Chile Rellenos Casserole

Looking for a versatile dinner?  One you can dress up or down?  Meatless or not?  From scratch or quickly from convenience items?  This meal is it.  It’s one of our family favorites due to it’s great flavor and it’s one of my favorites for how quickly it all comes together.

Let me just state ahead of time – I’m still pulling the “I Just Moved” card.  I usually like to use left-over, shredded chicken with this dish but didn’t have any in the fridge so I used canned chicken.  I kind of regretted it when we sat down to eat.  Really, I love this dish without any meat and probably should have just gone without instead of heading for the can.  I’ll leave the choice up to you as to what you want to put in this one.

Chili Relleno Casserole

6-7 Flour tortillas, cut into 1″ strips

3 – 7oz cans of green chiles (traditionally, we like the whole ones that you rinse, pat dry and lay open as a layer but the kids balk at seeing such a large mass of green so we’ve found that they do better with the chopped variety)

~3 cups shredded Cheddar and Monterey Jack cheeses, combined

1 1/2 cups chunky salsa

8 eggs (Again, sometimes it’s faster to buy the big carton of ‘Egg Beaters’ when you know this meal is coming up on the menu.  For a lighter option, you can opt for the egg white version.)

~1 1/2 – 2 cups cooked, shredded chicken (or one large can), optional

2 tsp black pepper

2 tsp onion powder

2 tsp cumin

1 tsp paprika

3-4 drops tabasco sauce, optional

Directions:

GREASE a 9×13″ baking pan.

PREPARE ingredients:

-Rinse and pat dry green chiles (if using whole chiles, if using chopped then skip this step)

-Cook and shred chicken, if using

     -Cut the tortillas into 1″ strips

     -Shred the cheeses

PLACE in layers in the baking pan:

Chiles

Tortilla Strips

Cheese

Chicken

REPEAT for about 3 layers or until you’ve used up all your ingredients.  You should end up with something that looks sort of like this:

NEXT, whisk together the eggs, salsa, pepper, onion powder, cumin and tabasco sauce.

POUR egg mixture over the casserole.

SPRINKLE with any left-over cheese and the paprika.

BAKE at 375˚ for 35-40 minutes.  Eggs should be well set and not runny.

LET sit for 5 minutes before serving.

SERVE with sour cream and salsa.  Enjoy!