Honey Lime Enchiladas

Honey Lime Enchiladas are another wonderful secret shared with me by my sister-in-law. They are delicious, can be frozen* and making multiple batches is a breeze.

The original site for this work is here: http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2008/03/honey-lime-enchiladas.html. This site has pretty pictures, so if visuals are useful, go for it! I have a few tips on shredding chicken and a link to a recipe for Green Enchilada Sauce that is delicious, has a high yield, freezes well, and will cost you less than getting it in a can.

If you're making the sauce and shredding the chicken, you might want to read over that in anticipation for cooking this wonderful meal. You can make the work a lot less by doing these two bits a day or two in advance so it's not all a huge effort on one day. Each step is simple. Doing them all at once can take time and not everyone has a big chunk of time set aside for cooking.

Honey Lime Enchiladas

6 tablespoons honey
5 tablespoons lime juice (1-2 large limes)
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 pounds chicken, cooked and shredded (3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts)**
8-10 fajita-size flour tortillas
1 pound Monterey jack cheese, shredded
16 ounces green enchilada sauce (like the Herdez brand)***
1 cup sour cream (you can use heavy cream or half-and-half but I always use sour cream)

Directions:

Whisk together the first four ingredients in a small bowl. Pour the marinade into a Ziploc bag (or other covered container) and toss with the shredded chicken. Refrigerate and let it marinate for at least 1/2 hour and up to 8 hours.

Lightly grease a 9X13-inch pan with nonstick cooking spray and pour about 1/2 cup of the enchilada sauce on the bottom of the pan.

Fill flour tortillas with chicken (reserving the leftover marinade) and shredded cheese, saving about 1 cup of cheese to sprinkle on top of enchiladas. I like to mix the cheese and chicken together and then put it in the tortilla so the two tastes are throughout the enchilada.

Mix the remaining enchilada sauce (1.5 c) with the sour cream and leftover marinade. Pour sauce on top of the enchiladas and sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes until brown and crispy on top.

*Freezable Meal: Freeze prior to baking. To bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees and bake enchiladas, covered (without thawing first) for 1 hour. Uncover and bake 30 minutes longer, until brown and crispy on top.

**Here's a tip for shredded chicken instead of buying really expensive canned stuff. Throw a some into a crock pot (I do about 3 - 4 lbs per pot) for 4 - 6 hours with a little water and oil if you like. When the chicken is at a falling apart stage, pour it into a mixer with the cookie paddle. Start it up and in about 20 - 30 seconds you have a lot of shredded chicken you can freeze.

I do quesadilla chicken this way and cook it with the taco seasoning in the crock pot. Then I have probably 10 dinners worth of ziplocks full of chicken. Makes life quick and easy. If you know the meal you're shredding for, you can season it up accordingly. Otherwise, keep it pretty generic and you'll have basic, all-purpose chicken to use in whatever meal you want. I hear that cooking in citrus dries chicken out, so be aware of that.