Friday, April 3, 2009

Bean and Cheese Enchiladas

Aaron was sick yesterday, so I made him one of his favorite meals. It's nothing very fancy or gourmet, but it's just downright delicious. I make my own enchilada sauce for these, since I never seem to have any on hand and I like being able to control the sodium. But you could always use 1 jar of mild and 1 jar of hot and combine them together for this recipe.

First make up a batch of the enchilada sauce (I usually double it, since I like it really saucy and it's nice to have leftover sauce). Have everything ready, since you don't want the flour and chili powder to burn. I've done that, and trust me, it's not very good.

10 Minute Enchilada Sauce
(It's actually more like 15 minute sauce, but who cares.)

1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons self-rising flour (I've always used all-purpose, and it's turned out okay)
1/4 cup chili powder
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 1/2 cups water
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion salt
salt to taste

1. Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in flour and chili powder, reduce heat to medium, and cook until lightly brown, stirring constantly to prevent burning flour.
2. Gradually stir in tomato sauce, water, cumin, garlic powder, and onion salt into the flour and chili powder until smooth, and continue cooking over medium heat approximately 10 minutes, or until thickened slightly. Season to taste with salt.

Bean and Cheese Enchiladas
1 can (15 oz) red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 can (4 oz) diced green chile peppers
1 can whole kernel corn
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
2 cups shredded pepper-Jack cheese (you can substitute sharp cheddar for this)
1 batch enchilada sauce (above)
8 flour tortillas
Fresh cilantro for garnish

Heat oven to 375. In large bowl, mix beans, chile peppers, corn, chili powder, salt and cumin. Slightly mash beans; stir to combine. Add 1 cup cheese. Stir 1 cup of the enchilada sauce into bean mixture.

Spread 1/4 cup of the reamining enchilada sauce in a 13 x 9-inch baking dish. Brush one side of a tortilla with enchilada sauce. Spoon 1/4 cup of the bean mixture in center on sauced side; roll up. Place enchilada in baking dish. Repeat with remaining tortillas and bean mixture. Pour remaining enchilada sauce over top to cover. Top with remaining 1 cup cheese.

Bake at 375 for 15 minutes. Garnish with cilantro and serve with sour cream.

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