We went out to lunch after our daughter’s violin recital on Saturday and my husband ordered a smothered burrito.  He was disappointed that it wasn’t smothered like he had envisioned, so today I made these chicken and cheese enchiladas and smothered them with green chili stew. They aren’t exactly as smothered as the wonderful delicious burritos his mom makes, but definitely more saucy than the bare burrito he ordered at the restaurant. I whipped this dish together in no time because I cooked chicken overnight in the crockpot, then shredded it this morning, assembled the enchiladas and baked them for my lunch.  I’ll be gone tonight and dinner will be easy for him to reheat.

The nearest grocery store, HEB, makes hot tortillas on site and I had bought some, then stuck the package into the freezer for later use.  I heated each flour tortilla in a skillet and covered the stack with a clean dish towel until I was ready to assemble the enchiladas.  I added shredded chicken and freshly shredded pepper jack cheese, and nudged as many into the pan as I could, before smothering them with Cookwell & Company Green Chile Stew, and topped with the remaining cheese.

Making these enchiladas is so simple and they taste great, especially when you top it with some sliced avocado, romaine lettuce, chipotle salsa and sour cream.

Lunch was so good.  I’m very excited to attend a food photography class tonight and can’t wait to see what kinds of tips and tricks I can learn. I recently took a photo journalism class at the University of Colorado Boulder that was excellent, my first official photography class. There’s so much more I want to learn!

To cook the chicken, I just opened the refrigerator and looked for a bottle of salad dressing to pour over the three chicken breasts in the crockpot.  I do this a lot to get rid of partial bottles of salad dressing, and it works well every time.  I have used Italian, caesar and last night I grabbed a partial bottle of balsamic vinaigrette, with three chicken breasts on low for 12 hours.  It just shreds so easily with two forks and can be used in so many ways.  Here’s the recipe in a nutshell.

Enchiladas:

• 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• small bottle of salad dressing
• 8 ounce package of pepper jack cheese, shred in food processor
• package of small flour tortillas
• jar of Cookwell & Company Green Chile Stew, 2 pounds, 1 ounce

Toppings:

• shredded lettuce
• avocado slices
• salsa
• sour cream

Cook chicken overnight in crockpot on low with a small bottle of salad dressing, then shred it with two forks while still in crockpot.  Transfer the chicken into another bowl with a slotted spoon. Discard remaining juices or liquid.  Heat each tortilla on a large skillet, covering with a clean kitchen towel after each one.  Place some shredded chicken into a tortilla, add some cheese, then roll it up, and place in a pan (spray first with a nonstick cooking spray). Repeat until with each tortilla.  Pour green chile stew on top of the prepared tortillas, then top with remaining cheese.  (I used two small baking pans, but a 9″ x 13″ baking pan will work well too.) Bake at 350 degrees F until hot and bubbling, about 30 minutes.  Serve with the suggested toppings or anything else you’d like.