Chilaquiles: Delicious Mexican Nachos

As you probably know by now, The Hubs and I are major college football fans.  We spend our weekends from September - November with our "Fall Family" cheering on our beloved Aggies.  While our team didn't do quite as well as we had hoped for, it was a great season for college football, nonetheless.  There have been so many spectacular games and the National Championship between Auburn & Florida State on Monday was no different. 

When trying to plan what to eat while watching the game, I kept in mind that The Hubs & I would want to watch all the pre-game coverage before kickoff.  After all, Coach Sumlin & Johnny Manziel were going to be contributing their two cents before & during the game and we definitely wanted to hear what they had to say.  With that in mind, I thought a slow cooker meal would be a good fit.  That way, I could prep it during the day and dinner would be ready by game time with very little effort.

I settled upon a recipe I've made a couple of times before - Chilaquiles.   The best way to describe Chilaquiles is like a Mexican nacho.  It is a soupy concoction of stewed tomatoes, chiles, cilantro & seasonings that you serve over chips or wrapped in a tortilla.  It's delicious and easy to make! 

Chilaquiles
*Recipe adapted from MyRecipes.com

Ingredients:

• 2 (14oz) cans fire roasted tomatoes
• 1 medium red onion, diced
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• 2 Tbsp. chopped chipotle chiles, canned in adobo sauce
• 1 (4oz) can, diced green chiles, undrained
• 3 garlic cloves, finely minced
• 3/4 cup chicken broth
• 1 cup cilantro, roughly chopped
• 1 Tbsp. ground cumin 
• 1.5 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• Corn tortilla chips

Optional Toppings:

• Sour cream
• Cilantro 
• Avocado
• Shredded Cheese
• Lime Juice

Directions:

Combine first 10 ingredients (tomatoes through cumin) in a 5 quart slow cooker.   Submerge chicken breasts in tomato mixture.   Set the slow cooker on low and cook, covered, for 6 hours.  Remove chicken from the slow cooker and shred.  Return the chicken to the Chilaquiles.

Serve in a bowl over corn tortilla chips with desired toppings.

My Tid-Bits:

* This dish can be spicy or mild depending on the ingredients you use.  If you like it hot, be sure to get *HOT* green chiles rather than mild.  Also, you can keep the seeds in the chipotles in adobo.  If you like a more mild spice, add *MILD* green chilies.  I purchased whole chipotles in adobo and removed the seeds before chopping them up & throwing them in the pot.

* If you're in a hurry, you can set the slow cooker to high & cook for 4 hours.  As long as the chicken shreds, you're good to go.

*  This dish is EXCELLENT the next day.  You can either serve it over chips again or switch things up and make tacos.  


Now let's just see if I can keep The Hubs from going into withdrawal until college football starts back up in 231 days when the Aggies take on South Carolina.