Here I am again--just remembered one of the things I dried last year.  I finally used my dried, ground green

Caballero Hybrid Chiles--Park Seed http://parkseed.com/caballero-hybrid-pepper-seeds/p/05546/

These are two of the several types of peppers (both chile and bell) I grew last year.  I had tons of them.  Some I roasted and froze.  As last year I made a super score on a barely-used Excalibur dryer, I decided to dry some of those green chiles. Chiles are very easy to dry as they require no blanching in preparation.

The chiles were washed and dried off. Then all the Caballeros' stems were cut off, seeds and membranes left in, and they were sliced in 1/8 inch rings.  I spread them on the drying trays grouped together so I would know what they were.  The same things were done for the Sahuaros and they were grouped by themselves as well.

Into the dryer went the trays and then it was set to the recommended temperature. The dehydrator recommends 125º F for peppers but says to dry them to leathery consistency. Powder is what I wanted so I continued after leathery and dried them to crispy.  The were allowed to rest in a bowl in my pilot-lit oven to even out moisture and keep them very dry until I ground them up.  When I ground them a day or two later in my big super-duper blender the processed wonderfully to a fine consistency.  (Do NOT smell the chiles until they dust has settled. . . just a little word of advice. Please do as I say, not as I did!)

Sahuaro Hybrid Chiles http://parkseed.com/sahuaro-hybrid-pepper-seeds/p/05241-PK-P1/

Both types of green chile powder went into separate, appropriately labeled jars and then were left to hibernate in my spice cupboard. I almost forgot about them until I got an e-mail from a seller of New Mexico Chiles which reminded me . . .

Suddenly I was hit by a longing for chicken enchiladas in green chile sauce. Out came the chile powder.  But I needed a recipe for green chile enchilada sauce from powder, so this is what I searched for on the web:  "powdered green chile enchilada sauce recipe" . Thank you Diaz Farms for the good base recipe I used:  How to Make Green Chile Sauce from Powder.

Now of course I wanted it my way, so below I will give you my modifications to Diaz Farms' recipe.  I loved it and the enchiladas were great, especially since they were made with my own home-canned chicken thighs. My added bonus was this recipe was a double score:  home-made green chile powder in the sauce and home-canned chicken in the enchiladas.

My amendments to the recipe are in (bold parentheses).

Green Chile Sauce From Green Chile Powder

Adapted from How to Make Green Chile Sauce From Powder from Diaz Farms

Ingredients

2 teaspoons bacon drippings, butter or oil (omitted as I had some fat at the top of my jars of chicken)

1 large onion, diced (1 teaspoon onion powder)

3 garlic cloves, minced (1 teaspoon granulated garlic)

1 1/2 teaspoon - 1 tablespoon flour (2 tblsp flour, about)

2 tablespoon green chile powder (4 tablespoons green chile powder; can use to taste)

1/2 teaspoon ground toasted cumin seed OR 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin (omitted)

2 cups chicken stock (about 1 cup juice from canned chicken, thinned with 2 more scant cups of water)

1 teaspoon fresh Mexican oregano OR 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano (omitted)

1/4 teaspoon salt (salt or to taste, to balance bitterness)

Instructions

In a skillet or wide sauce pan, heat the drippings or oil over medium low heat. When hot, add the onion and garlic and sweat for 5 minutes or until soft. (skipped this step; no sauteing to do.  Placed a large stainless steel frying pan on the stove)

*For use with cumin seed: In another small skillet, toast about 1 tsp. cumin seed until the seeds start to darken and become aromatic. Transfer to a mortar and grind into a powder. (skipped; no cumin used)

To the onion and garlic add 1/2 teaspoon cumin powder, 1 1/2 - 1 tablespoon flour depending on desired thickness and green chile powder. Stir to coat the onion. (skipped)

Slowly add the stock, stirring constantly to keep the flour and powders from lumping. Once all of the stock has been added, increase the heat to medium. Add the oregano and salt. (I added all the chicken juice and water to the sauce pan, then stirred in the onion and garlic powders. Then I whisked in the flour until it was incorporated and not lumpy)

Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer. Let simmer for 15 minutes, stirring frequently. (done just like this; the sauce should be thicker, but soupy, more liquid than a gravy but thick enough to coat the tortillas)

Use immediately or refrigerate and use within 3 days.

(Hint:  Dried chiles have a natural component of bitterness, which can be modified by the use of fat and salt, so my best advice is to NOT try to make this sauce without fat or salt; it will just taste bitter. Or at least it tastes bitter to me without fat/oil or salt.)

To make Chicken Enchiladas with Green Chile Sauce:

Bring green chile sauce to boiling then reduce heat to keep it warm.

De-boned, de-fat and cut two 16 oz jars of home canned chicken into even sized chunks.  Season to taste with salt, pepper and 1/2 tsp granulated garlic (garlic powder is ok).  Divide chicken into 16 portions.

Then, one at a time, heat 16 corn tortillas in the hot sauce, fill them with a portion of the chicken, roll them as tightly and place them into a smaller-sized rectangular cooking pan.  Arrange any way in the pan that works for you.  Pour as much of the the leftover sauce over all to keep moist.  Top the enchiladas evenly with about 12 oz grated medium Cheddar (you can use whatever cheese you like; I prefer a melty white cheese like Muenster or Monterey Jack, but the medium cheddar is what I had).

Cover the pan with aluminum foil to keep it moist while heating cook in a 350ºF oven for about 1-1/2 hours, or until completely hot (cooking time will be shorter if your oven is pre-heated; my oven was cold when I put the pan in).  Cook until the enchiladas are piping hot and bubbly in the middle.

A couple of more notes:  the sauce can be made with vegetarian broth or meat broth, but in any case I feel it will need fat of some sort (chicken, butter or oil) AND salt balance out the bitterness of the chiles.

I have also made these vegetarian-style.  The sauce worked out just fine, the enchiladas were very delicious; the filling was made of mushrooms and muenster cheese, a match made in heaven. . .

I hope you are able to try this some time.