Easy Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas

I love these chicken enchiladas. I don't make them very often because this is one of those meals that makes way more food than my family could ever possibly eat. Theoretically, these would be amazing to freeze, but I have no idea how to do that. No clue.

You will need 1 cup chopped onion, 2 T. vegetable oil, 1 tsp. each of chili powder and garlic powder, 1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, 6 cups of cooked, shredded chicken, 1 cup salsa, 8 oz. shredded cheddar cheese, 1/4 cup chopped black olives, 16 flour tortillas and 2 cans (14 oz each) enchilada sauce.

Ok, let's get started. I am already ahead of the game because I cooked my chicken the day before. I had every intention of making the chicken enchiladas, but I didn't have any chili powder. So, I stuck the chicken in the fridge and moved on to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. The Food Network will be calling any day now.

I love onions. Yum. Chop 1 onion, or one and a half onions, depending on how much you love them. They make me cry, but I still love them.

Throw your diced onions into a pan with the 2 t. oil. Make sure your pan is hot because you don't want those onions to absorb the oil, you want them to cook in it. Cook about 5 minutes.

Add your spices. Now, the recipe calls for 1 tsp. each of the chili powder and garlic powder, but I use 1 Tablespoon garlic powder and 2 or 3 Tablespoons chili powder. I like spices. Even more than I like onions. I also used a lot of black pepper, but you don't have to.

Don't the onions look happy? I think they do.

Lower the heat. Break the cream cheese into pieces. I use the professional technique of squishing it with my fingers. Very fancy.

Keeping it at a low heat, mix the cream cheese in with the onions. Breathe deeply. Be happy.

Add the cooked, shredded chicken.

Add the salsa. If your chicken seems to be kind of dry, then add more salsa. Since my chicken has been hanging out in the fridge I added extra salsa.

Stir. Let cook for 3-5 minutes. I always forget to preheat the oven, so now is a good time to preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Add 1-1/2 c. shredded cheese and 1/4 cup sliced black olives. I hate black olives, but my crazy family loves them. Crazy. crazy people. You can add more cheese if you want to, I usually add 2 cups. I am trying to drown out the taste of the black olives.

Here is the final mixture. Yet another bizarre looking mixture, but I promise that it tastes amazing.

You will need a 9" x 13" pan. Pour one 14 oz. can of enchilada sauce into the bottom of the pan.

Add approximately 1/3 cup of the mixture to each tortilla. I used the small ones, but I should have used the larger tortillas. Roll the tortilla and place, seam side down, into the pan with the enchilada sauce.

They look so cozy in there, don't they? Just wait, it gets better.

Pour the second can of enchilada sauce over the top of the enchiladas and then top with shredded cheddar cheese. The recipe calls for the remaining 1/2 c. that you didn't put into the mixture, but that is long gone, so I used a second bag. It's a good thing we aren't lactose intolerant over here.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes and Voila! Easy Cheese Chicken Enchiladas. Serve with salsa and sour cream. Enjoy!