Name: Pepper Jack Chicken Enchilada Recipe
Prep time: 30 min
Total time: 60 min
Ingredients: 4 pcs Chicken Breasts; 1 cup Salsa; ½ cup Sour Cream; 1 cup Pepper Jack Cheese; 8 ounces Brick of Cream Cheese (softened); 8 pcs White Flour Tortillas

Have you wanted to teach your kids to cook, but you lack the time, patience, or energy to do it? Yes, it does take some planning to start, but as they learn, it will get better. One key tip is to choose easy recipes like our Pepper Jack Chicken Enchilada..

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A batch of Pepper Jack Chicken Enchiladas in a casserole dish.

This recipe is easy to follow and the preparation is fairly simple, so you can bring the kids in on cooking dinner. While no parent would argue that teaching kids to cook a meal isn’t an important thing to do, it can be hard to actually put that into practice. Many families are so busy and the evening hours are so stuffed with extracurricular activities and homework, that taking the time to make cooking with kids a priority is hard.

In the hours before dinner, everyone is hungry, rushed, and irritable, so having the patience to slowly instruct a kid on proper food handling, how to use a knife safely, and watching for accidents around a hot stove can seem too stressful. It actually feels easier to just shoo everyone out of the kitchen and allow one of the parents to handle dinner prep on their own.

Pepper Jack Chicken Enchilada Recipe

April Freeman

Creamy, slightly spicy, and loaded with the creamy goodness of cheese, our recipe for Pepper Jack Chicken Enchilada is a casserole style dinner over which your whole family will rave.

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Prep Time 30 mins

Baking Time 30 mins

Total Time 1 hr

Cuisine Mexican

Servings Servings

Equipment

Medium-Sized Saucepan
Plate
9 inch Square Pan
Electric Mixer
Medium-Sized Bowl
Spatula

Ingredients

4 pcs Chicken Breasts
1 cup Salsa
½ cup Sour Cream
1 cup Pepper Jack Cheese
8 ounces Brick of Cream Cheese softened
8 pcs White Flour Tortillas

Instructions

In a medium sized saucepan, cover the chicken breasts with cool water. Put the chicken on the stove over medium heat and bring the pot to a boil. Turn off the heat, put a lid on the pot and set a timer for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, take the chicken out of the pot and set it on a plate to cool for about 5 minutes before you shred it.
Turn on your oven to 350 degrees and spray a 9-inch square pan with cooking spray.
While the chicken is cooling, use an electric mixer to beat the cream cheese with the sour cream until it is smooth.
Add in half of the salsa and beat it again. Stir the shredded chicken into the mixture.
Scoop spoonfuls of this mixture into the tortillas, roll the tortilla around the chicken, and place it, seam side down in the prepared pan. Repeat with all the tortillas, leaving about ¼ cup of the mixture in the bowl.
Space the tortillas in the pan so that they cover the bottom of the pan.
Spread the remainder of the chicken mixture over the top of the tortillas in an even layer and top that with the rest of the salsa. Smooth these with a spoon, so they are evenly distributed over the top of the tortillas.
Sprinkle the cheese over the top of the tortillas.
Bake the pan uncovered in the center of your preheated oven for about 30 minutes. The cheese on top of the dish should be lightly browned and melted and the filling of the tortillas should be bubbling.
Take the pan from the oven and use a spatula to cut squares from the pan to serve.
To store, cover the baking pan with aluminum foil and put in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. To reheat, place the entire baking pan in the oven heated to 350 degrees and bake it for about 15 to 20 minutes.

Notes

Yet, teaching kids to cook is very important. While it does take time and patience, the payoff is huge. The kids learn something that will be useful to them in the future, and they will feel great about their growing expertise. Kids see cooking a meal as a “grownup” thing to do, and they will enjoy sharing their skills with their friends and family members. In fact, in the future, when you’re running late, it is actually wonderful to be able to call ahead to the kids and ask them to get started on preparing the evening meal.

The trick is to set up your family for success. First, make teaching this skill a priority on a day that you aren’t in a hurry or stressed. Make Saturday or Sunday the day for having the kids in the kitchen with you since you won’t be rushing off to work. Second, if you have multiple kids, maybe you should attempt this with just one or two of the children the first few times.

Also, if you have infants or toddlers, make sure that they are either napping or being watched by their other parent. Third, choose recipes that the kids will enjoy and be successful with. When one learns to ride a bike, one gets training wheels, and cooking is no different. Pick simple recipes to begin with, like our recipe for Pepper Jack Chicken Enchilada.

The biggest thing to remember when cooking with kids is to go into it with the right mindset. You will need extra patience. Kids act silly, make mistakes, and make messes because they are kids. Make the entire process something to enjoy, something exciting, and something to help your family grow together. You don’t have to be a talented chef to teach your kids a few basic recipes. Your children can gain confidence in the kitchen, and soon all of you will work together as a team to feed the family something delicious and nutritious.

Keyword Main Course, Pepper Jack Chicken Enchilada, Recipe

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Pepper Jack Chicken Enchilada Recipe

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Ingredients