Enchiladas

Crisp, cheesy, savory enchiladas! This is another delicious recipe your family will love. It’s made with corn tortillas, so this is actually a gluten free recipe too.

There are 2 things I remember helping my grandma make when I was a kid—cinnamon rolls, and enchiladas. This is one of those nostalgic childhood recipes that I grew up eating on a regular basis.

I’m not going to lie though. This is more labor-intensive recipe. It’s a commitment to make Enchiladas—I definitely have to plan ahead. And it’s messy. So when I commit to making enchiladas, I make 3 pans. 1 for dinner, and 2 for the freezer. It freezes well, and cooks up for a quick dinner down the road.

One of the most time consuming steps of the original recipe was frying each tortilla for 5 seconds per side. Every time I made these, my husband would ask me why I fried the tortillas. My only answer was, “Because that’s what you do!” That’s what my grandma did, and what my mom did, so that’s what I did. But this time, I decided to eliminate that step, and see what happened.

They turned out great! You would definitely want to do this with fresh tortillas—if they are older, or if they have been frozen and thawed, they would be likely to tear/rip in the rolling process. Eliminating the frying portion also saves about 20 minutes of prep and about 40 calories per serving.

Also of note, I did not have an onion the day that I made these. But I had a very large zucchini on the counter. So I decided to shred up the zucchini and throw it into the enchiladas. It worked out great, and no one even noticed. My kids eat this one pretty well too, although they typically pull the enchilada apart and eat the parts separately.

I paired this meal with romaine lettuce and red bell peppers, black beans, and pineapple. Top the enchiladas with salsa and guacamole for a rich array of flavor and color!

Meal:

• 2 Enchiladas

• ¾ cup lettuce

• 2 Tbsp Red Bell Pepper

• ½ cup pineapple

• 1/3 cup Black Beans

• 2 Tbsp Salsa

• 2 Tbsp Guacamole

Recipe Used in this meal:

Enchiladas

Serving size: 2 Enchiladas

Servings for recipe: 20

Ingredients

• 40 corn tortillas

• 1 28-oz can of Enchilada sauce

• 2 8-oz cans of tomato sauce

• 2 Onion (medium, chopped fine)

• 3 cups Zucchini (shredded)

• 3 lbs ground beef

• 2 lbs cheddar cheese

Directions

Preparation:

1. Brown the ground beef in a large skillet. Cook thoroughly and drain. Add onion and zucchini, cook until tender. Set aside.

2. Warm up enchilada sauce and tomato sauce in a medium saucepan. Set aside.

3. Prepare three 9x13 baking dishes—spray with cooking spray, and add 1 large spoonful of enchilada sauce to the bottom of each pan.

Assembly:

1. Set out items in order: Tortillas, sauce, baking dish, cheese, meat. Use a #24 cookie scoop for the meat (approx. 1 oz of meat per tortilla)

2. It works best to do 3 tortillas at a time. Dip both sides of the tortilla in enchilada sauce, place in the baking dish. Add a sprinkle of cheese, then 1 scoop of meat. Roll, and push to the side. Repeat until all the baking dishes are full (13-14 enchiladas per pan)

3. Divide remaining enchilada sauce over the tops of all 3 pans. Sprinkle with remainder of cheese.

Baking:

1. Bake uncovered at 375° for 25-35 minutes. Serve hot.

2. For freezer meals: do not pre-bake. Cover with a layer of plastic wrap, then a layer of tin foil. Freeze for up to 4 months. When ready to serve, allow to thaw overnight in the fridge. Bake at 375° for 35-40 minutes. If the cheese is browning too much, cover with tin foil. Serve hot

Here is a few pictures to demonstrate the step-by-step process.

Set up: Arrange all your items so that you have a good flow in the assembly process

Assembly: Make 3 at a time in order to speed things up

Nutrition Facts Label for Entire Meal:

Nutrition Facts Label for Enchiladas: