Chicken and Corn Enchiladas Verde

Add a little crunch with a bit of romaine along with creamy avocado and your taste buds will be doing the salsa!

3 cups shredded cooked chicken breast

½ red or sweet onion, finely chopped

1 c. frozen corn kernels, thawed

½ c. sour cream

1 t. ground cumin

½ c. purchased salsa

1 c. shredded Mexican blend cheese

2 c. green enchilada sauce

½ c. purchased salsa

12 6-inch corn tortillas

Spray 15×10x2 inch glass baking dish with oil.  In a mixing bowl, combine the chicken, onion, corn, sour cream, and cumin. Mix in the salsa.

Variations:  add ½ c. chopped fresh cilantro or 4 oz. chopped green chilis (fresh or canned)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Set up an assembly line with the tortillas on a cutting board, pour half of the enchilada sauce into a rimmed plate, cheese in a bowl, and the chicken mixture.

Begin by softening the tortillas over a gas flame, in a skillet, or 3-at-a-time in the microwave, wrapped in a paper towel for 20 seconds. Dip in the enchilada sauce, place on cutting board, fill with a spoonful of the chicken filling, sprinkle with grated cheese, roll up, and place seam side down in the baking dish.

Repeat with remaining tortillas. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate enchiladas and remaining sauce separately).

Spoon remaining sauce over enchiladas. Sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Cover with foil and bake for about 30 minutes until heated through. (Up to 45 minutes for refrigerated enchiladas.)

Serve topped with chopped fresh tomatoes, shredded romaine, and sliced avocado.

Enjoy

Have loved you for so long!  Fragrant dumplings, velvety with broth, tastebuds trigger faint memories of crisp winter nights growing up in the boonies pastoral beauty of the Ozarks.

Chix and Dumplings

(adapted from Comme C̹a via Tasting Table)

For the soup:

2 T. butter

1 T. canola oil

3 carrots, chopped *

2 celery stalks, chopped

½ onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 bay leaf

Salt and pepper to taste

¼ c. Wondra flour

2 quarts organic, free-range chicken broth

2 c. frozen peas*

2 c. cooked chicken breast, chopped into bite-size pieces

¼ c. heavy cream *

* Changes I made: We like lots of peas & carrots, so quantity here is double the original recipe. I eliminated the cream – gave it up in my home cooking a long time ago (the flour in the dumplings will thicken the soup a bit).

Heat the butter and oil n a large pot over medium heat. Add the carrots, celery, and onion and cook until soft, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic, cook for another minute. Stir in the flour until it coats the vegetables, stirring continuously, about 2-3 minutes until the roux is golden-brown.

Add the broth a cup at a time, stirring. Add the peas and chicken, bring to a boil. Turn heat down and simmer until the soup is slightly thickened.

Meanwhile, in a glass bowl, combine all the ingredients for the dumplings:

2 c. unbleached all-purpose flour

1 T. baking powder

1 t. salt

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 c. buttermilk

1 t. dried thyme or ¼ c. fresh thyme leaves   *Chop some fresh parsley with the dried thyme – doing this  ”refreshes” dried herbs.

Drop spoonfuls of the batter into the soup and cook for 6-8 minutes, until light and fluffy looking. To serve, scoop out a few dumplings and top with soup. Then, drop more spoonfuls of batter in the remaining soup for another batch of deliciousness!

Enjoy