Chicken Enchiladas

Growing up in the Northwest, we don’t encounter a lot of Southwestern culture. While I loved Mexican food, it never even occurred to me to try making it. So I was thrilled to learn that some of my favorite Mexican dishes can be easy to make, and taste wonderful homemade. This enchilada recipe is adapted from South of the Border Chicken Enchiladas in Don’t Panic More Dinner’s in the Freezer. This book and its predecessor provide some great recipes and a ton of guidance on cooking meals in bulk, then freezing them so they’re available quickly on busy days. The quantities below are for one meal, but even if you don’t freeze the enchiladas completely assembled (I haven’t tried freezing coconut tortillas, so I don’t know how that will work out), the sauce alone is easy to make in large quantities and freeze.

Makes 6 enchiladas

2 tablespoons butter
1 cup onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 15-oz can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 15-oz can tomato sauce
1 7-oz can diced green chiles
2 teaspoons sugar or 8 drops liquid stevia
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
2 cups cooked chicken, diced or shredded
2 cups cheddar cheese, grated
sliced black olives
sour cream
fresh cilantro, chopped

Enchilada Sauce:
Melt butter in a medium saucepan, then saute the onion and garlic until tender. Add the tomatoes, tomato sauce, green chiles, sugar, cumin, salt, oregano, and basil. Mix well and simmer for about 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. While the sauce is simmering, make coconut flour tortillas. When making tortillas for a recipe with a sauce, I use 4 whole eggs rather than 8 egg whites, because it’s hard to tell the difference under a flavorful sauce.

Coconut Flour Tortillas Recipe

Assembly:
Oil a 9″ X 11″ baking pan with coconut oil. Set one tortilla in the baking pan. Spoon enchilada sauce down the middle of the tortilla. Top that with 1/3 cup of chicken and 1/3 cup of cheddar cheese. Fold the tortilla over the fillings, then turn it so the open edge faces down in the pan. Repeat with the remaining five tortillas. Spoon the remaining sauce over all the rolled enchiladas. Bake for 30 minutes or until the sauce is bubbly and the cheese is melted. Top enchiladas with sliced black olives and chopped fresh cilantro, then serve with a side of sour cream.

Paleo: Leave out the cheddar cheese and sour cream. The enchilada sauce is so flavorful, you probably won’t even miss the cheese.

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