Your Weekly Frugal Recipe - Chicken Enchiladas

Chicken Enchiladas

The Food Stamp Way

Skills	Prep	Cook
Blender/Food Processor
What do these meters mean?

     This is another one of those recipes that you might need to plan to make ahead of time.  It takes a little more time than a lot of people like, but it shouldn't take more than about 25-30 minutes of prep and 25 minutes of cooking time.  I've made this ahead of time and stuck it in the fridge to bake later.
     The main reason I love this recipe is I don't like to have to take the time to roll my ingredients into each tortilla separately, put them in a pan and then put sauce over them and bake.  This is made in a casserole method, but when you cut it into pieces, most people don't know the difference between this and the individually rolled enchiladas.

Equipment you'll need
Skillet, blender or food processor, 11x7 baking dish, saucepan, whisk, knife, cutting board

Serves 10-12

Ingredient	Amount	Cost
Corn tortillas	12	$0.43*
Medium onion	1	$0.50
Canola oil	1 oz	$0.06*
Shredded Monterey Jack	1 lb	$4.23
Chicken	1 lb	$2.28
Butter	1/4 c.	$0.34*
Flour	1/4 c.	$0.03*
Chicken Broth	2 c.	$0.78
Sour cream	8 oz	$0.96
Poblano pepper	1	$0.50
Fresh cilantro	1/4 bunch	$0.14*
Total		$10.25
* Based on price per package divided by amount used.

Price per plate =$1.25  Notes about ingredients:

The poblano pepper has to be roasted.  If you're not comfortable with this, you can pick up a 4 oz can of chopped chiles for roughly the same price.

You have to use fresh cilantro for this recipe - no substitutions.

Prep Instructions:

Chop the onion into medium-size pieces.

Cut the chicken into medium-sized pieces.  Heat the vegetable oil over a medium flame and cook the chicken and onion in it.  If you have it, sprinkle some cumin over the raw chicken.

Roast the poblano pepper under your broiler for about 5 minutes and skin it.  Put the pepper, cilantro, and chicken broth into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.

Instructions:

1.   Preheat your oven to 425º F
2.   Melt the butter in a saucepan and whisk the flour into it and allow it to cook until it starts to froth.
3.   Add the chicken broth mixture to the flour and butter and whisk together quickly.  Allow to simmer.
4.   Add the sour cream to the sauce whisk everything together.
5.   Grease a pan with cooking spray or a little canola oil.  Cover the bottom of the pan with a third of the sauce.
6.  Top the sauce with 6 corn tortillas, allowing them to overlap to cover all the sauce completely.

7.   Cover the tortillas with all of your chicken pieces.

8.   Cover the chicken with about half of the cheese.

9.   Cover the cheese with a third of the sauce.

10. Cover the sauce with another layer of tortillas.

11. Cover the tortillas with the last of the sauce.

12. Cover the pan with aluminum foil with the shiny side pointed toward the food. 

13. Bake at 425º for 20 minutes.

14.  Remove the aluminum foil and sprinkle the rest of the cheese over the top.  Replace in the oven and bake for 5 minutes or until the cheese is completely melted.

What recipe would you like done the food stamp way? Comments? Questions? Tweet to @cookingcheap