Flat Chicken Enchiladas with Gluten Free Enchilada Sauce

Why would you want flat enchiladas you ask? Well, because corn tortillas break easily. And since I am a gluten free eater, it makes sense to not try to fold the enchiladas into rolls, but to make them flat. I came up with this idea after trying to roll my first enchilada today... thinking that it would be kinda like an enchilada stack. Or an enchilada lasagna. I had lots of kale around from the garden, and lots of homemade green tomato salsa, some chicken, beans and peppers. Nothing like a chilly Sunday in the kitchen to make a girl creative. 

Here is the recipe for my new favorite casserole-ish dish. That proudly does not have any cream of yucky soup. It can be made 2 days ahead and kept in the fridge. Just take it out and bake it as the directions below say. Or, made and frozen. If you are going to freeze it, make sure to let it defrost in the fridge 24 hours before baking.

Anyway...... 

Flat Chicken Enchiladas with Gluten Free Enchilada Sauce (omit chicken to make vegetarian)

Ingredients

• 2 large chicken breasts
• 1/3 cup water
• 2 tbsp. lime juice (preferably fresh)
• 1 1/2 tbsp. homemade gluten free taco seasoning 
• evoo
• 1 red bell pepper, thinly chopped
• 2 handfulls of kale, chopped
• 1 can of black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 tsp Sriracha (optional)
• 1/3 c. sour cream (or nonfat greek yogurt) 
• 1/2 quart jar green tomato salsa, pureed (you could certainly use a can of store bought enchilada sauce... but it won't do anything for your abundance of green tomatoes. and obviously, won't be nearly as good ;)
• 7 corn tortillas, halved
• 2/3 can non-fat refried beans (I prefer vegetarian)
• 1/2 cup. shredded cheese (mexican blend, or whatever you would like) 

Ingredient prep:

1.  Place the chicken breasts in an 8x8 baking dish. Add 1/3 cup water and lime juice. Sprinkle the breasts with the taco seasoning. Refrigerate. Marinate for at least 15-20 minutes- up to 3 hours. (Don't leave any meat marinating for too long if the marinade has citrus. The citrus will start to cook the proteins in the meat after a while.)
2.  Once the chicken is ready, slice it into strips.  In a large skillet, get 1 tbsp. of evoo hot over medium heat. Add the chicken, spice side-down. Let it cook 3 minutes and flip. 
3.  Add the marinade. You are going to simmer this for a while, so don't worry about the fact that raw chicken was in the marinade. It will actually add a lot of flavor and you will definitely cook away anything that is suspect. 
4. Bring the marinade up to a boil, reduce heat and simmer. Add water if needed. Cook until the marinade becomes a sauce, 15 minutes or so. (you can add a tsp. of corn starch to thicken up the sauce if you need to. 
5. Once the sauce is thickened, remove from heat and place chicken and sauce in a bowl to cool.
6. 
7. Return the skillet to the burner over medium heat. Add another drizzle of evoo. 
8.  Add the chopped red peppers, cooking until fragrant and some of the skins start to turn brown. Add the kale. Cook another minute and add the beans. Stir frequently, cooking off as much liquid as possible. Remove from heat and reserve in a bowl. 

***Preheat oven to 350.****
Wash your 8x8 baking dish that you marinated the chicken in. You will construct the enchiladas in this.

Begin construction of the flat enchiladas.

1. Spread green tomato salsa across the bottom of the baking dish to prevent sticking 
2. top with 4 tortillas- space to minimize overlapping.
3. Layer black beans/kale/red pepper mixture. Then refried beans.
4. Layer the chicken next, tearing it into bite size pieces
5. Top with sour cream (add the sriracha to the sour cream and mix together for a nice kick) and some more of the green tomato salsa
6. 
7. Next, put down another layer of corn tortillas. Layer remaining black bean mixture, refried beans and chicken. 
8. Rough chop the remaining corn tortillas (should be about 3 halves left) and mix them into the shredded cheese (this will give the topping a nice *crunch* as the tortillas brown.)
9. Top with more green salsa, pressing the salsa down with a spatula to sink all the ingredients below and to get rid of air pockets
10. Sprinkle shredded cheese/corn tortilla mixture over the top. (this is where you can refrigerate or freeze it. If eating it today, follow baking instructions below.)
11. 
12. Bake uncovered, 30-35 minutes until bubbly. 
13. Switch the oven to broil to brown the top, if necessary.
14. Let cool 10-15 minutes before cutting.

Enjoy with a nice gluten-free beer. 

xx&o 

Amy