Cooking Day 5: Mexican Chicken "Lasagna"
Tonight's dish is one I learned through Pampered Chef. They call it Mexican Chicken "Lasagna" (recipe in the link). I never liked calling it Mexican Chicken "Lasagna" but as an independent seller, who was I to change the name?
It was one of my most requested dishes as a consultant and as a mom, sister, and daughter. This was a recipe that many of my family would request for a weeknight or larger family gatherings. The most memorable time I made this was the night before my dad's surprise 60th birthday party. We had a bunch of people in the house, we made up a reason for why his best friend came into town, and I made two versions of this for dinner...one with and one without onions. My dad and my sister hate onions. This was a terrific weekend. It was a long hard weekend, but it was so much fun. My dad died five years ago, April 24th, of lymphoma. Come to think of it, I haven't made it since that night. Hmmph...I didn't realize that. We miss him...alot. He was a HUGE personality, but I am assuming you will find out more about him if we keep this up.
Well...let's keep going...
The recipe itself is rather simple, of course when making it for myself, I made a few alterations. Instead of canned enchilada sauce, I make my own. My mom always had the best enchiladas so I use the sauce she tried to teach me for so long, but only recently learned how to do...almost as good as her. It's one of those recipes that has absolutely no measurements...it's all about the spirits of our ancestors telling us when to stop. It starts with all-purpose flour browning in a saucepan. Once it begins to brown, add chili powder and mix together. Now, here is where I deviated, I added salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder. Once all of the spices are mixed and browned add hot chicken stock (that is what I use) or boiling hot water (that's what my mom uses). Add enough water to get the consistency you are looking for, thickened, but not clumpy.
The chicken, I boil and then shred by hand. I follow the rest of the recipe with a couple more exceptions, I mix the onions in the cream cheese mixture and I layer on more cheese. Once it is all layered, I top it with more enchilada sauce.
This is all layered in the Pampered Chef deep covered baker and then microwaved for 20 minutes. My family likes to eat this dish with corn chips or tortilla chips.
I hadn't made this dish in YEARS, tonight, I felt it was the right time to bring it back...because I had cilantro in the fridge I didn't want to go bad. Enjoy!
It was one of my most requested dishes as a consultant and as a mom, sister, and daughter. This was a recipe that many of my family would request for a weeknight or larger family gatherings. The most memorable time I made this was the night before my dad's surprise 60th birthday party. We had a bunch of people in the house, we made up a reason for why his best friend came into town, and I made two versions of this for dinner...one with and one without onions. My dad and my sister hate onions. This was a terrific weekend. It was a long hard weekend, but it was so much fun. My dad died five years ago, April 24th, of lymphoma. Come to think of it, I haven't made it since that night. Hmmph...I didn't realize that. We miss him...alot. He was a HUGE personality, but I am assuming you will find out more about him if we keep this up.
Well...let's keep going...
The recipe itself is rather simple, of course when making it for myself, I made a few alterations. Instead of canned enchilada sauce, I make my own. My mom always had the best enchiladas so I use the sauce she tried to teach me for so long, but only recently learned how to do...almost as good as her. It's one of those recipes that has absolutely no measurements...it's all about the spirits of our ancestors telling us when to stop. It starts with all-purpose flour browning in a saucepan. Once it begins to brown, add chili powder and mix together. Now, here is where I deviated, I added salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder. Once all of the spices are mixed and browned add hot chicken stock (that is what I use) or boiling hot water (that's what my mom uses). Add enough water to get the consistency you are looking for, thickened, but not clumpy.
The chicken, I boil and then shred by hand. I follow the rest of the recipe with a couple more exceptions, I mix the onions in the cream cheese mixture and I layer on more cheese. Once it is all layered, I top it with more enchilada sauce.
This is all layered in the Pampered Chef deep covered baker and then microwaved for 20 minutes. My family likes to eat this dish with corn chips or tortilla chips.
I hadn't made this dish in YEARS, tonight, I felt it was the right time to bring it back...because I had cilantro in the fridge I didn't want to go bad. Enjoy!
"It's one of those recipes that has absolutely no measurements...it's all about the spirits of our ancestors telling us when to stop." -- Classic! Yes!!!
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize how much I do this until Wes and Tony would ask me, "How much do I put?" It is funny, because my mom's answer is always something like "a handful for each person, then one more" or "no mas un chorrito." If you know Spanish at all, you will know why "chorrito" is funny.
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