Chicken Enchilada Casserole

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Heat olive oil in large pan over medium heat. Add onion and jalapeno (*) and sweat for a few minutes. Then add garlic and mushrooms (*) and cook until soft. Add chicken, black beans, and spinach and stir. Heat the mixture until the spinach wilts. Make sure it’s seasoned well before removing from heat.

In an 8×8 or equivalent (covered is best) casserole dish, spoon a few Tablespoons of the canned enchilada sauce into the bottom of the pan and spread around. Cover the bottom of the dish with 8 of the tortilla quarters, then layer on half of the chicken/veggie mix, followed by about 1/4-1/2 cup of cheese (cheddar is good, monterey jack is better, pepper jack is THE BEST!!). Cover this with another 8 tortilla quarters, then half of the remaining enchilada sauce. Repeat layering process (the remaining tortillas, the remaining chicken/veggie mix, the remaining sauce) then top with remaining cheese.

Bake in the oven for 2o minutes covered then 10 minutes uncovered so that the cheese gets crusty. Serve.

* Optional ingredients.
The chicken can be left over from last night’s roast chicken or you can cook it today using 2 boneless skinless breasts (that have been cubed and thrown in the pan with the onions & peppers) or any other chicken you have around the house. Or not. Leave it out and it’s an AWESOME vegetarian enchilada casserole. I’ve also substituted the spinach for collards and boy is that good. Also, the cheese can very easily be halved but why would anyone want that?