Tomatillo Chicken Enchiladas with Baked Spanish Brown Rice

I made one of my favorite meals tonight and thought I'd share.

Tomitillo Chicken Enchiladas
1-1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast cooked (however you like them) and shredded
3 oz cream cheese softened
1-2 jars D. L. Jardines Tamitillo Salsa
Flour tortillas - you can use corn if you like but I usually have flour on hand and just use those.
1 cup chicken broth
2 cups (or so) of shredded Monterrey jack or cheddar cheese

Today I cooked the chicken in the crock pot with some onion and garlic to add flavor while I took Charlotte to the doctor. Oh and I just throw the frozen chicken breast right in the crock pot on top of the onion and garlic. I add about 2 cups of water and the season with salt and pepper. I cook on high until done or I get home and turn it down. Grilled is also great but that was too time consuming today, and there's the small fact that I don't know how to use the grill ...Sad, I know. One day...

To assemble the enchiladas, spray a 9 x 13 glass pan with cooking spray. Mix the cream cheese with the chicken until well incorporated. Mix one jar of the salsa with the chicken broth and heat to a simmer in a small sauce pot. If you stew or crock pot your chicken you can use the broth from that, otherwise the canned stuff is fine. Ladle a little of the sauce mixture in the bottom of the baking dish. Dip a flour tortilla in the salsa/broth mixture and then lay it flat top with a couple table spoons of the chicken mixture, then sprinkle liberally with cheese. Roll and place seam side down in the pan. Repeat until you have used all of your chicken mixture. Pour remaining sauce over the top of the enchiladas and top with additional cheese. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 or until hot and bubbly. Sometimes I cover with foil for the first 20 minutes, sometimes I don't. Either way they come out wonderful. Serve with additional sauce (straight out of the jar, no need to add broth), sour cream, black beans and Spanish rice.

Spanish Rice

1 1/2 cups of short or medium grain brown rice
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 teaspoon lady's house seasoning - recipe is at the bottom of the page. The lasagna is to die for!
1 tablespoon butter
Heavy Duty Aluminum Foil

This is basically starting with Alton Brown's baked rice recipe. Except I use broth instead of water and add a bit of garlic and black pepper.

Place the rice in a 8x8 glass baking dish sprayed with cooking spray. Heat the broth, seasoning and butter to a boil. Pour liquid over rice, stir and immediately cover with foil, sealing tightly. Place in a 375 degree over for 1 hour.

I don't own a 8x8 baking dish so I normally double the above recipe and use a 9x13. Then to finish the Spanish rice I only use half of rice in the 9x13 and use the rest of the rice for something else. It is really good to just stop at this point and eat it. So flavorful and yummy. I never have heavy duty foil, either, and the regular stuff seems to work just fine for me. Don't use the long grain brown rice. Must be the short or medium. I can find it at my grocery store with the other rices with no problem.

Now to turn this into Spanish rice.
Baked Rice
half an onion chopped
3 cloves garlic minced
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons Fiesta Spanish Rice Seasoning (found on the spice aisle - well at least in TX)
1 can crushed or petite diced tomatoes

In a large skillet or saute pan over medium heat, add the olive oil. When hot add onion and garlic and saute until onion is tender (clear). Add tomatoes, red wine vinegar and Spanish rice seasoning. Heat to a boil. Stir in baked rice until everything is incorporated. Turn off heat and cover until ready to serve. This comes out quite moist. If you like a drier rice add less tomato. If you like spicier rice add more seasoning mix. This got a thumbs up from my family tonight.

If you try either of these let me know how you like them.
Jenn