Chicken and Cheese Enchiladas

 After a long weekend working on my take-home final (I spent 15 hours at the computer), I recycled that store-bought chicken my mother-in-law presented as dinner Friday. Yesterday, my daughter spent the day with a friend (meals included) and more or less lived on Christmas cookies and then we had Taco Bell for dinner when she arrived home early and unexpected. 

For breakfast, we had gingerbread man (nothing healthy there) and gave the daughter some apple juice and cheddar cheese. By lunch, I had the final complete and emailed off to my French professor so I thought I'd treat the family to a real meal.

My husband bought cream cheese while Christmas shopping yesterday so that's the only item for this recipe that came from outside the house. They turned out a tad saucy but that's because I put in too much liquid. (I'll explain as I progress here.) It was so yummy my daughter asked for seconds and we didn't have any more burrito shells thawed so we poured the sauce over tortilla chips for her. That suited her just fine. The leftovers I will use as sauce for spaghetti, since it's so juicy and protein rich.

This recipe is adapted from a free Kraft cookbook I picked up at the grocery store during the 1992 Olympics. Their recipe is from the Champion Chicken chapter. Creamy Chicken and Cheese Enchiladas. Now, as usual, I veered greatly. I don't think I can post the original recipe without confusing what I made. So, I'm posting mine.

Use Up that Gross Chicken and Cheese Enchiladas

1 clove garlic, sliced; 

1 tablespoon butter; 

1 teaspoon olive oil; 

leftover chicken; 

1/4 cup half-and-half; 

1 can petite diced tomatoes (and the liquid);

1 teaspoon spicy Indian chili powder; 

1 teaspoon ground cumin; 

1 teaspoon basil; 

8 oz cream cheese; 

3 oz mild cheddar; 

3 oz extra sharp cheddar; 

about 1 cup fresh broccoli; 

tortillas

In a fairly large saucepan, heat oil, butter and sliced garlic over medium-low. After a minute or two, when the aroma begins, add the half and half and spices. Cook for a couple minutes. Add tomatoes (if you don't want it as juicy as mine, pour off the liquid first). Add broccoli, chopped as small as possible. Add cream cheese and cook over medium for about five minutes. After the cream cheese melted, I added my chicken into the pot, but you can leave the chicken plain and pour the sauce over it. I like giving the chicken a chance to absorb the flavors. After a few minutes, add the cheese. When cheese melts, dish onto tortillas and serve. 

Standard American Diet, SAD indeed

Once upon a time, I liked my mother-in-law's hot bacon dressing. She's very Pennsylvania Dutch, and she makes a nice hot bacon dressing. But since she knows I like it, she makes it EVERY time she cooks dinner. Which is about once a month. I can tolerate hot bacon dressing once every six months. Or, say Thanksgiving and Easter. And I'm not a fan of meat, so to come home to a meaty smelling house is gross. 

My mother-in-law babysat my daughter from 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in my house. They made cupcakes. And apparently, my mother-in-law cannot be bothered cooking for my daughter. Because she brought Martin's Wheat Potato bread, yeah, that's whole grain, and I'm sure she brought the cheapest possible cold cuts, pickles and chips for lunch. (That's why I pumped my kid full of broccoli before I left. AND a banana.) And this is dinner.

A pre-cooked chicken from Sam's Club yesterday. Mashed potatoes. And carrots drowned in butter. And iceburg lettuce with hot bacon dressing. Iceberg lettuce, empty calories. Nothing green. Plain potatoes, with nothing to jazz them up. Overcooked carrots. And that chicken. Also bland. Now, I might have been able to eat it had I not seen the leftover plate which my husband informs me she ripped to shreds with her bare hands. (WTF am I supposed to do with a plate of shredded chicken? Don't tell me soup. I HATE chicken broth. Maybe broccoli-chicken-cheddar pot pie. But I didn't buy the ingredients for pot pie.) It just looks gross.

So my husband obviously picked the nicest piece to offer to me, but I still can't bring myself to eat it. I'm tempted to take a flute of chartreuse instead. My husband says the liquor might make the dinner palatable.