Being Idle Means Good Food

“Being idle is good” is my new mantra for this month. The idea of idleness might sound strange since most of us have been cooped up indoors, working from home, eating from home, exercising from home, and basically doing everything indoors. Although we may have been somewhat more stationary, as in our locale, chances are great that idleness is not something that has been experienced much while being indoors. Just looking at the list of things we have been doing while indoors, we can see a picture in which we are busy, overscheduled, and most likely exhausted by it all.

In the spirit of being idle, yet still feeding our families, I am going to share some shortcuts to creating a delicious and healthy homemade meal.

One of my favorite go to’s is a store-bought rotisserie chicken. That one small chicken can be turned into a couple of different meals from chicken salad, chicken tortilla soup, to my family favorite: chicken enchilada-like lasagna. This dish is in one pan, so cleaning up is a snap. While I don’t generally cook with a ton of can foods, I don’t mind it so much for this dish. Perhaps it’s the year-long cooking festival that has me not complaining about using can foods for a change.

Take the meat off the rotisserie chicken. (You can take the leftover bones and make great soup stock)

1 can of diced green chilis

1 can of corn or use frozen corn (just defrost)

1 can of black beans (if using dry beans, go through the process of soaking overnight)

18 corn tortillas (I love Tortilla Factory Tortillas that is a blend of corn and wheat)

1 can of enchilada sauce (I also add a Tomatillo sauce as well) You could also get creative and use some type of salsa.

Mexican cheese (I use about 1 ½ bags of the shredded cheese)

1 onion finely diced

2 garlic cloves finely minced

1 green or red pepper chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Get a 9 by 13 baking dish ready.

Place chicken, onion, peppers, and garlic in saute pan with oil. Saute for a few minutes. Add in corn, black bean, diced green chilis. This is when I add some tomatillo sauce.

In the baking dish, add a thin layer of enchilada sauce. Then add tortillas. They can overlap a bit. Next add chicken mixture, enchilada sauce, cheese. Repeat layer. You should end with cheese on top.

Bake for 20-25 minutes.

I add in some chopped cilantro, a squeeze of lime juice, and serve with avocado slices.

Bon appetit!