Since I grew up in Southern California, Mexican food was always a regular part of our diet. Though my dad was a Minnesota farm boy, he moved to California in his twenties and developed a taste for spicy foods. As a result, they were flavors I grew up with.
But Mexican food is not the only cuisine to feature a warm use of spice. Thai and Indian cooks, among others, know how to kick it up a notch. There’s a whole world of flavors out there!
I’ll never forget our first pediatrician who recommended that we feed our baby salsa! My husband loved that! (FishPapa loves spicy foods as well.) She reasoned that children need to be raised with the flavors and intensities that their parents liked.
Unfortunately, not all our children have adopted our flavor preferences. We’re working on it. The following is a favorite of FishPapa and mine. This is one of my sister Jamie’s wonderful dinners. You can adjust the heat based on how much jalapeno you use. When I use serranos, it’s got an extra kick. (I know it’s not “authentic,” but we love it anyway.)
Recipe: Chicken Enchilada Casserole
Makes 2 8-inch pans or 1 9×13-inch pan
Ingredients
- 2 cans cream of chicken soup OR use homemade cream of celery soup
- 8 ounces sour cream
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 small can chopped green chiles
- 1 small can chopped jalapenos OR 1-2 fresh jalapenos, seeded and chopped (optional)
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 1 cup jack or cheddar cheese
- 12 corn tortillas cut into bite size pieces
- 2 cups cooked chicken breasts, diced
Instructions
- In large mixing bowl, combine soup, sour cream, milk, green chiles, jalapenos, onion and cheese. Mix well. Stir in tortillas and chicken.
- Spoon into greased baking pan(s), either one 9×13 or two 8-inch square pans.
- At this point, you can cover the pans and stash them in the freezer. Thaw completely in the refrigerator before baking.
- Bake 1 hour at 350°.
What’s a hot and spicy dish that you make?
Homemade Chicken Enchiladas with Roasted Chiles
Easiest Cheese Enchiladas Recipe (Freezer Friendly)
Chicken Enchilada Casserole Recipe
I realized I still haven’t posted my favorite green chile chicken enchiladas. I’ll have to make those soon because I’ve never photographed them before.
I posted a salsa recipe I made last year when tomatoes were on sale. Hope I can get enough garden tomatoes this year. You can add as much or little spice as you want. Mine can out a little warmer than mild. Next time I’d do it slightly hotter.
That sounds so good. That would be a nice twist on our usual. I’ll have to try it sometime.
My little boy loves spicy food.
Mmm. That sounds really good!
My kiddos are slowly eating hotter and hotter foods. Especially our 8 year old. Wonder if that has anything to do with him and his father having hot sauce drinking contests?!
That sounds delicious. I love that it doesn’t use canned enchilada sauce! You can get much better flavor that way!
a commenter on my blog said recently, “in the end, most kids eat what their parents eat.” there’s a lot of truth in that. if you offer spicy food, most will learn to appreciate it. eventually. and it helps to start slow. let them experiment with milder spicy foods, and work them up to the heat level of your preference. i posted about spicy popcorn. with this wholesome snack you can gradually increase the amount of spice over time.
great topic for URS!
How would you adapt this recipe to become freezer friendly? I made it for the first time the other night and it was such a hit with my family that I’d like to use it for my MOMS Club freezer meal swap next month. Thanks!
I wrap and freeze it prior to baking.