Pumpkin Chicken Enchiladas

Our friends Jen and Roger just had their third baby last week. He was a whopping 9lb, 11oz. We took them dinner on Sunday when they got home from the hospital. Several of their family members have to eat a gluten free diet so I looked to find yummy, gluten-free recipes to prepare. I found a blog that Jen actually uses that had a recipe for Pumpkin Chicken Enchiladas. Because I love all things pumpkin I had to try it and made it for our family as well.

It was a very unique recipe but all of us loved it. I thought I would share it as it was easy as well.

PUMPKIN CHICKEN ENCHILADAS
8 corn tortillas
a few tablespoons of cilantro (we actually did not have any on hand and it was fine without)
1 pound cooked, shredded chicken
1 can of Rotel with green chilis
6 oz. white sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (I could not find this so we used Quesadilla cheese)

Sauce
1 can pumpkin puree (15 oz)
3-4 cloves minced garlic
1 jalapeno (I forgot to buy, but don't like stuff too spicy anyway)
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin
2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon of pepper
1 1/2 cups of chicken stock or water.

DIRECTIONS: Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. In a blender, puree pumpkin, jalapeno, chicken stock, garlic, chili powder, cumin, salt, and pepper. Place 1 cup of this sauce in the bottom of an 8 inch glass casserole dish. In a bowl, combine shredded chicken with green chilis, cilantro, and/or scallions and season with salt and pepper. Place some of the chicken mixture on each tortilla and then lay the tortilla seam side down in the casserole dish. Pour the remaining sauce over the enchiladas. Top with cheese. However, if you are casein-free, this recipe is fine without cheese. Martha recommends placing your casserole dish on a baking sheet in the oven to prevent any spills. Bake for 20-25 minutes until cheese is melted and casserole is bubbly.

All of Katherine's Friends

Price, Quade, Bree, Katherine, Anna, Kaila, Elise, Caleb, Jaden, Andrew, William, Andrew and Corrine.

Well, actually this is not all if them, but my goodness, we have 13 kids on the couch. This was at our monthly pot luck that our former Sunday school class still has. These 13 kids were represented by 8 families. Three moms were also pregnant so the group keeps growing larger and larger.

We had a great evening enjoying BBQ sandwiches, chicken, salad and potato salad. It was a bit chaotic with the 13 kids running around and there were a few spats but nothing major. Sam and I have really enjoyed these friends over the past 5 years and are so glad that we still are able to get together once a month though we no longer meet weekly on Sunday morning.

I made the potato salad after hearing that we were having pulled pork sandwiches. I typically do not like potato salad but love the one at Red Hot and Blue. I found a recipe online and I thought it tasted just the same. I thought I would post it here for you all in case you also are a Red Hot and Blue Potato Salad fan. I have no idea how many the original recipe serves. It is obviously the restaurant recipe. I only made 1/3 of the recipe and we served 16 adults and had leftovers. Yummy-leftovers!

Red Hot and Blue Potato Salad
16-17 pounds red potatoes
13 hard boiled eggs cut into pieces
2 1/2 cups mayonnaise (Hellman's)
2 1/2 Tbsp celery seed
2 1/2 Tbsp salt
Steam potatoes 45-60 minutes. Cut into small pieces. Mix remaining ingredients and add to potatoes. Do not refrigerate before serving.

Note-if you make these, make sure you allow for enough time for the potatoes to cool (at least 45 minutes) or they turn to mush when trying to cut them and it burns the fingers. So, it is a very easy recipe but it does take some planning ahead time wise. Enjoy!