Leftover Chicken Ranch Style

Almost everyone eats some chicken and a lot of people eat a lot of chicken. Either way, they almost always have leftover chicken to deal with and there are a zillion recipes out there from which they can choose. A few are really good but most of them are forgettable. Even those that are good neglect to warn you that, once a chicken is cooked the way you like it, further cooking will not make it any better and quite often will ruin it. One must be very careful not to overcook leftover chicken and King Ranch Chicken is one recipe that will not do that.

A word of caution is in order. Quite often a person who is a good cook will look at a recipe like this one and have the urge to get creative. For example, instead of a can of mushroom soup they will want to saute fresh mushrooms and blend them into a real cream sauce. Big mistake! Stick with the recipe because it was never meant to do anything but feed a crowd of hungry ranch hands.

Meat Casseroles

You will need:

4 cups of leftover chicken, white or dark meat, chopped into bite-sized pieces
2 tbs butter
1 tbs canolo oil
1 green pepper, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2 (10 ounce) cans Rotel diced tomatoes with chilies
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
12 (6 inch) corn tortillas cut into quarters
8 oz shredded cheddar cheese

Melt butter and oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add bell pepper and onion and cook until slightly soft but not brown. Remove to a large bowl and thoroughly mix in the chicken, onions and peppers, diced tomatoes and both cans of soup

Arrange one-third of the tortilla quarters on the bottom of a 13X9x2 greased baking dish. (You can also use a souffle dish which makes it easier to arrange the tortilla quarters) Top the tortillas with one-third of the chicken mixture and sprinkle evenly with two-thirds of the cheese. Repeat the layers twice, reserving two-thirds cup of cheese. Cover the top loosely with foil and bake at 325 degrees for 35 minutes. Remove foil, sprinkle on remaining cheese and bake another 5 minutes. Let stand for ten minutes before serving.

All you need is a good salad and maybe a few warm tortillas to complete the meal.

NOTE: If you have no leftover chicken just poach some chicken breasts in chicken broth, cut them up and go for it.

Leftover Chicken Ranch Style

For more recipes, cooking suggestions and other food information go to Chef Dugan's web page: http://www.ineedtocook.com

Chef Dugan is the author of Help-I Gotta Cook!, awarded Cookbook of the Year by Books and Authors in 2007 and winner of an international award. The book is a comprehensive Cooking Guide as well as a 325 recipe Cookbook and was written for people who find themselves needing to cook but also needing a little help. As the book cover says, it's almost like having a cooking instructor in your kitchen!

You can learn more about Chef Dugan, who has cooked more than 40,000 meals, on his webpage http://www.ineedtocook.com

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