Baked Chicken Enchilada Macaroni & Cheese

IThis afternoon, I decided I needed to create chicken enchilada macaroni and cheese.  I am so glad I did. I took a tried and true basic baked macaroni and cheese recipe and added to it to make it spectacular. (This is the same basic recipe I use for my buffalo chicken macaroni and cheese that I should blog, and that I want to use for a few other variations I have in mind.) I also doubled the recipe, but here I have one batch. 

As I usually do when I recreate a recipe and add to it, I made way too much. As in two 9x12 pans, an 8 inch round casserole, and a 9 inch round casserole. I always double so I have one to eat freshx one to freeze for later, and one to share. This time, two are for sharing (and sorry, they are already claimed). That said, this will make enough for two- one to eat and one to freeze or share.  Or heck, have a party!

Baked Chicken Enchilada Macaroni & Cheese

(adapted by me from Alton Brown's Baked Mac and Cheese, homemade enchilada sauce courtesy gimmesomeoven)

1/2 pound macaroni

16 ounces shredded cheddar and jack cheeses

1 cup black beans

1 cup corn

1 cup diced tomatoes

1 small or medium  green chile

2 oz sliced black olives

3 cups cubed cooked chicken 

3 Tbsp butter

3 Tbsp flour

1 Tbsp mustard

4 cups milk

1/4 c. Diced onion

1 Tbsp minced garlic

1/2 tsp. paprika 

1 Tbsp mustard powder

1 egg

12 oz enchilada sauce (more or less to taste) 

Crushed tortilla chips or tortilla strips for topping

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Cook and cube chicken.

(This is actually 8 pounds of chicken (for this recipe and another I'm doing this week.))

In frying pan, sauté chopped green chile with onion and garlic.  Add corn, olives, and tomatoes.  Remove from heat and dump into a big bowl with the chicken.

Rinse black beans, add to the bowl.

In a large pot of boiling, salted water cook the pasta to al dente. Drain and add to the chicken and vegetables and mix well.

In a large pot, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour, paprika, and mustard, keep it moving for about five minutes. Make sure it's free of lumps. Stir in the milk, and enchilada sauce. Simmer ten minutes.

Temper in the egg. Stir in 3/4 of the cheese. Pour into the mix and pour into a 2 quart casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese and crushed chips. Repeat into a second dish.

 Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and rest for five minutes before serving.

You can garnish with sour cream if you'd like.

Here is the recipe I used for the enchilada sauce-

http://www.gimmesomeoven.com/red-enchilada-sauce/

Best.Soup.Ever. (Nik's Creamy Chicken & Wild Rice Soup)

Soup. Again.

This soup is one I came up with a few weeks ago. It was after two other attempts at a creamy chicken (or turkey) and wild rice soup. They were pretty good, with some room for improvement.

Third time's a charm, right?

The name " Best Soup Ever" is mostly a joke, but a BFF of mine told me that on Facebook, so I thought it a fun title.

Again, when I make soup, I don't use exact measurements, but so I tried really hard to take note of my exact "recipe" in the event that anyone wants to recreate.

Best Soup Ever ( Nik's Creamy Chicken & Wild Rice Soup)

- 2ish pounds shredded chicken
- 6 servings chicken bouillon broth (or so)
- 2 servings beef bouillon broth
- 1.5 cups wild rice blend (cooked to package directions)
- 1 can French cut green beans
- 1 cup or so chopped mushrooms
- 1/4 cup chopped celery
- 1/3 cup chopped carrots
- 1 quart (or pint) half and half
- 1 1/2 cup (or more) shredded Parmesan cheese
- 3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1/2 cup slivered or sliced almonds
- cayenne pepper
- poultry seasoning
- black pepper
- Mrs. Dash
- Old Bay
- minced onion
- minced garlic
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1/3 cup flour

I boil and shred two pounds of chicken.

I cook rice according to package (I took a photo of the rice blend I use) except I add a cube of bouillon instead of salt.

In a Dutch oven, I melt the butter and sauté vegetables and almonds for five minutes or so, to get them softened. Then, I add water and bouillon cubes (more or less to taste and for a bit if saltiness) and cooked rice. I cover and simmer while I shred the chicken and add it. Cubed chicken would work too, but I feel liked shredded chicken is more tender.

In a saucepan, I combine half and half (I used a pint once and a quart this time because they were out of pints at the store) and flour and whisk until smooth. I heat it over medium and add cheeses. I like to add as much Parmesan as possible, usually around 2 cups. I add less mozzarella than Parmesan.

When the cheese is melted and its become a thick sauce, I slowly add to the Dutch oven. Stir until combined and then simmer over low a while so the flavors can blend and it can thicken up a bit.

