Enchilada Chicken Casserole

There are days when I have leftovers that need to be reformed into another meal. There are also weeks when the food ads are so lame there is no reason to set foot in a grocery store. This was one of those times. Anyone who reads my blog knows I keep a stocked refrigerator, and had already planned this week based of foods I have available. This is one of the results. It is not really a recipe but more of a "how to", therefore all measurements are approximate.

Enchilada Chicken Casserole*

1/2 cup enchilada sauce + additional for serving

4 ounces cream cheese

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 -1/2 teaspoon salt

black pepper to taste

1 cup shredded chicken

chopped sweet peppers 1/2 cup maybe?

1/2 jalapeno, minced (optional)slightly undercooked rice

1/2 cup shredded cheddar

1/4 cup shredded pepper jack

Sliced olives, scallion tops and sliced peppers for garnish 

Heat oven to 350. Spray a 9x9 baking dish with Pam. Spread the rice in an even layer over the bottom of the pan.

Stir the cream cheese until it s softened, then mix in the enchilada sauce.  Add the seasonings and blend well. Stir in the chicken and peppers then plop it on top of the rice. Spread it evenly the place in the oven to bake for about 20 minutes.  Sprinkle the cheese on top until it is melted, toss the garnishes over the top of the melted cheese and a quick dinner is ready. 

Serve with additional enchilada sauce.

I snapped this picture right before I sat down to eat and had not yet spooned a tad more sauce on it.

It would have been prettier if I had used red peppers but I didn't have any. * To make this keto, I used my own sugar free enchilada sauce. (Found the recipe online a while back but I don't remember where.  Made 3 x's the recipe )  I keep it in 1 cup containers in the freezer so I always have it on hand. Instead of rice, I used frozen riced cauliflower. I sprayed the pan and put the cauliflower in it to bake about 10 or so minutes so it would be thawed and dried out a little before I added the chicken mix.

TheHub is non keto and this gets his seal of approval. We will add this to our dinner rotation for the summer. I have a dual microwave/convection oven and the 9x9 dish is small enough to bake there without doing any serious heating up the kitchen. Good food and less heat is a summertime win!