Homemade Enchiladas!

Homemade Enchiladas
remind me of my dating days with Tracy.

This was the first meal I made up for him when I invited him over to have dinner during the Christmas Break at college. Although the filling was different, (I just used onions, cheese and ground beef) the recipe for the sauce and assembly is the same.

I still remember his comment about
"are you sure that's not too much Chili Powder"
as I dumped it into the pan. His family was big Cayenne pepper lovers and so he thought Chili Powder had the same "KICK" as Cayenne Pepper did.

This spring
as I was shopping at the grocery store,
I took a shortcut to get to the registers and went down the Mexican Food aisle and noticed a girl picking up a can of Enchilada Sauce and it was $1.71 for the can. OUCH!!
That is so expensive, compared to how cheap it is to make it from scratch. Here is how easy, economical and yummy it is to make homemade enchiladas with basic Food Storage ingredients.

After trying many kinds of fillings, I really enjoy just a bunch of steamed veggies, with maybe a little sprinkling of some roast, however, the possibilities are endless to what you can put in these.

Flour Tortillas
4 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp baking powder (heaping..don't level it off)
1/2 cup oil
1-1/3 cup HOT water

Mix dry ingredients together and the add in hot water and oil. Mix until it forms a ball of dough. Cover with a damp cloth and let rest 15 minutes

Uncover and form into balls (10 or 12) just larger than a golf ball. Cover with damp cloth and allow to rise 30 minutes to 1 hour. (I let mine go the full hour)

Flatten and roll out and cook on HOT griddle. Turn them when bubbles appear. After pulling them off the griddle, stack them on a plate and cover with a towel and then once they're all cooked, store in a Ziploc bag to keep them moist and pliable.

These are absolutely amazing and make great burritos, Quesadillas, OR, are great to put in a bowl and then pile on fixins' for a Taco Salad.

Enjoy!

Homemade Enchiladas

8-10 flour tortillas
2-3 cups grated cheese
cream cheese
finely chopped onions

(for filling)
1 large onion thinly sliced
1 bell pepper thinly sliced
Fresh Corn (I cut the corn off 2 ears of corn)
1 to 2 summer squash OR 1 medium zucchini squash
2 carrots peeled and thinly sliced
Saute together with 1 Tbsp butter and a few Tbsp of water until tender

(for sauce)
In a saucepan:
Melt 2 Tbsp. butter
add in and stir well
3 heaping Tbsp. flour
1-1/2 Tbsp Chili Powder
add in
4 cups water, mix well with wire whisk and cook until thickened

Spread tortillas with a thin layer of cream cheese.
Dip tortillas in sauce and then put a spoonful filling and a handful of grated cheese in the middle and then roll up and put in a 9x13 pan. Do this until you have 8-10 filled tortillas.

After all the tortillas are rolled up in pan, sprinkle with more cheese and finely chopped onions and rest of sauce.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes until bubbly and browned on top.

**(you can also use shredded beef, cooked ground beef, or cooked chicken for the filling, instead of the veggies...if you use meat instead of the veggies eliminate the cream cheese )

Great topped with lettuce, tomatoes and sour cream

Enjoy!