Chicken Enchiladas (with cream cheese)

Yet another tasty variation of chicken enchiladas! I have a few different recipes that I make, which is nice since I love them all and they all call for different ingredients. So which recipe I make sometimes depends on what I have got in the fridge. :)  This is a delicious enchilada recipe that I got from a friend, Leanne Davidson, a long time ago. These have a flavorful creamy chicken filling. I have frozen these enchiladas often.  Instead of putting all ten of the tortillas in a 9x13 dish, I put five in a 8x8 pan and the other five in another 8x8 pan. Then I freeze one of them for a later dinner. (In fact, if I remember right, these pictures show a pan of enchiladas that I had frozen before cooking.)

Chicken Enchiladas

Submitted by Erin  ~  The Sisters Cafe

Printable recipe here

½ c. each yellow and green pepper (or whatever you have)

2 Tb butter

1 15-oz can tomato sauce

1 c. chicken stock (water and 1 tsp bouillon granules (or1 cube) works great)

1-2 tsp chili powder

1 tsp each cumin, sugar, and salt

¼ tsp pepper

1/3 c. half and half (I always use milk to cut down on calories)

1 (8-oz) pkg cream cheese (I always use Neufchatel cheese)

3 c. cooked chicken, diced

¾ c. onion, chopped (can also add celery to complete the ¾ c.)

½ tsp salt

2 Tb butter

1 c. cheese (I prefer Monterrey Jack)

8-12 flour tortillas (I use 10)

Sauté onion and pepper in butter. Remove to a bowl and set aside. Heat tomato sauce, chicken stock, chili powder, cumin, sugar, salt and pepper; simmer 30 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare filling. Gradually add half and half to cream cheese. Stir in chicken, sautéed onion and bell pepper (and celery, if desired), and salt. Lightly brown tortillas on both sides in butter until heated, but not crisp. (This is purely optional. I have never bothered to brown my tortillas.) Dip tortilla in tomato sauce mixture and spoon ¼ c. chicken filling into each tortilla. Roll up and place seam side down in a lightly greased 9x13 pan. Cover with remaining tomato sauce.  Cover with foil. At this point you may freeze the pan. Otherwise, bake at 350° for 20 minutes.  Remove foil and sprinkle with 1 cup cheese. Bake 5 more minutes.

(When baking a frozen pan of enchiladas, remove the pan from the freezer, leave one layer of foil on top, and place in the oven (no need to preheat). Set the oven to 350° and bake for about 40-45 minutes or so, or until it is hot in the middle. Then add cheese and bake until it is melted on top.)