Enchilada Casserole & Apple Enchiladas

Well, thanks to the time change this weekend (and not having switching my son's schedule yet) I have "free" time this morning to catch up on a few things. Our kitchen has been out of commission for a little bit as we gave it a little bit of a face lift in order to get the house ready to be put on the market.

But, we had small group yesterday which means (generally) that I tried out a couple new recipes. The main dish was Cheesy Enchilada Casserole courtesy of Six Sisters. Even though I messed up the layers, no one seemed to notice! I made a double batch so some of the measurements may not be "easy" to duplicate (1/2 can of something, etc).

Photo came from Six Sisters

Ingredients:

1 pound lean ground beef (90% lean) 

1 large onion, chopped or season with Onion powder or minced onion (I used minced)

2 1/2 cups salsa 

1 can (15 ounces) black beans or red kidney beans, rinsed and drained  (I did 1 can of each)

1/4 cup reduced-fat Italian salad dressing 

2 tablespoons reduced-sodium taco seasoning

       Note: make your own with equal parts cumin, onion powder, garlic powder, and chili powder

                   For this recipe it would take 1/2 tbsp of each ingredient. You can also add red pepper flakes.

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin  (I omitted and just did a little extra dash in the taco seasoning)

6 flour tortillas (8 inches) 

1 small can of drained corn, or about 1 1/4 cups of frozen corn

1/2 cup sour cream

2 cups (8 ounces) shredded reduced-fat Mexican cheese blend

1 cup shredded lettuce 

1 medium tomato, chopped (I used close to 1/2 can of diced tomato)

1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro (I only sprinkled this on)

Directions

In a large skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain.

Stir in the salsa, beans, dressing, sour cream, corn, taco seasoning and cumin.

Spoon a generous layer of meat mixture on bottom of 2 quart baking dish. Sprinkle with grated cheese.

I used a 9x13 pan so I folded 3 tortillas in half and layered across the pan

Place a flour or corn tortilla on top of meat mixture. Layer with half of the meat mixture, and cheese. Repeat as many layers as you like.
I ended with what should have been Meat, Cheese, Tortilla; Meat, Cheese, Tortilla; Meat, Cheese. However I doubled one of my meat layers so the top layer ended up tortilla cheese which didn't have the same effect I don't think. The top layer could have had a little bit more cheese for my taste but probably had enough for most people.

Cover with foil that has been sprayed with pam or other and bake at 400° for 25 minutes, or until hot & bubbly. 

Let stand for 5 minutes before topping with lettuce, tomato and cilantro. Yield: 8 servings.

Summary:

This recipe was amazingly good! I served with chips and salsa but enjoyed dipping the chips in the casserole instead! Andrew gave it an 8 out of 10 but a 10 out of 10 for Mexican. Austin wasn't a huge fan but he doesn't generally go for beans. And I, of course, loved it! This will definitely make it to our table again.





For dessert I tried apple enchiladas. I found the recipe (through pinterest) on Cornfed Momma's website.

Photo from Cornfed Momma's website

Ingredients:

Apple Pie Filling

Cinnamon

6 8" flour tortillas

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup water

Directions:

Scoop 1 heaping 1/4 cup of pie filling into the center of each tortilla

Sprinkle with cinnamon, roll up like burrito, place seem side down in 9x13 pan (4 down, 2 on the side)

In medium sauce pan over medium heat, combine butter, white sugar, brown sugar, and water.

Bring to a boil, stirring constantly; reduce heat, simmer 3 minutes.

Pour sauce over enchiladas.

Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes - recipe didn't say what temp but I used 350

Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Summary:

These were pretty good but not blow me away awesome. Seemed to be a bit to buttery. They were good, I just think the recipe might need a little tweaking to meet my taste. I didn't get a chance to get Andrew's opinion so if I do later, I'll come back and add it. 

Reminder: Don't forget to ask if you have any questions and if you end up trying the recipe I'd love to hear from you as to how it went!