
2 TSP Chili Powder
3 Cans of White Chunk Chicken (OR boiled chicken breast, or pick a cooked chicken)
1 Medium Diced Onion
3 Cans of Cream of Chicken Soup
16 OZ Sour Cream
3 Cups Shredded Cheddar

Melt butter in good size saute/skillet. Add diced onion, and cook over medium heat until transparent. Add Chicken to the pan. Continue over medium heat until it is well incorporated into the onion.
In a bowl, add soup and sour cream and mix together well. Use a small amount of soup mixture to coat the bottom of a glass baking dish.
Preheat oven to 350
Add chili powder to the chicken/onion mixture.
Add about 1/2 of the soup mixture into the chicken mixture. Mix and incorporate well.
Add 2 Cups of Cheese to the skillet. Mix in well.
Take off heat and set aside.
Spoon mixture into tortillas, roll them up, and place them in the glass baking dish side by side.
After all tortillas are full and placed in pan, cover the top with remaining soup mixture.
Sprinkle remainder of cheese on top.
Place in oven for 20-25 minutes.
Cook until bubbly and cheese is melted. (Ovens vary)

Alright, so first off, let me say that you may notice in the pictures that firstly, I am cooking a far larger quantity than outlined in the recipe. One, we have five kids and two adults in our household. Two, I was also making an extra pan for some friends of ours. LOL, actually I ate all these myself. I have been on a treadmill for 48 hours straight now.

Ok, Butter in the pan, and onions diced.

Onions: One of the main ingredients of awesome.

Here you can see the transparency I am talking about. Sweated down a bit.

Mixing the sour cream and soup.

Cover the bottom of the pan. This way they will not stick. Also, if you are taking these to someone you know or a potluck, you can use one of those tin foil pans. No need for returns or finding your pan after it's all over.

Next, add your chunky chicken to the pan. (I primarily just boil boneless skinless breasts, however, if you don't have that kind of time, canned does work, and tastes fine.)

Make sure it is well incorporated.

Add roughly half of the soup mixture.

Stir it well.

Add a pinch of cheese. Ok, add 2 cups if following the recipe, if not ADD CHEESE LIKE A BOSS!

Stir in well.

Here is yet another area where I break apart from the original recipe. I use Taco Seasoning instead of just chili powder. My kids like me to kick it up a notch. But trust me, it is still awesome with just the chili powder. From experience, Chili seasoning works also, and tastes fine. Especially if you tend to struggle with moments of short term memory loss, like leaving the bag with the taco seasoning on top of the vehicle at the store.