King Ranch comes from Texas and if you don’t know me very well,  I have a special place for Texas in my heart.  We lived there for a while and miss it very much.  Anyone that has been to Texas or lived there knows that they have a ton and I mean a ton of Tex-Mex places.  This King Ranch Chicken does not disappoint.  It brings all the wonderful flavors together of any Mexican dish.  It is also a great freezer meal.  Serve it up along side a salad and there you have it a wonderful dinner!

Ingredients:

• Butter, for the baking dish
• One 10.5-ounce can cream of chicken soup 
• One 10.5-ounce can cream of mushroom soup 
• One 10-ounce can diced tomatoes with chiles, such as Rotel
• 2 tablespoons chili powder 
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin 
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 cups chicken broth 
• 16 corn tortillas, torn into pieces 
• 1 roasted whole chicken (rotisserie chicken works great!), cooled and torn into chunks
• 1 large white or yellow onion, finely diced 
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and finely diced 
• 1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and finely diced 
• 1 jalapeno, finely diced 
• 1 1/2 cups grated sharp Cheddar
• 1 1/2 cups grated Monterey Jack cheese 

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking dish.

Make the soup/tomato mixture, which is very bizarre and might scare you off. But please: Be brave and stick with me through this challenging time. You won’t be sorry! In a large bowl, combine the soups and diced tomatoes and chiles. Add the chili powder, cumin, salt, pepper and chicken broth. Then–this is the time to be strong–stir it all together. Trust me!

Line the bottom of the baking dish with half of the torn tortillas. Layer on half the chicken. Add half the onion, bell pepper and jalapeno. Sprinkle on half the cheese and pour on half the wacky soup mixture. Then repeat the layers, beginning with the rest of the tortillas, and ending with the rest of the you-know-what.

Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes, then uncover and bake until bubbling, another 15 minutes.

Look at that! Serve it with a salad and a dang hearty appetite.

To make ahead and freeze: Fold foil over the unbaked casserole and freeze until solid. Then, lift the foil-topped casserole out of the pan, wrap the whole thing in plastic wrap and freeze until needed. When ready to bake, remove the plastic wrap, put the foiled-topped casserole back into a 9-by-13-inch baking dish and thaw. Bake at 350 degrees F following the baking instructions above.

Recipe from Ree Drummond