Notes: I boil the chicken in water seasoned wit poultry seasoning and a bit of cayenne pepper. I add a variety of seasonings to the broth before adding cheese sauce, and then taste test once it's incorporated. I add more seasonings and/or bouillon to taste.

Buffalo Chicken Soup

Lately, I am obsessed with buffalo chicken meals. I guess I have been for quite some time.


If you know me well, you would likely know that I am also somewhat obsessed with soup. I found a canned buffalo chicken soup at the store about a month ago and I had to try it. It disappointed me. Hardcore.

So, I made my own. I based it off a recipe I found online, but changed it up. Quite a bit. That one seemed bland, too.


Buffalo Chicken Soup
1 large can chicken broth
5 cups chicken bouillon broth
1 cup milk
1/2 c. Chopped celery
1/2 c. Chopped carrots
1 can diced potatoes
1 can diced tomatoes
1/2 c. Whole kernel corn
4 or more tablespoons buffalo sauce
2.5 pounds cooked, shredded chicken
3/4 c. Shredded mozzarella cheese
3/4 c. Shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 c. Shredded Parmesan cheese
5 oz. crumbled blue cheese
2/3 c. Flour
4 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon minced onion


Sauté the minced onion, celery and carrots in the butter and garlic in a Dutch oven or soup pot.

Add liquids, heat thoroughly. I use the canned broth plus broth from bouillon to add some salt.

Toss flour and cheeses together in a bowl. Add gradually to the hot liquids.

Add buffalo sauce. I usually just dump some in at this point.

Stir and continue heating until cheese is melted. It takes a while. Stir frequently.

Add drained cans of potatoes and tomatoes and the corn.

Add shredded chicken. Add more sauce and milk or broth if its too thick for your liking.

Heat thoroughly and enjoy!


I took the photo of the completed soup prematurely. I needed to sample a bowl to make room for the rest of the chicken so it wasn't thick as I usually have it and the cheese wasn't completely melted yet. Whoops.

"Experimental Soup" (My husband says it's like Borscht...)

This recipe is all Nik. Yup, it's mine. (And that photo is the leftovers after being in the fridge. It tastes much better than the photo would lead you to believe...)

On Facebook, I made a quip about my husband being so awesome that he was about to get lucky with supper, as I was making him some "experimental soup."

What does that mean, exactly? It means I had no set plan and I was just going to experiment with what I had in the kitchen and hope for the best (which, when it comes to making soup, I must say, usually ends pretty well).

Much to my delight (and possibly Jake's relief), it was fantastic soup! In fact, when I had told my cousin about it via text message, she thought it sounded superb (I could have done a pun there, or a play on words, or whatever... you know.. "souperb" or "souper" (and I did it anyway...)) and she wanted to have some the next day for lunch.

Well, she loved it. And took extras for later.

I had some more last night, because it was stored perfectly well and was STILL tasty. Yum!

I decided I would share my "experimental soup" recipe (if it can be called that(I thought about calling it something else, like Nik's Borscht, but I think that the title I gave it originally is funny, as questionable as it may sound)). It's not exact measurements, so I hope you're not a person who hates that sort of cooking.

Here goes...

Experimental Soup:

1 can condensed tomato soup

6 c. chicken broth (I made mine from bouillon cubes)

1-2 large chicken breasts, diced and cooked (and seasoned with pepper and garlic and Mrs. Dash if you're me)

1 large zucchini, peeled (if you wish), sliced, and steamed

1 can whole potatoes (or five small ones), cut into cubes

1 can/cup cooked asparagus

1 cup cubed, cooked sweet potatoes

1 can whole kernel corn

2-4 cups cooked pasta of your choice (I used a random bag of multi-colored and multi-shaped stuff I found in the cupboard and just dumped some in a pan and cooked it)

1 can diced tomatoes (or a few tomatoes you diced on your own)

minced garlic to taste (I added a lot)

cayenne pepper to taste (I added a fair amount)

Italian seasoning to taste (I added a little)

• Dice and cook the chicken.
• Throw it (nicely) in the crock pot.
• Add the tomato soup and chicken broth.
• Prepare noodles (cook to your desire, mine were a bit over-done but it didn't much matter) and pour gently into the crock pot.
• Prepare vegetables (whether fresh or in the can (as in drain)) and dump (slowly, so as to not splash) in the crock pot.
• Stir.
• Add seasonings of your choice, or of my suggestion.
• Stir again. Taste.
• Cook until it's hot and serve.

If I had them on hand, I probably would have added carrots and celery too. But, I didn't. Like I said, this was a smorgasbord soup of random kitchen ingredients.

:)