Black Bean Chicken Enchilada Casserole, Beef Enchiladas and Enchilada Sauce

Not a fan of casseroles that feature "cream of..." Many recipes call for two cans of the stuff, and it is so salty and unhealthy. Plus DH is lactose intolerant so he doesn't really appreciate that type of casserole very much. Well we can't always cater to him (and more often don't want to skip the dairy) - anyway, that is what those pills are for. Still, besides not being good to him, there's alot he just doesn't like. It's never fun to make something only to have him whine "I don't like this!" We are SO not going there with this casserole. I have made it often enough that I almost have it memorized. Almost. My recipe cards are looking very worn - the way I wish all of them were. That makes them keepers. I never kept canned enchilada sauce on hand before I found this recipe. So the first time I made it I cannibalized the sauce out of another recipe. The sauce recipe makes a ton, so I usually make a double batch of casserole (no fun to in-half the sauce - plus we love it). DH cannot gracefully eat it with the sour cream cooked in, so I wait until after the whole thing is cooked and add it to individual portions. The beef enchiladas are excellent as well. Once I didn't read my card very well and made it like the chicken casserole version - layered everything instead of making individual enchiladas in a row in the pan. That turned out great too, so probably you could do it either way with either recipe. Options! Love having options!
I have also done it make-ahead with excellent success. An entire casserole takes a long time to thaw, and though I'm sure that would work perfectly, I make the recipe up to the point of having a seasoned chicken-bean-green chili mixture and throw that in the freezer. I also make the sauce (or make sure I have canned sauce). The sauce keeps for a long time in the refrigerator - more than a week at least. So then when I want to make the casserole I whip the filling out of the freezer, thaw it in the microwave, grab my sauce, assemble and bake. That's one of those 15 minute meals (plus baking time which doesn't count since you don't even need to check it) - providing you did the prep work beforehand. So there you have it, enchilada sauce that can be used for chicken or beef enchiladas. Plus freezer meals for next time, or at least supper will be happy tonight!

From a Pinterest Pin, as best I can guess the original came from here.

Black Bean Chicken Enchilada Casserole

2 Cups Chicken, Cubed
1/2 tsp. Ground Cumin
1/2 tsp. Ground Coriander
1/2 tsp. Minced Garlic
1 (4 oz.) Can Green Chilis, Drained
2 Tbs. Cilantro
1 (15 oz.) Can Black Beans, Rinsed
1 (10 oz.) Can Red Enchilada Sauce  OR half recipe Enchilada Sauce
8 oz. Sour Cream
8 (6 inch) Corn Tortillas
2 Cups Mexicheese or Colby Jack or Cheddar or a combo of these

Preheat oven to 375. Saute chicken with garlic, cumin, and coriander, till no longer pink. Add cilantro, beans, and peppers. Heat through. Spread half the enchilada sauce in a greased 9x13 pan. Place 4 tortillas over top. Spread half the chicken mixture over tortillas, then half the cheese and half the sour cream. Repeat layers: enchilada sauce, tortillas, chicken mix, but reserve the remaining cheese and sour cream. Cover the casserole, bake 30 minutes. Remove the cover, and the cheese and sour cream, bake 5 more minutes or until cheese is melted. Serve immediately.


I have no idea where this came from any more. It was written out by me a long time ago from some internet search or other and I didn't write down the source. This is a nice pic, and the recipe is pretty much the same except for the sauce.

Beef Enchiladas

Enchiladas:
1 Lb. Hamburger
1 Medium Onion
2 Tbs. Flour
1 Tbs. Chili Powder
1 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Minced Garlic
1/2 tsp. Ground Cumin
1/4 tsp. Ground Sage
1 (14.5 oz.) Can Stewed Tomatoes
Tortillas
Cheese

Red Enchilada Sauce:
6 Cloves Garlic, Minced
1/3 Cup Butter Or Margarine
1/2 Cup Flour
1 (14.5 oz.) Can Beef Broth
1 (15 oz.) Can Tomato Sauce
2 Tbs. Chili Powder
2 tsp. Ground Cumin
1 tsp. Ground Sage
1/2 tsp. Salt

Brown beef and onion together. Add flour and seasonings. Stir in tomatoes, bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 15 minutes. To make sauce: sauté garlic in butter. Stir in flour, then broth. Bring to boil, cooking 2 minutes longer, stirring constantly. Add tomato sauce and seasonings. Heat through. Pour 1 & 1/2 cups sauce in a 9x13. Spread 1/4 cup beef mixture down the center of a tortilla. Top with cheese. Roll up tight, place seam side down in prepared pan. Repeat until pan is full. If desired, may pour additional sauce over enchiladas. Cover with foil, bake 350 for 30 to 35 minutes. Sprinkle with cheese, bake another 5-10 minutes till cheese is melted.

