Beef Enchiladas

I LOVE Mexican food and with Cinco de Mayo coming up, I figured you needed a yummy recipe to try.

I made my own enchilada sauce for this one and I think it gave it that extra somethin somethin.

Enchilada Sauce

Large Jalapeno
medium Onion
4 cloves Garlic
1 T Olive Oil
14.5 oz can Diced Tomatoes with Green Chilis
28oz can Tomato Puree
2 C Water
1 T Chipolte Pepper
1 T Chili Powder
1/2 T Cumin
1/2 T Sugar
1 t Salt
1 t Pepper

Give the jalapeno, onion and garlic a whirl in your mini food processor or just finely chop up. I left 1/2 the seeds in the jalapeno for some added heat. If you don't like spicy, take the seeds out with a spoon. Be sure to wear plastic gloves when handling peppers OR be very careful of your hands around your face and eyes.

You can also use a variation of peppers but Target didn't offer choices so this time, you get just Jalapeno.

Put the jalapeno, onion and garlic in a pot with a tablespoon of olive oil and let it sweat a few minutes. Stir it around a little bit so nothing sticks. Add everything else, give it a stir and put on a low simmer for at least an hour to blend all the flavors. If you think it needs some more spice, add teaspoon of Cayenne Pepper.

While that's cooking, make your taco meat. You can use ground turkey, I do that often but I had beef today so that's what I used.

Taco meat

1 lb ground beef
1/2 small onion diced
2 cloves garlic minced
4 t Chili Powder
2 t Cumin
1 t Garlic Powder
Salt and Pepper to taste
Cayenne pepper if you're feeling Sassy

Cook this all together and put to the side.

I also made a quick pan of this rice
but any white or brown rice will work. You'll need a couple of cups.

You also need about 3 Cups of your favorite cheese and the 10 pack of tortillas. I used the Mexican Blend Cheese this time.

Wrap your tortillas in some damp paper towel and heat up in the microwave for a minute. If you just bought your tortillas, you can probably skip this step because they'll be soft enough to roll.

Spray a 13x9 pan. Put about 1/4 C of taco meat off center of your tortilla, add about the same amount of rice, sprinkle with cheese and roll up. Put seam side down in pan. Continue until all 10 are rolled. Depending how saucy you like your enchiladas, you might want to hold back a cup of sauce. Pour enchilada sauce over the top, if you want the additional sauce, add now. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes. Top with rest of the cheese and put back into oven for another 5 minutes or until cheese is melted. Serve with sour cream.

Layer your meat and rice. You can throw some cheese in there too but it's not necessary. Roll up and put seam side down in your 13x9 pan. Top with enchilada sauce, bake for 40 minutes. Throw cheese on for another 5 and you are in for a treat!