Cream Cheese Chicken Enchiladas

Howdy friends!! Hope your day was fantastic! Today I'm featuring one our all time favorite meals that is super easy to make and easily adjustable to your own taste: cream cheese chicken enchiladas. My mom made these all the time when I was growing up, I introduced Brad to them, and now we just can't ever get enough of them. I probably make them about every other week for dinner and end up having leftovers for lunch. Yay for not having to eat a frozen meal for lunch! (At work we call them "frozen goodness", in a lovingly sarcastic way of course!) In fact, I just made them last night and had one for lunch today. YUMMM!!

First, I will post the original recipe (this is all from memory so bear with me, I don't know that there is actually a "real" recipe) and then I will post adjustments I have made or experimented with.

Original(ish) Cream Cheese Chicken Enchiladas
1 whole rotisserie chicken from your local grocery store's deli (I get mine from Wal-Mart or Reasor's)
1 8oz package of cream cheese
1 4oz can of diced green chilies
1 can of cream of chicken soup
1 package of about 12 corn tortillas (or flour if you prefer)
1 16oz package of shredded cheese (I use Kraft's Taco Blend or just regular cheddar, but you can use whatever you like)

1. Pull all the meat off the rotisserie chicken, discarding all the skin, bones, grit, etc..., and shred the chicken to your liking.
2. Combine the whole block of cream cheese, whole can of chilies, and shredded chicken in a large bowl until mixed well.
3. Warm up your tortillas so that they are warm and soft, basically easier to work with :)
4. Fill the tortillas with a decent amount of the chicken mixture and roll into an enchilada shape, placing them into a 9x13 glass baking dish as you go.
5. When you're done making enchilada, or have filled up your pan, pour whole can of cream of chicken soup over the top of the enchiladas and sprinkle with as much or as little cheese as you would like. Cook at 350degrees for about 30 minutes (give or take a few minutes depending on your oven).
6. Once the cheese is melted, bubbly, and a little crunchy around the edges you are ready to eat!

Jen's Adjustments

• Because it is just Brad and I, we don't need a whole 13x9 pan of chicken enchiladas (although they would get eaten, but I like variety in my life), SO I usually halve the recipe. How in the world do you use only half a rotisserie chicken and not waste, you ask?? Well, I found one of the most amazing things EVER...roasted chicken legs. At Reasor's (my new found love, we just got one across the highway from us last summer and I am obsessed) they offer a variety of wonderful, delicious items in their deli. One of those wonderful items is roasted chicken legs, technically it is the leg and the thigh still attached. They are already cooked, just like the full rotisserie chicken, but about half of the meat that you would get from the rotisserie! I was so excited when I made this discovery; as I mentioned before I am NOT a cook and I really don't enjoy it so for me, this was awesome and gave me that extra boost of confidence that I CAN DO THIS! So, if you are looking for a way to halve the recipe because you don't want to make a dozen enchiladas, check to see if your local grocery store/deli has these available.
• Another adjustment I make is using the remaining chilies and cream cheese at part of the topping with the cream of chicken soup. Since you can't halve a can of chilies or block of cream cheese (I guess you could but the store might get mad, ha!), I combine a little of the cream cheese and the remaining chilies with the soup and then pour over the enchiladas. You don't have to, it's just my way of wasting as little as possible :)
• If you are halving the recipe, you will want to halve the time as well. Temp stays the same, just cook for about 15-20 minutes--until you see that melt-y, bubbly, crunchy goodness I talked about in the original directions.

NOTE: If you can't find a readied rotisserie chicken, I believe boiling whole, boneless chicken breasts until they are done all the way through and then shredding them should do the trick. And you may not want the flavor that a rotisserie chicken has since it's already been cooked, so cooking your own chicken may be right for you! :)

Unfortunately, before I remembered to take a picture of the ones I made last night, we had devoured almost the whole pan and it didn't look pretty anymore sooo...you'll just have to trust me on this one, and I'll try to take a picture next time.

Enjoy! ~ Jen