Southwestern Vege-Chicken Enchilada Casserole

Didn't dice the avocado. got in a hurry. Topped with a little sour cream.

I'm from Texas so I have to have lots and lots of Tex-Mex recipes - especially enchiladas. I have recipes for enchiladas with flour tortillas and corn tortillas. This is one of the corn tortilla types. I used several types of vegetarian chicken including Morningstar Farms chicken strips, Fri-Chik cut up into strips, Morningstar Farms Vege-Chicken Nuggets, and other vegetarian chicken substitutes. The rest of the enchilada recipe is what makes the dish good anyway.  Here we go....

Ingredients:

• 2-3 cups vege-chicken cut up
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 to 1 tsp chili powder to taste
• 1/4 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tbsp Canola oil
• 1/2 onion chopped
• Red or green bell pepper chopped
• About 10 oz spinach, fresh or frozen chopped
• 1 1/2 cup salsa mild to hot depending on your taste
• Corn tortillas (6 inch)
• 1 cup shredded cheese (Monterey Jack is good but so it cheddar, mozarella and once I grated up some leftover Brie), 
• 1/4 lb cubed Velveeta.
• 1/4 cup evaporated milk
• 1/2 cup diced tomatoes 
• 1 Avocado peeled and diced
• Chopped black olives
• Cilantro for garnish
• Cooking spray

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray
2. In a medium bowl, combine chicke, garlic, cumin and chili powder. Add to lightly oiled skillet and cook over medium high heat for 4 to six minutes until vege-chicken starts to brown. Remove and set aside.
3. Add oil to the  skillet. Add onion and pepper; cook over medium heat stirring occasionally about 5 minutes or until tender. Stir in the spinach. Add cubed Velveeta, diced tomatoes, milk  and salsa. Stir until melted. Add chicken srips to sauce
4. Coat a 2 quart casserole dish with cooking spray.
5. Fold sauce and chicken mixture by spoonfuls into corn tortillas and roll. Place tortilla rolls side by side in the casserole until you fill up the casserole. Spread the rest of the sauce and chicken mixture over and around the enchiladas. 
6. Cover with shredded cheese and bake 30 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly.
7. Peel and dice avocado. Garnish the top of the casserole with avocado, black olives and cilantro. 
8. Let sit for 5 minutes before serving. 

Serving Suggestion:

Serve with sweet corn and maybe a salad with a nice Ranch dressing and some tortilla chips, iced decaf tea or caffeine free Dr. P. 

Tom King.

Sheila's Famous Semi-Secret Vege-Chicken Salad Recipe

Vege-Chicken Salad on my favorite Oatnut Bread

I have a recipe for vege-chicken salad that even carnivores will love.  - SK

INGREDIENTS:  

• 1 box of chick nuggets from Morning Star. 
• 2 boiled eggs
• 1/2 cup Mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup Miracle Whip
• 1/2 chopped onion
• 1/2 chopped bell pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• 1/2 cup sweet relish 
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp celery seed

Directions:

1. Boil two eggs. Cool them down, peel and grate and set aside.
2. Finely chop up vege-chicken nuggets. It must be the Morning Star kind of nuggets and it must say "nuggets" not patties on the box. These should stay frozen until ready to use then you can thaw in the M/W just long enough to thaw but still be a little cold. I like to use a food processor to grind them up but if you don't have a processor you can use a plain grater.
3. Add grated egg to nuggets and mix up.
4. Add 1/2 to 1 cup Mayo and 1/2 to 1 cup Miracle Whip and mix well.
5. Chop into small pieces 1/2 onion, 1/2 bell pepper. and I/2 cup celery.  Add them to the mixture.
6. Add 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp celery seed. Stir into mixture.
7. Add 1/2 cup sweet pickle relish and mix everything well.  

Serving Suggestions:

You are all done! Serve as sandwich spread or as a dip for Christmas with Ritz type crackers. I never add any extra salt but you may want to use garlic SALT or table salt. I promise it's so tasty too!

Sheila King © 2015

Note from Tom:  

This vege-chicken salad is one of our family's favorite picnic treats. It's easy to transport in a big Tupperware container and make sandwiches out of when you get there. Everybody who's ever tasted it raves about the stuff. 

It's also a quite forgiving recipe. Even I can make it. You can vary the amounts of ingredients to taste. If you take out the celery, just add more celery seed. If you take out the onions, just add some onion powder. If you don't like bell pepper, well you're just a Philistine is all.  - Tom