Recipe! Fancypants Enchiladas

This is my second Works For Me Wednesday entry over at We Are That Family!!!  Woohoo!  I love it when I can cook old stand bys and use them in new ways.  Here are two recipes and three dishes I enjoy!

Step One/Dish One:  Chile Corn Dip.  
You can eat this as a side dish with tortilla chips or eat it as a side dish to grilled chicken, which is delicious.  This recipe comes from a Texan friend; it's high on calories and taste.  You can stretch it servings-wise by increasing the corn and reduce the calories by subbing out neufchatel for the cream cheese and using margarine instead of butter (but watch out for transfats and other crap in margarine!).  This is really easy to make and incredibly popular when I bring it to potlucks. 

• Take 2 cans corn, drained;
• Add them to a greased/sprayed casserole dish
• Add 2 cans diced green chiles (usually with the ortega and faux-mexican products in the grocery store)
• Now, melt 8 oz cream cheese and 1 stick butter.  Add to this mixture your spices:
• 1/8 tsp each of paprika, cayenne, and garlic powder, 1/4 tsp salt.
• Add the spices and melted goodness to your casserole dish
• Bake it till it bubbles.  I usually give it about 25 minutes at 350.  Then I add shredded cheese and let that melt.

Step Two:  Zesty Shredded Mexican-style chicken.
I stole this technique from a friend, too.  You can freeze this once it is cooked in zingle serving size portions.  You can use the chicken in tacos or casseroles, whatever floats your boat.  It's great over a spinach salad, too.  I love me some spinach salad.  You can make as much or as little as you like, too.  I think this is also a good use for chicken that has gotten freezer-burned, since the slow cooking is easy on the meat and the spices cover a multitude of sins.

• Take your frozen chicken (I had two breasts) and add them to a pot of salted boiling water.
• Boil them until they are almost cooked; you want them to be still firm, not cooked to the point of being mush.  
• Put your chicken on a plate and use two forks to shred it up.  Do NOT throw that water down the drain!  You can use it as chicken broth, as the base for a soup, or to cook rice in.  You are also going to need about a cup or two of it (depends on how much chicken you're cooking).
• Get out a frying/saute plan.  Add a little oil to the pan, a bit of garlic.  Simmer the garlic for a few minutes.  Add your shredded chicken back.  
• Add enough water to the pan for the chicken to simmer for about 15 minutes without it all evaporating.  You don't want the chicken to dry out.  
• Add spices to taste -- cayenne, paprika, cumin, salt, pepper, whatever floats your boat.  I added some diced chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (just two little ones from a can, they are intense) to up the smoke factor.
• Simmer for about 15 minutes.  Enjoy!

Step Three: Fancypants Enchiladas
I don't just throw the term Fancypants around.  I am a very serious person, after all.  These enchiladas, however?  They. Have. The. Fancypants!  This next step requires a few more ingredients, but they are all easy to find.  None of them are deal breakers, either, so take these suggstions with a grain of salt!

1. First, tortillas.  I am currently eating my way through a pile (90, to be precise) of corn tortillas. They're 6" -- they're the little kind.  You could use flour tortillas, bigger tortillas, whatever floats your boat.  
2. Second, salsa.  I try to always keep this around.  It's good on everything!  
3. Third, Avocado.  This is an amazing fruit.  Is it a fruit?  I'm pretty sure it is.  It's full of the "good fats" and adds a ton of flavor bang-for-your-buck.  
4. Fourth, sour cream.  What's not to like?  
5. Fifth, shredded cheese.  I have a blend of asadero, quesadilla queso, cheddar, and monterrey jack.

Now, create an assembly line.  Get out your leftover corn dip and some chicken.  The secret here is that each tortillas can hold WAY LESS than you think it can.  Grab a casserole dish and grease her up.  Turn on your oven to 350 or so.

• Slice your avocado from stem to stern all the way down to the pit.  Do NOT throw the pit out, if you have leftovers, you'll want to keep the pit in the avocado because it keeps it from going bad as fast.  Add a little bit of avocado to your tortilla. I think it was about one long slice each, but I was just digging in my avocado with a butter knife, not really paying attention.
• Using that same butter knife, spread a teeny tiny amount of sour cream on the tortilla.  Maybe somewhere in the neighborhood of 1/2 a teaspoon?
• Take a regular spoon and scoop some corn dip onto the tortillas.  I used about a spoonful and a half.  Less than you'd think, remember!
• Grab some shredded chicken.  I used my (clean) hands for this.  You don't put a lot of chicken in there. Maybe 1/8 cup?  Maybe?
• Then add a plop of salsa.  I think a plop is less than a dollop.  It's certainly not much.
• Roll your tortilla up and put it in the dish, seam side down.
• Repeat until your dish is filled up.
• Sprinkle some more shredded cheese over the enchiladas.  You can also add some more salsa on top.  Cover loosely with aluminum foil.  Bake until it smells done.  It took about 15-20 minutes.
• Nearly die from the deliciousness of it all!