Tasty Tuesday: Fiesta Chicken Enchiladas

Want a recipe that uses leftover rotisserie chicken and can freeze well? Then look no further, because this recipe, adapted from a Kraft recipe, fits the bill.  I pretty much just added extra cheese, salsa, and cilantro, because who couldn't use a little extra yum?

Photo credit: Kraft

1 small onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

2 cooked boneless skinless chicken breasts, shredded

1 1/4 c. salsa, divided

4 oz. cream cheese

2 T. chopped fresh cilantro

1 t. ground cumin

1 1/2 c. shredded cheddar & monterey jack cheeses, divided

6 flour tortillas (medium size)

* Serves 4*

Spray large skillet (I use a wok, because, believe me, you want a large skillet) with cooking spray.  Cook onions and garlic over medium heat 2 minutes.  I didn't have enough onion, so I added in some red onion.

Add chicken, 1/4 c. salsa, cream cheese, cilantro, and cumin.  Mix well and cook 5 minutes or until heated through.

Add 1/2 c. cheese and mix in well.

Spoon mixture onto tortilla. Place mixture on one side of the tortilla and start rolling it up from that side or else you will have a big mess on your hands.

Place enchilada, seam-side down, in baking dish sprayed with cooking spray.  I split the  6 enchiladas up into two baking dishes because I'm sharing one with a friend.  By the way, these foil cake pans are the perfect size!

Top with remaining salsa and cheese.

If you want to go ahead and eat, back at 350 degrees, uncovered, for 15-20 minutes.  Since this is such a great freezer meal, I went ahead and made my half freezer-ready for another day when I don't feel don't have time to cook.  Enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday

East Asia: The Children

After my trip to East Asia, my view of the world definitely became much larger...and, surprisingly, much smaller at the same time.  Let me explain.  It makes sense that seeing a new land, people, customs, and a way of life would take me out of my own American worldview and allow me to take off my ethnocentric blinders.

But meeting the people also shrunk this massive world into a familiarity that I found comfortable. "Meeting" the people in the villages entailed mostly non-verbal communication since none of us knew the language and only so much could be interpreted in a conversational way.  Who better to be transparent with non-verbal communication than children?  Their curious smiles and authenticity made for what I considered a good time of relational connecting.

The mischievousness I saw in their impish grins was the same expression I've seen on the faces of my girls at home.  The cries of protest and arching of the back were the same familiar signs that my babies used to give when they decided to assert their will.  I imagined the little girl with Angry Bird slippers squealed the same squeal of delight I hear when my girls see something in the store they really want or receive a special gift.

I could tell these little ones were precious to their mothers and fathers.  Seeing them in relation to their families made the world a little smaller, because, after all, no matter where you live, family is familiar. And even more importantly, these little ones and their families on the other side of the world are precious to God.