OAMC - Once A Month Cooking

Someday I will remember to take a photo of my fantabulous spread, and you will all be duly impressed. (No heckling please!) Part of the belt tightening around here is that I have to cook more. While we've pretty well curtailed restaurant eating, we tend to have a problem with eating chicken nuggets, frozen pizzas, and other assorted "food" out of boxes. Not glamorous, but definitely less of a burden to me. Except it isn't very healthy. Or cheap. I mean green! No, frugal! Yes, that's the one. So. To make it easier on myself, I have got on the OAMC bandwagon. That's Once A Month Cooking for the uninitiated. I only have so much energy in me though, so usually it's more like cooking enough for 2 weeks or so. My littles are growing up, and they are eating a lot! Well, one of them anyway. It is becoming more and more food for less and less time. Le sigh. Anywho. This week the right sales came along (more on that here) so I was able to stock up on some things and make them on my cooking day. I won't burden you with the gory details (for once). Except it took most of the daytime, my feet were throbbing, and I pretty much vegged out in a couch potato funk for the rest of the evening. Here is the outline of the finished products, hold your applause till the end:


I started the session with homemade white bread. Recipe straight out of the owner's manual for my bread machine. Yum!

Indian Chicken Drums - 10 drums, yogurt, spices, all marinating together. A mild dish that even my mom will eat. Not dissing my momma, just saying one tablespoon of chili powder in the whole thing, and she thought it was 'HOT'. And it was the cheap not-good-quality chili powder to boot! These are sposed to be deep fried, but baking works just as well, plus its faster and healthier.

Sausage Is The New Hamburger - I used to make "hamburger mix" which is simply cooked burger with or without basic seasoning. This is much faster and easier than thawing out and browning the raw stuff, mainly because I pack them flat in gallon size zipper bags when done cooking. I'm being cheap frugal this week, so I packed them in quart size zip bags. Our required amount for one meal has expanded, so it was 2 Lbs. in there. They are fat, but it all fit. I cooked 9 Lbs. Yes you heard it right. 9 Lbs. Be impressed people! So I had an odd number, but this was okay since I had two 'flavors' of sausage. One had bacon in it, oooooohhh. (sarcasm - DH LOVES his bacon) Two of the bags are only 1.5 Lbs, but I think I can make it work. At least one of these packages is destined to become Stuffed Shells at some point. The rest will be good no matter what I do to it.

3 Bean Chicken Chili x2 - I don't know where I got this recipe anymore. All I know is that I made it the first time and it got gobbled up. I made it slightly more spicy this time, which may be why kids turned up noses and didn't eat much. Win some, lose some. Very good with a dollop of sour cream, sprinkle of shredded cheese, and a side of homemade bread. DH and I had full bellies, and since I made a double batch, there will be another round of chili goodness in the near future. I did have trouble containing it after cooking. It overflowed a 5 Gal ice cream bucket. So I had to find something else to put the surplus in.

Lasagna - 10 noodles, 5 brats, 1 Lb. bulk sausage, cheese, and sauce. Skip the cottage cheese or DH will not even look at it. Grr! The brats would have been enough I think, but DH didn't agree. They were leftover from the summer grilling season, pineapple in them. Excellent on the grill, I thought they were a little too sweet for this recipe. They were already thawed the hard way (in the fridge), and I couldn't find any more in the freezer (I'm sure there in there somewhere). Still, good stuff. There were even leftovers the next day, though I didn't get any of them.

And that was it for this time. So now, when dinner rolls around, I got options! I am very proud of myself. And wish I had a bigger budget to make it get farther down the calendar. Oh well. Next time!

Tea Party

My daughter is way into tea parties. Last April my mother, aunt and cousins staged a "grown up" tea party. There were biscuits, real flavored tea, good china, Easter party favors, desserts, and all the guests dressed up. Ever since then, she has been asking me for another one. Since summer is just about the busiest time of year for everyone, it hasn't happened yet. Settling for second best, we have been having "tea party" lunches. I took some pictures of our 'al fresco tea party'. We pitched a tent in the yard and set up a laundry bin with a tablecloth. A blanket sufficed for carpet in the tent. Mom claimed dibs on a small pillow to sit on. The menu was 'fruit plate' - cut up fruit and veggies, some chips, crackers, cheese, dip and sandwiches to round it out. 'Tea' was some grape juice drank from fancy cups with matching glass trays handed down from my grandma. Very nice! But too hot to hang out for very long. The light inside the tent was very yellow (for obvious reasons). I did the best I could with the photos, but they're still pretty yellowish. Oh well.

And here some photos from April's tea party. Happy birthday Aunt Elaine! Her birthday was the day after. There are exactly the right number of candles on the cake, but we won't say how many. ;)

Unoriginal Monday

Despite the negative feelings I have about 'puffed up' content on many of the blogs I visit, I am here today to share something worthy. Worthy of what, I leave up to you. Thus the title of this post, because there isn't going to be anything I did myself in this post. Well, other than possibly view it before you did.

Jim's Pancakes Totally awesome (bees are my FAVORITE!) One of his works was featured in a magazine ... I think AARP. Nope, I am not that old yet, but my mom is. We totally drooled over the whole site. I watched the videos too. Pretty clever, he uses those ketchup bottle things and a lot of ... creative coloring agents. Stale turmeric? BLECH!! I'll just stick with food coloring, thanks.