As many of you know we just moved to the Northeast from my home town of LA, CA.  Being a bred a So Cal girl, anytime I’m back east I immediately begin to crave some good ol’ Mexican food.  Oh, yes, I love me some spicy hometown grub.  Sadly, since we now live here year round that means I’m usually out of luck.  Now if you’re familiar with the East then you know, it’s really really hard to find good authentic Mexican food here.  Even the Tex-Mex is suspect.  Here in CT, the options are downright bleak.

See I love the good ol’ fashioned, hole in the wall, homemade salsa so spicy you’ll have heartburn for a week but it’s worth it, kind of places.  All I have here is a Taco Bell, and a bunch of terrible places with names like Caliente Rico’s or the like.  Needless to say, I’m dying.  So what do the kids and I do when we’ve already had Fitz Family Taco Night three times this month and we don’t feel like another run for the border???  We switch things up to a fabulous Chicken Ole Casserole!

Here’s what you’ll need.

3 chicken breasts cooked and chopped

3 whole wheat tortillas

2 cups tortilla chips

1 onion chopped

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 T cumin

1/2 T corriander

1/2 T chili powder

1/4 T cayenne pepper

1/2 T dried oregano

S&P

1 can red enchilada sauce

1 can olives

1 can diced green chiles

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat your oven to 375.  In a large bowl combine chicken, sour cream, mayonnaise, cumin, corriander, chili powder, cayenne pepper, S&P and oregano.  Mix well.  Line the bottom of a baking dish with tortillas.  Add a layer of your chicken mixture, next a layer of half of your green chiles and half your olives.  Sprinkle with cheese.  Add a layer of half of your tortilla chips. Repeat the layer process with the remaining ingredients.  Pour the enchilada sauce on top.

Cover with foil and bake at 375 for 30 minutes.  Remove foil and bake for an additional five minutes.  Remove from oven and serve with sour cream, diced scallion and tomato.

This does the trick and takes care of our cravings for the southwest.  Sometime you just have to take matters into your own hands…Ole!

Are there any foods that you can’t find in your area that you really miss?