A friend of mine once told me that if you need an incentive to get things done at your house just schedule a party and believe me it works, well almost.

This past Saturday night was my turn to hostess our monthly supper club. My partners Henry and Marla Farmer are in the process of packing up one house and finishing up building their new one. So it was really time for me to get myself in gear and get my house in order. We moved in our new house in March, but since I had Pilgrimage things to do then I really didn’t even start on it until the end of April and let’s just say I was moving rather slow. I did manage to get most of the boxes unpacked, OK, not all, just most.

And thank goodness my supper club is a very forgiving bunch. I figured if we fed them well they might overlook the fact that I still didn’t have any pictures on the walls.

With that in mind Marla and I settled on a Mexican theme and the recipes were so good I thought I share many of them with you.

This recipe is one I got years ago from a friend. She rolled her chicken-filled tortillas up individually with a little of the sauce in them, covered them with the remaining sauce and then baked them. I take the easy way out and layer mine.

Enchilada casserole

2 tablespoons butter

1 cup chopped onion

2 small cans of diced green chili peppers

4 chicken breasts

1-10 ounce can of cream of chicken soup

16 oz. sour cream.

1 cup. Cheddar cheese

1cup Monterey jack cheese

8-10 flour tortillas

Boil your chicken breast until done, let cool and then chop. I like to let mine cool in some of the broth and then shred them. Preheat your oven to 300 degrees. Place the butter in a large skillet and sauté the onions until they are soft. Add the chili peppers and cut up chicken. Mix well.

In mixing bowl combine soup and sour cream. Stir in one cup of each of the cheeses. Spread a thin layer of soup mix in bottom of baking dish. Then tear tortillas into halves or quarters and make a single layer, top this with half of your chicken and then half of your soup and sour cream mixture. Repeat this layering again, beginning with more tortillas and ending with the soup mixture. Bake 20 minutes, then layer the remaining cheese over the top and bake another 10 to 15 minutes.

We also had tamales (from Fat Mama’s) in chili to serve as Frito pies. Marla made an amazing dessert cake called Tres Leches and her pork carnitas were high on the yummy list also.

For dessert I made a key lime cheesecake served with lime curd spooned over it. For appetizers we served several types of salsa, guacamole, chips, Mexican pinwheels and a spicy spinach dip.

I’ve posted several of the other recipes we served on my blog, I hope you have your friends over for a fiesta and have as much fun as we did.

Christina Hall is a columnist for the Natchez Democrat. She can be reached by e-mail at christina.hall@natchezdemocrat.com