Smothered Chicken Burritos

This dish used to be the one I'd serve the first time a new pastor came for dinner.

Over the course of thirty-some years of moving from pillar to post, and changing churches with each move, we've met a lot of pastors. And their families. And Associate Pastors. And their families.

Let's just say that I've served this dish often. And it always gets rave reviews!

We haven't moved lately, so I haven't made this recipe in a while. But when we were getting ready to celebrate another family birthday yesterday, I had a request for this fabulous casserole.

Smothered Chicken Burritos

ingredients:

2 1/2 pounds chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
3 cans cream of chicken soup
1 large can diced green chilies
1/2 onion, finely minced
16 ounces sour cream
1 1/2 pounds shredded cheese - Monterrey jack and cheddar blend - divided
16 small flour tortillas

I use a short cut for cooking the chicken breasts. I use those individually quick frozen breasts, which are so easy to work with. Sometime before putting this casserole together - at least six hours, but can be anytime up to 3 or 4 days ahead - put 2 1/2 pounds of frozen chicken breasts in your crock pot with one of the cans of cream of chicken soup. Cook on high for about six hours, then remove it from the crock pot, stir and cut the chicken to shred it in the sauce, then refrigerate it until you're ready to use it.

In a large bowl, mix together all of the ingredients except 1/2 the cheese.

Grease a large baking dish (I use my 9 x 11 plus a 9 x 9, or my new 10 x 15). Scoop about 1/3 cup filling into the center of each flour tortilla, roll, and place seam side down in the pan. Squeeze the burritos together to make room for all of them. I put 12 in my 9 x 11 baking dish, but all 16 fit in my 10 x 15.

You can also put half of the burritos in a 9 x 9 and the rest in another one to stick in your freezer. It depends on how many people are around your table. :)

By the way, garage sales are great. When I spied this Pyrex baking dish at a local sale for $1.00, I was doin' the happy dance!

After you get all of the burritos neatly tucked away, you should have about half of the filling left. Pour it over the burritos. This is the "smothered" part.

FYI - in case you were wondering, this recipe is not "low" anything. Not low fat, not low carb. Not low flavor. Not low anything.

Now sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top.

Bake at 325° for one hour. The house will smell delicious!

Like my husband always says, this isn't the prettiest dish around. But the first bite? I haven't met anyone who doesn't absolutely love this.

It must be all the cheese!

And by popular demand, here are some pictures to enjoy!

My husband and I have been roaming the Hills lately, dreaming about buying land.

We looked at this place on Saturday. Almost perfect, but had two major strikes against it. The biggest is that just under the surface of the ground is a rock called Bald Mountain. We'd have to use dynamite before we could build here. The other problem was that it was too close to the highway. So we keep looking.

And speaking of rocks, we ran across this gorgeous cliff while hiking a few weeks ago. This view doesn't do it justice, but it was awesome.

Last of all, a cute Corgi picture. :)

Yes, this is the normal Corgi pose. It's called "rub my belly please!"

Jan Drexler loves her family, her home, cooking and just about anything made by hand. But she loves her Lord most of all. Stop by Jan's website to learn more about her books: www.JanDrexler.com