King Ranch Chicken

Hello again!  How was the weekend??  I had a great weekend...shopping, spring football game, wine on the patio, lunch with girlfriends...and I met Eva Longoria!  She came to Houston yesterday to sign copies of her new cookbook so I went to that with some friends.  She was so nice and we all got our pics taken with her...I'll post them later!  Can't seem to find my camera cord.........I am going to try a couple recipes out of her cookbook this week.  I'll report back!

But for now, my recipe - not nearly as exciting as Eva.  I have been meaning to attempt to redo this notoriously unhealthy recipe for a while...just hadn't gotten around to it.  Barry used to work down on part of the King Ranch, so somehow I felt like I was doing him a favor...bringing back good memories for him.  Maybe???  Probably not.

Barry on the ranch with his fav hunting dog...after Lori obviously

Becky found this recipe for me via a simple google search of "easy king ranch chicken."  This was definitely easy, I tweaked it a bit and voila!

2-3 cups cooked shredded chicken (I put mine in my mini food processor and it came out finely chopped in about 5 seconds...why didn't I think of this before?!?)

1 can diced tomatoes with green chilis (I use Ro-Tel)

1 can Healthy Request Cream of Chicken

1 can Healthy Request Cream of Mushroom

1/2 large or 1 small onion, chopped (again with the food processor)

8 corn tortillas

1.5 cups 2% Mexican Blend cheese, shredded

A couple handfuls of baked tortilla chips (optional)

1 handful of chopped cilantro (optional)

Once chicken is cooked and shredded, combine with tomatoes, both soups and onion in large mixing bowl.

Line the bottom of a greased 9x13 casserole dish with the 8 corn tortillas. 

Pour chicken mixture over tortillas.

Top with shredded cheese.

I had a bag of baked tortilla chips in the pantry with just a couple handfuls in it so I decided to crumble those and throw them on top...mostly so I wouldn't snack on them, but also to add in some crunch.  I also had some cilantro left over from something last week that I needed to use ASAP - this added in some really good flavor.  The casserole would have been good without both of these ingredients...but I highly recommend!

Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes, until cheese is melted and sides are bubbly.

Yup, looks just like it did before it went in the oven

Off to enjoy my left overs for lunch!  Its really good reheated...

ENJOY!