Chicken and Spinach Enchiladas
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Contributed by Cheryl Sousan of Tidy Mom
This simple Chicken and Spinach Enchilada casserole comes together quickly and tastes rich and savory, bursting with flavor!
If you follow me on Instagram or Snapchat (@tidymom) you may have seen that we recently moved our youngest into her college apartment......a fourth floor apartment, with no elevator and 90+ degree heat!! This will be her first year away from home and this is the "first day of school" I've ever missed ;(
Another first was this fabulous Chicken and Spinach Enchilada recipe that made it's way into our lives recently!
I never realized what we miss out on, living in Missouri. A few years ago during a trip to Texas I had some of the most incredible Mexican food. After that, I realized......we don't have "real" Mexican restaurants here in Missouri. So when I'm craving good Mexican or Tex-Mex food, we have to make it.
For the chicken in this enchilada recipe, you can cook it in the crock pot with a little water, salt, pepper, and cumin. The chicken becomes so tender and moist and incredibly easy to shred. Alternatively, you can poach or bake the chicken or use rotisserie chicken. Quick Tip: Place cooked chicken in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Turn mixer on low for about 30-60 seconds, and you will have shredded chicken in 1 minute or less!
For the spinach, you can use the frozen chopped spinach as it gives the sauce a florentine look and eliminates big hunks of spinach in the sauce. Quick Tip: if you forget to thaw your spinach ahead of time, like I did, and your microwave has a quick thaw setting (usually for 1 pound of ground beef) it works perfectly to quickly thaw the box of frozen spinach.
Once you have cooked chicken, this dish comes together in about 15-20 minutes, depending on how quickly you fill and roll your tortillas ;) You can serve topped with chopped tomatoes and/or guacamole if you'd like.
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Cleaning Up
There are so many great things about casseroles for dinner, not only can most of them be made ahead of time, but if you cook and serve, you can use the time that your Chicken and Spinach Enchiladas are in the oven to clean up the kitchen, so there's less to do after dinner.
My 'go-to' tools for clean up are my Scotch-Brite Extreme Scrub Sponge and Stay Clean Dishwand.
I had never used a dishwand until a few years ago. Truth be told, they kind of grossed me out. Heather, my oldest has always used a dish wand in her kitchen and convinced me I needed one, since I tend to skip a sink of soapy water and wash one item at a time. She told me I was wasting so much soap, and if I use a dishwand, I could keep my hands out of the water a little more. I've been using the Stay Clean Dishwand ever since. It has a long-lasting, durable scrubbing surface for non-scratch cleaning and is guaranteed not to trap food! Even eggs or cheese won’t stick to this sponge. The head is removable and replaceable. I like to remove the head and toss it in the dishwasher to keep it extra clean, and once I've worn it out, I just replace it with a new head.
For the Chicken and Spinach Enchiladas, I used my cast iron dutch oven to sauté the onions and mushrooms and cook the sauce. Once it was time to clean the pot, I used hot water and my Extreme Scrub Sponge to remove the stubborn, stuck-on areas inside the pot, then my dishwand filled with soap to give it a good cleaning. I did the same the next day with the casserole dish. Clean-up made easy......every day!
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Since my daughter was moving, I knew a dishwand would be perfect for her first apartment. Passing the "torch" I put together a little basket of some tools I knew she would use while away at college; microfiber cloths, sponges, lint roller and of course.... a dishwand.
Good news!! When she called Sunday evening, she had cleaned the apartment and she said all of the tools were put to good use! ........I think she's learning, clean feels good ;) #myjobisdone
Now excuse me while I go wipe my tears ;)
This post has been adapted by TidyMom from the original, which you may read on TidyMom.net Blog
