Tuesday, April 4, 2017

...until next year...

It's funny how all my kids were born on dates within a three week span.  I never thought that much about it when they were younger, we just sort of managed and did what we needed.  This year, with so much going on for the last two weeks, I never officially planned anything for Drew's big day until Sunday night, when I started thinking about it.  (Procrastinate much?)  One of his friends mentioned wanting to come by with balloons and cupcakes, but I decided to provide cake and drinks for them instead, if they would all come as a surprise to him.

I invited the family too, but with it being later, it was hard on some of them to come, so they brought their cards by earlier in the day.  Drew has always been such a different kind of kid, and he usually likes doing something different that what I do for the other three, so it worked well that his birthday party was the way it was last night.  I asked him what he wanted for his birthday dinner, and his request was enchiladas.  The last time I made them, though, it took FOREVER, so I went with an enchilada casserole instead.

I thought I'd share the recipe and how I made it.


Yesterday morning, I mixed together hot water and about a cup of taco seasoning and added it to one container of chicken broth (the box kind) that I already had in my crock pot.  To the liquid, I added about three pounds worth of chicken tenderloins.  I turned the setting to high and let that cook all day long, from about nine thirty in the morning until four in the afternoon, stirring occasionally.

I took all the chicken out and shredded it, and I poured the broth into a big pan on the stove.  I mixed two heaping tablespoons of flour into two cups of sour cream, and stirred that mixture until it was combined.  I cooked the broth on the stove until it started boiling, then added this flour and sour cream mixture, and whisked it all together.  I had to add a little pinch of salt to mine, but just season it to your taste.

In a large baking dish, I lined the dish with torn up flour tortillas that were bite sized pieces.  Then I added the chicken, and topped that with cheese.  I spooned some of the leftover broth from the crock pot over all of that, then I repeated all the steps.  My baking dish was full after two layers.  The final step was pouring that heavenly cream sauce over the top of the layers, covering it with foil, and baking it at three hundred and fifty degrees for thirty minutes.  I took of the foil and baked it for twenty more minutes, uncovered, and at the same temperature.  (It needed to be hot and bubbly, and I had to add ten minutes to my recipe, but your oven may be different.)


I loved this dish, and so did everyone in my household.  I always say that you can tell how good a dinner was based on the amount of food left.  There was not much of this left!  Everyone got seconds and one got thirds.  (I bet you can't guess.)

My stepdad gave me the recipe for this, and though it wasn't EXACTLY what Drew asked for, he did not seem to mind all the same ingredients in casserole form.  The most difficult part of the dish was making the roux, and that wasn't complicated at all, though I wasn't sure how it would work, because my recipe confused me.  Also, this dish I used was massive enough to feed my family of six, so you can easily cut the amounts in half to make a smaller amount.

Here's a picture of all the friends who came and celebrated Drew last night.


They're awesome.  I'm so glad my boys have such great friends!  Our house was FULL of people...at one time, there were twenty six of us in here, and when they all started coming in the back door for cake, it was a never ending stream of teenagers.  :)  My motto is full house, happy heart.

Another birthday season is in the books.

Thanks for reading!  Love to all.

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