Hearty Chicken Enchiladas in a slow cooker

I'm obviously on a cooking streak.  Pardon me.  I'm sure it won't last.  And I'm on a slow cooker kick.

I just love easy slow cooker recipes on chilly Fall days.  Warm meal ready for you when you come home...mmm. 

This Hearty Chicken Enchilada recipe will have you drooling...or I guess that could be just me.  Apparently, I'm a drooler.  Keep that in mind as you post recipes on your site and please be considerate of my keyboard.  It can't take that much drool.

Anyways, if you like Mexican food (and I do!) and love super easy recipes that come out super yummy, please read on.  Otherwise, I have a whole slew of other recipes you can check out here.  Or if you're not into cooking or reading recipes, you can just go read about Peanut.  Or the puppies.  You want it - I'll give it to ya!

Moving on.   The recipe.  Right.

What you need:

• 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 2 cans (15 ounces each) enchilada sauce
• Some green chilies - fresh or canned (about 4 ounces)
• Flour tortillas (this recipe should be good for about 8)
• 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Mexican cheese blend
• Sour cream - optional for some, a must for me

Now.

Do you see those little itty bitty chilies on top of the can?   Those are actually from our garden.  And they scare me.  One year Jon put a couple in a smoker at a BBQ we hosted and the next thing you know there are about 3-4 mucho guys crying.

Another time I decided to cook with one and foolishly touched my face while washing them (washing, not even cutting yet).  I spent the next week cursing them out.

Oh, and then there's you again.  Yuck.

In a 3-qt (if you got it, I use my regular one) slow cooker, combine the chicken, enchilada sauce and chillies.

I know I keep interrupting you here, but I just can't pass up a chance to tell you about my slow cooker.  I got it as a gift from my super awesome mother-in-law for Christmas last year.  I wanted a new slow cooker because ours has no timer or any other sort of programming capabilities which drove me nuts since we don't work 8 hour days and I hate overcooking the food.  Anyways, Jon and I were dilly-dallying at WalMart one day, as we often do, and we came across this here Hamilton Beach Set-n-Forget 6-quart Programmable Slow Cooker.  And it is exactly what it sounds like.  That's right.  Amazing.  This thing does everything short of going grocery shopping for ya.  You can choose a program to run, set a timer, or use the best feature of all - the probe!  It's a thermometer that you insert and the slow cooker will cook until you reach the desired temperature and then it will stop and keep your dish warm.  If you're amazed - I was too.  In fact, I didn't think this dream could ever be a reality and I moved on.  Guess what I got at Christmas time?  That's right.  My Hamilton Beach slow cooker.  I was ecstatic.  I still am.  It cooks like a dream.  I am so in love with it, I've been talking about it non-stop.  2 of my co-workers actually went out a bought one after they saw mine!  It's that awesome.

Now, back to the recipe.  Chicken, enchiladas sauce and chilies.  Right.  Cover and cook on low for 8 hours or until a meat thermometer reads 160 degrees.

Once the 8 hours have passed, remove the chicken and shred with two forks.

Reserve 1 cups cooking juices and poor the rest into a large bowl.;  add black beans and shredded chicken.

Coat a baking dish with nonstick cooking sprat and add about 2/3 cup reserved juices.

Eye the bits of green chilies suspiciously.  Move on.

Place about 1/3 cup chicken mixture down the center of each tortilla.

Roll up and place seam side down in prepared dish.

Repeat.

On a side note, if you'd like to make half and freeze half, just split the whole thing into two dishes and freeze one of them for up to 3 months.  To reheat, put in oven at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.

I make all of them together because I live with a bottomless pit.

Poor the remaining reserved juice over top.

Sprinkle with cheese.

Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.  Uncover and bake 5 minutes longer or until cheese is lsightly browned.

Serve with sour cream if you want it.

And we all know I want it.