White Enchiladas with a Twist

I love white enchiladas, they are very creamy and delicious. I decided to change things up a little this time. I wanted to try different flavored chicken inside the enchilada. So I made three variations along with the original.
The three variations were, Franks Hot Sauce, Wingers Hot sauce and Mandarin Chicken.

The ingredients and recipe are pretty simple.

3 chicken breasts shredded
1 pint of sour cream
2 cans of Cream of Chicken
1 small can of diced green chilies  
2 Tsp of  chili powder
1 pound of shredded jack cheese
12 flour tortillas


Mix chicken, green chilies and half of jack cheese together
 In separate bowl mix sour cream, cream of chicken and chili powder together. 

Fill each tortilla with about 2 spoon fulls of chicken mixture (or as much as you want). Tightly roll the tortilla and place in a 12x9 inch glass pan. Keep them close together so you can fit all of the enchiladas in. Once you have all the enchiladas in (sometimes we use another glass pan if there isn't enough room for all the enchiladas in one pan). Then cover the enchiladas with the sauce. Place the remaining cheese on top of the enchiladas. Put in the oven for 40 minutes at 350 degrees

Side note: I had a half a pack of cream cheese sitting in the fridge so I added it into the sour cream mix, I honestly couldn't tell a difference. 


The variations that I made were pretty simple also: 

Franks Hot Sauce: After I shredded the chicken I put it in a Zip-lock bag and added enough of Franks Hot Sauce to cover all the chicken. I then put it in the refrigerator to let the hot sauce soak in for about 6 hours.    

Wingers Hot Sauce: To make the wingers hot sauce you get frank hot sauce, for this recipe I used about 3/4 of a cup of franks hot sauce and about 1/4 cup of brown sugar. I warmed both of the together in a small pot. Then after all mixed together I let it cool for about 5 minutes then added sauce and chicken in a Zip-Lock bag in the refrigerator and let the chicken marinate for 6 hours.

Mandarin Chicken: I wish I could say that I made the mandarin sauce myself but I just bought it from the store (It was the Panda Express brand). I just added it to the chicken in a Zip-Lock bag and let marinate in the refrigerator for about 6 hours also. 

I made the different chicken enchiladas in the same glass pan. I changed up the orginal recipe in the other pan just by adding Zesty Ranch Seasoning, about 2 tbls. It made the white sauce a lot more flavorful. 

I really enjoyed all of the different chickens, I 
must say my favorite was the Wingers Sauce, chicken. My wife loved the mandarin chicken enchilada.  

                                                                  

 

  

  (From left to right, Franks Hot sauce, Wingers Sauce, Mandarin Chicken)

Lasagna

So to start off this Blog I decided to make something that I've never made before, Lasagna. I love Italian food, although it seems like most Italian food is the same. As long as you have a good sauce, you're more than likely going to have success with whatever you decide to make.

This is the sauce recipe that I used:

1 pound of sweet Italian sausage
1 pound of ground beef
1/2 cup of chopped onions
2 cloves of garlic chopped
1 (28 ounce) can of crushed tomatoes
2 (8 ounce) cans of tomato sauce
2 (6 ounce) cans of tomato paste
1/2 Cup of Water
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon fennel seed
2 teaspoons fresh Basil leaves chopped
4 tablespoons fresh Italian parsley chopped
2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon Italian Seasoning
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper

Brown sausage links in a fry pan over medium heat for about 15 minutes or until nice and brown. Using the same sauce pan add the onions and hamburger and cook until hamburger is browned. Mix all ingredients in a Crockpot and cook on low 8-10 hours or high 4-6 hours.

Ricotta Mixture:
18 oz of Ricotta Cheese
1 egg
2 table spoons fresh parsley
2 Tsp of salt
3 cloves of garlic, minced
Mix all ingredients together

Then I took out a 9 x 13 inch pan out and put a layer of sauce down, then noodles, then ricota mixture then mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese. Then noodles etc, for three layers. I then covered the dish with plastic rap then tinfoil. I put it in the refrigerator over night. This helps to solidify the lasagna together helping it hold its shape while you are serving it.

Remove plastic rap and foil, cover it with only foil. Cook for 25 minutes at 375 degrees with the foil on then another 25 with the foil off. Keep an eye on it for the last 10 minutes, when cheese is golden, you are good to go. Take it out and let it cool off for at least 15 minutes.

Side note: I only cooked the noodles for about 5 minutes, its best to let them cook the rest of the way in the oven with all the delicious ingredients.