Chicken Enchilada Casserole

While at the grocery store on Saturday, I decided I wanted to make a chicken enchilada casserole sometime this week. I bought chicken and tortillas, but forgot about the sour cream, cheese, and enchilada sauce. Oops. Clearly this is not one of my staple recipes. But of course, that's where the magic happens. I had some leftover Velveeta in the fridge from who knows when, and decided it was creamy and cheesy, so it could count for both those ingredients.  I then found this recipe for homemade enchilada sauce on time. I didn't have all the ingredients for it either (I'm really not good at this planning ahead thing), but I sort of used the recipe and sort of made it up as I went along. And let em tell you, it was absolutely delicious. Best mexican-style casserole I have ever had. So good I could not wait to eat the leftovers the next day. So good I ate way more than I should have both days, because even though I was full I couldn't bear to not be eating it anymore. Yeah, you want some of that.


Chicken Enchilada Casserole:

Enchilada Sauce:
1/4 C vegetable oil
1/4 C all purpose flour
1 C water
1 can original Rotel
1 Tbs packed brown sugar
chili powder, cumin, oregano, garlic salt, onion powder, salt, and pepper to taste

Casserole Ingredients:
flour tortillas
cooked chicken
1 can black beans
Velveeta

Start by cooking your chicken (if you don't have any precooked hiding in the fridge) while assembling the sauce. In a medium saucepan, whisk together oil and flour over medium heat. The original recipe calls for crushed tomatoes, but since I didn't have any I poured the can of Rotel in my food processor and ran it for about 10 seconds. My husband and I both dislike the texture of chunks of tomatoes, so I wanted to get it pretty blended, but you could probably leave the tomatoes a little more intact. I mixed the Rotel into the oil and flour mixture, and then added a cup of water. I mixed in all of the seasonings, going heavier on the salt since I wasn't using the broth from the original recipe, and then let it simmer on low for about 5 minutes while I finished cooking and then shredding my chicken.

To assemble to casserole, I poured a thin layer of sauce in the bottom of a greased pan, then added two flour tortillas to cover the whole bottom of the pan. Depending on the size of your pan and of your tortillas, the amounts may vary. I added a layer of shredded chicken next, then half a can of black beans. Next I added a thin layer of Velveeta. Since soft cheese is so difficult to grate, I just sliced it really thinly, and then cut those slices into strips, and scattered them across the top. They spread out as the melted so it covered it perfectly. Follow with more sauce, more tortillas, more chicken and beans. I poured on all my left over sauce at this point, and put a final layer of cheese on the very top.

Served with a side of rice and corn with some cilantro and lime thrown in, and it was delicious. Made enough for my husband and I to eat for 3 lunches or dinners this week