Aurora Antonovic - Chicken Enchiladas with Sour Cream Green Chili Sauce

Our guest poet recipe and poem for today comes from Aurora Antonovic. Aurora's recipe is timely for me. A local grocery store, Food Lion, has a buy one, get one free special this week for frozen chicken tenders and chicken breast. I'm having Chicken Enchiladas with Sour Cream Green Chili Sauce on Saturday!

Chicken Enchiladas with Sour Cream Green Chili Sauce

10 soft taco shells (either corn or flour)
2 cups cooked, shredded chicken (I cooked a whole chicken in the crockpot all day)
2 cups Monterey Jack cheese (I used Tex Mex cheese)
3 Tablespoons butter
3 Tablespoons flour
2 cups chicken broth (I used the broth from the crockpot chicken)
1 cup sour cream
1 4-oz can diced green chilies

1.) Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a 9 x 13" pan.
2.) Mix chicken with 1 cup of cheese. Divide evenly among the 10 tortillas. Roll up.
3.) In sauce pan, melt butter. Stir in flour. Gradually add the chicken broth, whisking until smooth and bubbly.
4.) Remove from heat. Gently stir in sour cream and diced green chilies. Do not place back on heat.
5.) Immediately pour over enchiladas. Top with remaining cheese.
6.) Bake for 22 minutes, then broil the remaining 3 minutes, to brown the cheese.

Living On Love

You say you love my cooking,
But you don’t let me do it often enough for you;
Tonight I have won,
And you keep coming into the kitchen,
To lift lids off pots,
Inhale the aroma of the simmering roast,
And say, in almost a bewildered tone,
“Who knew you could cook like this?”
Playfully, I smack you with a pot holder,
And tell you to be patient while I mix and stir,
Dice and mash,
Baste and brown.
Finally, we take our places,
And I fill your plate with
Thinly sliced beef, glazed carrots,
Mashed potatoes, swimming in lots of rich, brown gravy,
And crisp, steamed green beans with sesame seeds.
You start to ask me “How”, stop and say “Why,”
And next thing I know, you have a real tear in one of your eyes.
Alarmed, I get up and come to your side of the table,
And ask you what is wrong.
You say, “The thought of your small hands
Making all of this for me….”
Relieved, I sit on your lap,
Kiss away your one escaped tear,
And proceed to feed you your dinner,
Then hurry off to rescue
The bubbling apple pie,
That is singing for me to come get it
Out of the oven;
I serve it  with a dollop
Of real whipped cream,
And all my love.

Aurora Antonovic
(first published in AGT)