Chicken Chilaquiles

Ah Cinco de Mayo, a time to celebrate all of the wonderful things about the Hispanic/Latino culture like mojitos, margaritas.........and comida (food)!  On cinco de mayo we realized we had to make something delicious and Mexican to be part of the celebration. So I looked through myrecipes.com of course and found chicken chilaquiles.  I have never had chilaquiles at a restaurant before but when we went to Aruba, my dad ordered them at a Mexican restaurant. Let me tell you they are cheesy melt-y goodness.  I liken them to the Mexican comfort food, all of the great ingredients like bread and cheese that make you feel all warm inside.

I did make a few changes to the recipe. First, I went to the worst grocery store by our house because it is the closest one to my gym. I call it 'the place where time goes to die' because its so dated and they don't have a huge selection (but they do have a big selection of produce).  They didn't have canned tomatillos so I used salsa verde instead (which is made from tomatillos). I blended everything but the salsa first and then threw it in at the last minute to blend up.  I also threw in a very large jalepeno for good measure because we like things spicy. The recipe calls for 1% milk but we use skim so I substituted that as well. My picture isn't as pretty as the Cooking Light picture because I didn't have an 11 x 7 baking dish (I used a 9 x 13). 

As of today's post, 39 reviewers gave this an average rating of 4 out of 5.

Espero que disfruten de esto en su casa todo lo que hacemos en el nuestro (thanks Google translator).

Recipe by Barbara Lauterbach, Cooking Light, July 2007

Prep Time: 45 minutes
Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 1/2 cups)

Ingredients

• 2  cups  shredded skinless, boneless rotisserie chicken breast
• 1/2  cup  chopped green onions
• 1/2  cup  (2 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese with jalapeño peppers, divided
• 2  tablespoons  grated Parmesan cheese
• 1  teaspoon  chili powder
• 1/4  teaspoon  salt
• 1/4  teaspoon  black pepper
• 3/4  cup  1% low-fat milk
• 1/4  cup  chopped fresh cilantro
• 1  (11-ounce) can tomatillos, drained
• 1  (4.5-ounce) can chopped green chiles, drained
• 12  (6-inch) corn tortillas
• Cooking spray

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375°.
Combine chicken, green onions, 1/4 cup Monterey Jack cheese, Parmesan, chili powder, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl. Place milk and next 3 ingredients (through chiles) in a food processor or blender; process until smooth.
Heat tortillas according to package directions. Pour 1/3 cup tomatillo mixture into bottom of an 11 x 7-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Arrange 4 corn tortillas in dish, and top with half of chicken mixture. Repeat layer with remaining tortillas and chicken mixture, ending with tortillas.
Pour remaining 1 1/2 cups tomatillo mixture over tortillas; sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup Monterey Jack cheese. Bake at 375° for 20 minutes or until bubbly.

Nutritional Information

Calories: 347 (28% from fat)

Fat: 10.9g (sat 4.5g,mono 2.9g,poly 1.9g)

Protein: 30.9g

Carbohydrate: 33.3g

Fiber: 5.9g

Cholesterol: 79mg

Iron: 1.5mg

Sodium: 560mg

Calcium: 272mg