Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas

Tip: When shredding the chicken, quarter the cooked breasts and place in a tall mixing bowl. Use an electric mixer and beat chicken until shredded to your liking. This gives a nice restaurant-style shredded look and is much easier than the fork method!

⅓ cup honey
¼ cup lime juice (about 2 large limes)
2 to 3 teaspoons chili powder
2 large cloves of garlic, finely minced
     OR ½ teaspoon garlic powder
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 2 large breasts), cooked and shredded
12 corn tortillas
2 cups of Mexican cheese blend, shredded
1 14-ounce can of green enchilada sauce (mild or medium, to your taste)
½ to ¾ cup of heavy cream
1 tablespoon of chopped cilantro, to garnish

Prepare the Chicken: Place the cooked and shredded chicken in a medium sized bowl. Set aside.  In a small bowl, place the honey, lime juice, chili powder and minced garlic or garlic powder. Whisk together thoroughly to combine. Pour this mixture over the chicken and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to marinate 30 minutes or up to 1 hour in the refrigerator.

Prepare the Tortillas: While the chicken is marinating, heat a large griddle till a drop of water skitters across (about 350˚). Spray the surface with non-stick cooking spray or oil it with a little canola oil in between each round of tortillas. Heat tortillas about 20 seconds on each side till warm and flexible and some golden brown spots have appeared. Remove the tortillas from the griddle and keep them between a couple of paper towels until ready to use.

Preheat oven to 350˚. Spray the sides and bottom of a 9x13” baking dish lightly with cooking spray.

Prepare the Enchiladas: In a medium bowl, combine the enchilada sauce and the heavy cream. Spread about ½ cup of the mixture in the bottom of the oiled baking dish. Add a large spoonful (about 2 tablespoons) of the chicken mixture to the center of each tortilla in a line. Cover the chicken with a large tablespoon (or big pinch) of cheese, then roll the tortilla up from one side to make a rolled enchilada – it will be more of an overlap on the seam side that rolled tightly. Place the enchilada seam side down in the baking dish starting at one end with the long edge parallel to the longest side of the pan so that you end up with two columns of six enchiladas each.

Repeat with the remaining chicken, cheese and tortillas. You will use about 1 ½ cups of the cheese for the filling and set the remainder aside for topping the enchiladas in the pan. Add the remaining marinade mixture to the enchilada sauce and cream mixture, if desired. Pour this mixture over the top of all the enchiladas. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese.

Bake the enchiladas at 350˚ for 30–35 minutes or until the cheese is melted and bubbly and starting
to brown on top. Serve with sour cream, black beans, and rice or a green