Cottage Cheese Chicken Enchiladas/Homemade Enchilada Sauce

Ingredients
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - boiled and shredded
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 (7 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers
• 1 (1 ounce) package taco seasoning mix
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 2 cups cottage cheese
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 pinch ground black pepper
• 12 (6 inch) corn tortillas
• 2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
• 1 (10 ounce) can red enchilada sauce

Directions

1. To Make Meat Mixture: Heat oil in medium skillet over medium high heat. Add chicken, onion and green chile peppers and saute until browned, then add taco seasoning and prepare meat mixture according to package directions.

2. To Make Cheese Mixture: In a medium bowl mix sour cream with cottage cheese and season with salt and pepper; stir until well blended.

3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

4. To Assemble Enchiladas: Heat tortillas until soft. In each tortilla place a spoonful of meat mixture, a spoonful of cheese mixture and a bit of shredded cheese. Roll tortillas and place in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking dish. Top with any remaining meat and cheese mixture, enchilada sauce and remaining shredded cheese.

5. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly.

**Note: Instead of boiling chicken, I have bought an herb-roasted chicken from the grocery store. I sautéed the onions and peppers alone and added about 2 tsp. of taco powder at the end. After shredding the hot chicken, I added it to that pan. 2) I have also put some refried beans in each enchilada. 3) For a beautiful look, I sprinkled the top with sliced black olives. 4) I used about 2 cans of enchilada sauce. Very important! Spray the bottom of the pan and pour some sauce on it before adding the rolled enchiladas. 5) I like corn tortillas. I moistened each tortilla with the enchilada sauce before putting it together. (Pour some sauce in a deep bowl and wipe the tortilla on both sides.) This helped keep the enchilada moist and tasty. Let stand about 5 minutes before serving.


Note 2: The cottage cheese/sour cream mixture was so yummy. I made the chicken in the crockpot-three frozen chicken breasts with a chopped onion, 1/2 a beer with a sprinkle of cumin, oregano, cinnamon, black pepper and a couple of cloves of garlic, gave it a stir and cooked it on low for five hours and then shredded it, sooo easy and tasty.

Enchilada Sauce

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup chili powder
• 2 cups water
• 1/4 cup tomato sauce
• salt to taste
• garlic powder to taste

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute, then add the chili powder and cook for 1 more minute. Gradually stir in the water, mixing well with a whisk to make sure you get out all the lumps, then stir in the tomato sauce and season with salt and garlic powder to taste.

2. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. (Note: If sauce thickens too much, just add a little water to thin it out a bit.)

**The recipe as listed is good. However, with the help of other reviewers - it becomes one of the best enchilada sauces EVER. First off, I used half California Chili Powder and half New Mexico Chili Powder (available in the Mexican food section of your grocery store in little baggies.) I used chicken broth instead of water, 8 oz. of tomato sauce instead of 4 oz, and added 1 tsp. oregano, 1 tsp. cumin, and 2 tsp. turbinado(raw) sugar. I made beef enchiladas and they were AWESOME! So don't be afraid to try this recipe - just doctor it up a bit!

***The consistancy and appearance of this sauce is almost identical to what you find in the canned sauce, and tastes better. The flavor is going to depend on what you use for "chili powder". Many commercial products add spices to ground chili and chiles vary in taste and heat. I used pure ground chili (chile rojo) found in the Mexican section. Be prepared to experiment a little. I added 2 tsp. of raw sugar as I thought the flavor of mine was a little bitter.

****I was actually quite surprised. This was VERY good, and I am very hard to please when it comes to enchilada sauce. I did change it a little. I doubled the recipe. Like others, I used chicken broth. I used crushed garlic. But most importantly I used El Pato Jalapeno tomato sauce and a can of Herdez red salsa. I was a little hesitant to use the Jalapeno tomato sauce since it is very hot, and hubby hollers when I use it in anything (and he's of Mexican heritage, go figure.) I would have used El Pato hot style tomato sauce (in the yellow can) but didn't have any. But actually, with the chicken broth and water, it was perfect.   Oh, and come to think of it, I didn't double the chili powder!