Warm and tasty chicken enchiladas, also known as happiness on a plate. Now here is a recipe that is perfect for so many occasions, I can’t count them all.  It is ideal to serve at a sports party, when you have people over to watch the big game. I have also taken it to many potluck suppers, celebrating all kinds of special occasions! You don’t need a party to have a good reason to make these, though. They are great for a weeknight dinner that your whole family will love! You can pre-cook the chicken in a slow-cooker or crock pot, which saves a lot of time.  So give this one a try!

Shredded Chicken:

Place 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, 1 ½ cup water, and one envelope taco seasoning in a crock pot. Cook until chicken is tender.

Remove chicken from crock pot and shred with a fork. Return shredded chicken to crock pot and mix well with the liquid remaining in the crock pot.

White Enchilada Sauce:

In a skillet, sauté 1 cup chopped onion with ¾ stick butter until onions are tender.  Don’t worry about the butter, and cheese, and sour cream. We don’t eat this way every day, so let yourself enjoy.  Besides, winter is coming. It’s important to build up our reserves before the snow flies!

Stir in ¼ cup flour, and mix well. Cook for two to three minutes, until the mixture becomes a light tan.  Cooking the flour, butter and onions together will keep your sauce from tasting flour-y. Make sure to stir frequently, to keep the mixture from sticking.

Add 2½ cups chicken stock to the pan. Bring to a boil and stir constantly for 1 minute or until smooth. Taste, to make sure that all of the flavors have blended properly. Remove from heat and add 8 oz sour cream.  Mix well.

Filling:

Take 2 cups of the sauce mixture and add to shredded chicken mixture.  Then add 1 cup shredded colby-jack cheese and 1 small can diced green chiles. Mix well.

Assembly:

Now, here is where I make a confession. I am a cheater. A lazy cheater, who was looking for a shortcut in this recipe. Assembling enchiladas is time-consuming, and takes forever. So one time when I was putting this recipe together, and was short on time, I had an idea. A wonderful, terrible idea. Instead of rolling the individual enchiladas, I decided to try an experiment.

I cut my tortillas in half and decided to simply line my prepared 9×13″ baking pan with them, much like a pan of lasagna! Crazy, right?

I put a layer of tortillas along the bottom, making sure that the entire pan was covered, then added a layer of the chicken filling.

Then I laid out another layer of tortillas,  with more filling etc. The whole process took two minutes instead of twenty! The gamble paid off! Just to reassure everyone reading this, I know that this turns the whole dish into something more like a Mexican-inspired lasagna, than enchiladas, but it tastes just like the real thing. So let’s compromise and just call it Enchilagna? Lasagnadas? I don’t know, call it whatever you like, just make it. ‘Cause it’s delicious.

Pour the remaining white sauce over the enchiladas and top with shredded colby-jack. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes until golden and bubbly. Remove from oven, and let rest on the stovetop for ten to fifteen minutes before serving.

I garnish  these with shredded lettuce, tomatoes, and black olives and serve with homemade salsa and guacamole.

Enjoy!!!