Chicken and Black Bean Enchiladas

Living overseas has certainly changed my experience at the grocery store. Things I've taken for granted my whole life are suddenly really, really exciting. Example: corn tortillas. This is one item I just haven't been able to find here in Paraguay. I brought some masa down with me, but haven't yet taken the plunge. So, when I saw this happy little package at the grocery store I was thrilled! And yesterday was a great tropical rainstorm-cooler temperatures, lots of rain and even more thunder and lightening. Perfect cooking weather! I also had a friend over, who couldn't leave until the rain stopped-always good to have a captive audience when cooking. :)

What you need (ingredients):

2 chicken breasts, or leftover cooked chicken
1 can black beans, drained
1 can green chilis (I had to use dehydrated equivalent)
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1-2 packages of taco seasoning
10 small corn tortillas (of course you could use flour instead)
1 can enchilada sauce
grated cheese
toppings: sour cream and cilantro

What to do (instructions):

• If your chicken is raw, cook it. I just cooked mine up in a little olive oil. It gets plenty of seasoning later. When cooked, cut into small pieces and return to pan. 
• Preheat oven to 375 F or 190 C.
• Add the next 4 ingredients, through taco seasoning, to the pan. You'll probably need a little bit of water to "activate" the taco seasoning. 
• You can use enchilada sauce straight out of the can, but the mild is a little too mild for me, so I toss it in the blender with a few canned chipotle peppers and find it much more flavorful! Spray the bottom of  9x13 cooking dish with some non-stick spray, then spoon a few tablespoons of sauce across the bottom of the pan.
• Microwave the tortillas between paper towels to soften them up a little. Then add a few spoonfulls of the mixture to each tortilla, roll it, and place it in the pan. I ended up with 10 enchiladas, and some extra stuffing, which I just put in the end of the baking pan!
• Top with enchilada sauce
• Top with cheese

• Bake until the cheese is melted and the sauce is bubbly. I think mine took about 15 minutes but I forgot to time it. 
• Top and enjoy!
  

• Tell your drooling roommate he can have some, but only after he retracts his facebook photo and statement taking credit for said enchiladas. ;)