Enchiladas for Four or More (Day 7)

Enchiladas were one of the first thing I learned after getting married, and they are probably the best thing I can make. I would cook them more often if it weren't for this one thing: they are a PAIN to make.
So when I saw a recipe for enchiladas in my cookbook, I skipped over it, thinking it would be the same recipe I already know. Um, no. What makes enchiladas hard (for me) is I have to rub corn tortillas in vegetable oil, and bake them. You bake them so they don't fall apart during the stuffing and rolling process. If they get baked too long, bring out the salsa because you get chips. So it's tricky. Then you have to soak them in enchilada sauce, fill them and roll them. By then, your hands (and everything else in your kitchen) are a mess.
But upon looking at the recipe in my cookbook, I noticed the tortilla baking part was left out. I was still nervous to cook them because one time I skipped the tortilla baking, and my tortillas fell apart while stuffing them. The only reason I did this recipe is because we invited a couple over for dinner. Enchiladas are filling, tasty, and I know how to cook them. So away I went.
Rory cooked the chicken for me, which was a huge help :) He browned them in a large skillet. By the way, I have to say that I love that skillet. I use it for every meal because I can cook basically anything in it: meat, vegetables, rice. . .it's great! I used it three times for this meal: the chicken, the enchilada sauce and rice. You should get one!

I didn't follow this recipe completely. I added green peppers, swapped the hamburger for chicken and bought pre-made enchilada sauce. This recipe includes enchilada sauce. Next time I may make it from scratch.

The chicken. We added cayenne pepper, butter, and salt. Rory also added some Dr. Pepper to tick me off :) It didn't mess with the flavor though.

This recipe called for flour and vegetable oil. (?) It confused me, but I went with it. Looking back, that was completely unnecessary. I have no idea what the point was. I stuffed the tortillas with chicken, cheese and cooked pepper and onion.

The recipe yields 15 enchiladas. I made these 4 without the onions and peppers in case our guests preferred their enchiladas without them.

But they preferred these enchiladas with everything. They were devoured! I added cilantro and sour cream and served the enchiladas with Mexican rice. 

 So did I need to pre-bake the tortillas? Not really, no. The tortillas definitely weren't as sturdy while being soaked in the enchilada sauce, but I was trying to be careful and not rip them. They turned out just fine. That's a step I think I'll be skipping from now on.
Taste: 10. This is my favorite dish so far. They were spicy, flavorful and the texture came out great.
Simplicity: 7. I wish they could be easier, but they aren't. After getting the chicken perfect, dipping every tortilla in the red sauce is very messy and not very easy. It only took a little over and hour overall, but it's a very tedious job.
Overall: I love enchiladas. They used to be one of my least favorite Mexican dishes, but now I'm a huge fan of any enchilada. These are great when you have company because the recipe makes a lot of enchiladas and they are a people-pleaser. I wish I had more red sauce because I personally prefer my enchiladas to be soaked.
I'd just like to say that maybe cooking would be a lot easier if I had a bigger kitchen. Here's a picture of my kitchen:

Yeah....not a lot of counter space! 

I look forward to the day when I will prepare dinner with more than a square foot's worth of counter space!