Back to I Made It Monday: Spicy Enchiladas with Pumpkin Sauce and MORE...

So, I'm back after a little hiatus. I was actually busy the last week and a half with helping out a friend at church and studying for and taking some classes. Which brings me to I made it Monday...

I made it through and passed both of my classes - Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) and Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS). They were both pretty involved and kind of stressful because you aren't just dealing with everyday nursing treatments...you are dealing with a person literally dying or teetering between life and death and YOU make the difference (well up to a certain point). I don't know that I deal well with emergencies, trauma, highly critical situations (hence not going into nursing in an ER or ICU), but this class really helped me put some fears behind me and feel like I could face an emergency if I HAVE to. I don't know why they don't teach this in nursing school. Well, we learned most of the components of the classes, but the information was put together in a way to really make sense and know your role in it. I even learned how to put an IV into a bone instead of a vein (fast and easy, but the idea is kind of freaky! It's called Intraosseous Access)I didn't have to take the classes, but I wanted to do SOMETHING to keep my mind involved in health care until I start working. It wasn't cheap, but I'm glad I did it.

Now, for the real "I Made it Monday". This was a recipe I got from church. We got an entire packet of recipes all centered around pumpkin. I knew by the name of this recipe it was going to be a BIG risk and I had no idea if we would like it at all, but I really wanted to try something different.

Spicy Enchiladas with Pumpkin Sauce
2-4 Boneless, Skinless chicken Breasts or 2 Large cans Canned Chicken (We were out of chicken, but have LOTS of deer meat, so I used strips of deer loin.)
6 Scallions (I couldn't find these at the store so I just used a bunch of green onions)
Course Salt and Ground Pepper
1 can (15 ounces) Pumpkin
4 Garlic cloves, peeled or 1 teaspoon dehydrated garlic
1 Jalapeno Chile, quartered (remove ribs and seeds for less heat, if desired)...(I didn't have a whole one, probably almost 2/3 of one so I keps just a little rib and seed, but it was plenty spicy for us)
1 tsp chili powder
2-2 1/2 cups chicken broth* (I debated using beef broth since I was cooking with deer, but I decided to stick with chicken broth)
6-8 (6 inch) corn tortillas
2 cups grated sharp white cheddar Cheese (about 10 ounces)...(I just used regular cheddar cheese and some already shredded Mexican cheese mix - in the bag)

*If cooking chicken, use reserved broth. If using canned chicken, use canned chicken broth or 2-2 1/2 cups water and 3 bouillon cubes.

Chicken Preparation: If using uncooked chicken, clean and remove any fat. Place chicken breasts in a medium saucepan; cover with water. Add 1 Tbs dehydrated onions or 1/4 medium onion, chopped. Toss in 4-6 peppercorns. Cook on High heat for 18-20 minutes. Remove from heat, cool and shred. (Strain broth and reserve for later.) Put chicken in medium bowl. If using canned chicken, drain and put in a medium bowl and prepare chicken broth or use canned broth.

1. Combine chicken and Scallions (or in our case deer). Season generously with salt and pepper, set aside.
2. In a blender, puree pumpkin, garlic, jalapeno, chili powder and 2-1/2 cups chicken broth, 2 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper until smooth (hold top firmly as blender will be quite full. Pour 1 cup of sauce in the bottom of an 8 inch square baking dish.
3. If making rolled enchiladas, lay tortillas on work surface; mound chicken mixture (and I added some of the pumpkin mix and cheese) on half of each tortilla, dividing evenly. Roll up tortillas; place, seam side down, in backing dish.
(This is where I start getting a little absent minded and somethings just weren't working out. For example, as I rolled the corn tortillas they kept ripping and breaking apart. I don't know if it was because they weren't warmed up or because they had frozen (but thawed) in the back of our fridge a little)
4. If making the casserole, layer 3 tortillas on sauce, followed by half the chicken, and 1/3 of the cheese. Next layer 3 more tortillas, the rest of the chicken, the remainder of the sauce and the last of the cheese.
5. Place dish on a baking sheet; bake until cheese is golden and sauce is bubbling, 25-30 minutes.
After I rolled the tortillas (even with some broken I poured the sauce over them. I wasn't really thinking and I poured all of the sauce over them - basically drowning the enchiladas. When they were done cooking I had basically boiled the tortillas in the sauce so there really wasn't any form to the tortillas, just more of a casserole, but it was still really yummy. Dan ate his in a soft flour tortilla, which tasted pretty good too. I would definitely do things a little differently next time, but we enjoyed it.

The next night, I put the rest of the enchilada stuff into flour tortillas and lightly fried them - that was REALLY GOOD!!! We got a lot of mileage out of this recipe and we will definitely do it again. The pumpkin wasn't so powerful, but it was just enough to taste a little more refreshing than most enchiladas. I would suggest this - unless you really hate pumpkin. It took a little time rolling the enchiladas, but everything else was pretty simple.