Make Ahead Party Dinner! (Enchilada Lasagna)

Happy Monday!

Hope you had a great weekend.  We've had a bit of a heat spell this last week and weekend, which has put a damper on some of the organizing projects I'd had planned.  Instead, we sweat through our soccer games and spent a lot of time indoors trying to stay cool! 

Friday was no exception...except that we've been planning a dinner party with a few couples from the neighborhood and their children.  Which meant that I had to cook something..which meant I had to turn on the oven or stove...or so I thought.  We have really great friends...so great, that when we have parties, everyone contributes and no one person is held totally responsible for all of the preparations.  I'd been planning on making an "enchilada lasagna" that I've adapted from multiple sources over the years, but the thought of turning the oven on made me want to cry just a little bit (we do not have air conditioning!)  So instead, I started a day early and then had the Teacher heat the "lasagna" on the barbecue the evening of.  This is what I did.  The recipe/method listed below will yield 2 full pans of "enchilada lasagna"...which was waaaay more than we needed for 8 adults...so I have a full one left in the fridge...its totally freezable too.

Thursday (day before the party):  I put 4 frozen chicken breasts in the crockpot and let them work all day.  I had the Teacher shred them while they were still hot (because I'm a wuss when it comes to hot things) and then I put it in the fridge overnight. 

Also Thursday:  I made the sauce on the stove (so technically yes, I did have to use the stove, but since I did it the night before, I didn't have to further heat my house the day/night of the party).  

Sauce:  

1 large onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced (I use the bottled kind..because I'm lazy)

2 t olive oil

2 16 oz cans of diced tomatoes with chilis

16 oz of tomato sauce (from my freezer)

1/2 C diced green chilis (I used the canned ones)

2 t sugar

2 t cumin

1 t salt (I use less since I used some canned products)

2 t Italian herb blend

Saute onions and garlic in the olive oil until a little soft.  Add the rest of the above ingredients, bring to a boil and let simmer 20 minutes or so.  Turn off heat.

At this point, I refrigerated the sauce (in its pot) for use the next day.

Friday:  (day of party)...its Assembly Time!!  Be sure to place your pot of sauce as close to your 9 x 13 baking pan for assembly...otherwise you get a lot of this:

What else you need:

8 large flour tortillas

4 C pepper jack cheese, shredded (or more, because more is better when it comes to cheese, right??)

3 C sour cream (24 oz tub)

Dip 2 tortillas into the sauce (both sides) and line the bottom of your pan, like this:

 Then layer 1/2 of your shredded chicken (equivalent to 2 breasts), like this:

 Followed by 1/4 of your shredded cheese:

 Next, dip just one side of 2 more tortillas and place on top with the saucy side down, like this:

 Next, add the sour cream to your sauce and use your handy dandy immersion blender to blend it all together (if you don't have one of these, do yourself a favor and put it on your Christmas list....its AMAZING...so versatile!!)

 Pour half the sauce over each "lasagna" and then sprinkle with the remaining shredded cheese, like this:

 This is where you can put the whole thing in the fridge for later or bake.  Bake at 350 until heated through...about 45 minutes.  I did mine covered on the bbq, but the oven is what I usually use.  If you wanted to, you could use little corn tortillas and fill them with chicken and cheese, roll and place seam side down in your pan, covering with sauce at the end.  I've done this too...actually, its what I used to do before I had kids and had time...this fake out, however, tastes exactly the same and is actually less carbohydrates because it uses less tortilla.  

It was a hit!  One family brought salad, one brought the most delicious beans and rice I've EVER had and the last family brought dessert!  I made sure to have plenty of beer and white sangria in the fridge and we had a great night!  

Does anyone else have tips for easy entertaining???  As far as I'm concerned, the less that has to be done on the actual day, the better.  This was a winner in my book!

Have a great week!

~Bean