Family Beef Enchiladas...And Some Extras

What do you get when you combine a busy mom/wife, husband who often works late, a picky toddler, and grocery list that tries to be as organic as possible? Very complicated dinnertimes. I think it's gotten worse since Alex started eating more of our meals and less baby food. He no longer wants grilled chicken and carrots. No, no. He wants sauces, rich flavors, and pretty much anything we are eating...except eggs. I can't get this kid to eat eggs for the life of me. Oh, well. That's another issue all together.

Yesterday, I was craving enchiladas. I like mine spicy, with lots of red pepper flakes and roasted green chiles, and other spiciness - hardly a dinner that Alex's newly developing toddler pallet can handle. I also like when they are a little on the creamy side. (This is when the lightbulb went on inside my noggin). I knew that if I used some homemade cream of chicken soup, it would not only mix well with the adult enchiladas, but it would also help make toddler enchiladas, as well. I have my own cream of chicken concoction on my blog, but I was more of a newbie cook when I made it, and I like this soup recipe much better.

Looking through my ingredients, I had a whole pound of grass-fed organic beef (Trader Joe's is the best deal in town ($6.99 lb), a whole package of flour tortillas, and 4 pounds of cheese (don't judge me). Another lightbulb went on. I was going to make as much food as possible, and freeze what we didn't have for dinner so that another dinner another week would be ridiculously low maintenance.

Here are the ingredients I used:

- 1 lb grass-fed ground beef (divided -  approx 3/4 lb for the adult dinner, 1/4 lb for toddler dinner)
- salt, pepper, and red chili flakes to taste
- 1/2 can green chiles (couldn't find any to roast myself, so sad I had to use a can)
- 1/2 yellow onion
- approximately 1 lb total freshly grated cheddar and jack cheeses, divided (you may use less if you aren't as enthusiastic about cheese as I am)
- 1 batch homemade cream of chicen soup (see above link)
- 1 12oz bottle Trader Joe's enchilada sauce
- Burrito sized flour tortillas (at least 10)
- green onions to garnish (optional)

Method:

Get out two frying pans - one big, one small (or use one pan and cook meat two separate times...I used two)

- brown the smaller amount of beef in the small pan and the rest of the beef with the chopped onions in the largerpan; after the meat starts browning, add salt, pepper and red pepper flakes to the large pan. Cook both until completely done (no pink, please).

- drain fat from each portion of meat; set aside the little portion to use in a bit

Time to get the adult enchiladas assembled...

- Mix about 8 oz/one cup of enchilada sauce with cream of chicken soup (put as much in as you would like. I like mine more on the enchilada sauce side of things, so I only put in 4-5 oz of soup...add more if you'd like it less spicy/more creamy. This is your finished enchilada sauce.

- Add approx. 4 tbsp of enchilada sauce to beef

- Add approx. 1/2 cup of each type of cheese to beef

- Add 1/2 can green chiles to beef

- Combine, combine, combine...

- Fill each tortilla with mixture, and roll closed (I cut mine in half after rolled so they fit nicely in the baking dish

Here's where I split them into two dishes - one night's dinner included 6 enchilada halves/3 whole enchilada (this left me with enough for a leftover serving the next day), and the other dish had 4 halves/2 whole...this will be a freezer dinner for another night

- Top with sauce and remaining cheese

- Bake at 375, covered, for 20 min; remove cover and bake about 10 minutes more, or until heated through (top with chopped green onions before serving if that's your things...it certainly is mine)

- Cover your freezer portion with foil and place in a large ziploc bag (or use your preferred method for storing food in the freezer). Now you have dinner for another night! :) Defrost and bake according to the above direction, or bake frozen for 1 hour, 15 min; or until heated through.

Now, onto the toddler servings...

- Add 2 tbsp of the soup and a little cheese to the beef, and combine

- Fill one tortilla with mixture (I cut this in half...making two servings...one for dinner, one for the next night's leftovers) and place in separate baking dish

-Top with soup and cheese

- Bake along with adult enchiladas, but these will only need about 20-25 min total

At this point, I had leftover beef and cheese, so I just added the beef mixture to a few more tortillas, added some cheese, and cut them into mini quesadillas to freeze for another time (I ended up with 4 more toddler servings). Wrap each serving in foil (and place in freezer bag), and you have dinner ready for those nights you go on a date and you have no clue what to feed your tiny person. :) These portions can easily be heated (from frozen) in the microwave for 1-2 minutes.

After all this food, I still had sauce and soup left, so I just combined it in a freezer safe plastic container and now I have an enchilada sauce for another meal waiting. :)

Here is all the food I am hoarding had for dinner for two nights, plus leftovers, plus toddler quesadillas, plus sauce:

Well, that was my longest blog post in history; but in my defense, it made 2.5 adult meals, and 6 toddler servings...not bad at all. And to add icing to the cake (mmm...cake), all of this cost under $25. Yes, please. This meal took about 1.5 hours to put together (including washing all the dishes), but had I had soup made already, I could've cut the time by 20-30 minutes. Which reminds me - if you decide to make your own soup, make a double batch, and freeze portions similar to a can of soup. This way, you'll have the convenience of the can with the health benefits of homemade. :) It is a great base for lots of recipes or that sad little chicken breast we don't know what to do with.

Phew...I am tired now. I need a nap.

Bon Appetit!