Recipe of the week: Freezer Green Chili Chicken Enchiladas

I will never have good food pictures. Never. I've come to accept that. Hopefully, despite this hurdle, people will find my recipe of the week recipes useful -- especially the freezer ones ... amiright?!?!  

I love this recipe! It honestly is one of Ben's favorite meals (competing with Curried Chick Peas, Chipotle Tacos, Thai Crunch Quinoa Salad, and other five star dinners). It is so simple and freezes so well. I make four pans of it at once. We eat one pan that evening, and then store the other three in our deep freezer for days I need something instant and (relatively) mess free (like Wednesday night's when I have church youth group). 

I've been making this for years and years. Of all the regular recipes we used during our first years of marriage -- this is the only one still on our regular list. I wasn't a bad cook back in '07, '08 -- but I've definitely gotten a lot better. My sense for good recipes has improved greatly as well. But these easy Chicken Enchiladas have remained. I also occasionally make a ground turkey (or beef) version with red sauce. We prefer the shredded chicken, but both are delicious and easy peasy. Oh, and cheap. I shared this once for an enrichment night, so I totaled up the cost. I know it says $38.00 for 4 nights of dinner, but it gives our family of four 4 nights of dinner and 4 lunches. So that's less than $5 a meal ... not too bad!

Green Chili Chicken Enchiladas

40 (taco size) tortilla shells $7.50

1.5 lbs, shredded cheese $6.00

6 lbs chicken $12.00

3, 28 ounce cans green chili enchilada sauce $10.50

4, 9x13 tin pans and tinfoil for freezing $2.00

Total $38.00 for 4 nights of dinner! 

1. Cook and shred chicken with preferred method. I put all boneless skinless breasts plus two cups of chicken stock in a crock-pot and cook on low for 4 to 5 hours. 

2. Add one and one half cans of green chili enchilada sauce and 3 cups of shredded cheese to the shredded chicken. Stir.

3. Grease tin pans. Place about 1/3 cup of shredded chicken mixture inside one tortilla shell, then roll. Fill each pan with 10 enchiladas.

4. Divide remaining enchilada sauce and cheese per 4 pans. Pour sauce on top of enchiladas and then sprinkle with cheese.

5. Wrap each pan with two layers of tinfoil. Do not stack while freezing. Once frozen, you may stack pans on top of one another.

6. When ready to use your meals, you can either thaw them out the evening before, remove tinfoil and then cook at 350 for 20 minutes, or you can cook frozen with one layer of tinfoil still on for about an hour. Cheese and shells should be golden brown and sauce should be bubbly when ready to serve. 

Serving Suggestions: Serve with refried beans and chips and salsa.