The Whole Enchilada

Okay, it’s me, Donna.  I see Russ hijacked the blog last night.  Sue said he was  going to give me a run for my money.  Sue, I offered him all the money I had and he STILL wouldn’t run!  It would have been worth it!

Okay, first things first.  About those enchiladas…  To answer a question from Judy, an enchilada is basically any meat or cheese filling rolled up in a corn tortilla, covered with enchilada sauce and usually cheese and baked in the oven.  The most common fillings are shredded beef, pork, or chicken, or just plain cheese.  I have made them just about any way, but the old family recipe departs from this formula somewhat.

I really don’t have a recipe so all amounts are approximate and can certainly be changed.  Most recipes I see as a suggestion anyway – a starting point if you please.  I seldom stick with written instructions.

So here are the ingredients:

6” Corn tortillas – I will give the amounts I would use for a package of 10 tortillas – nothing seems to come in an even dozen anymore!
About 1 1/2 lbs. of lean ground beef
1 29oz. can of diced tomatoes
1 bunch green onions
1 can black olives
About 1 lb. of shredded mild or medium cheddar cheese – sometimes I like to use part jack cheese….but I only use Tillamook!

Empty the tomatoes in a saucepan and add about 1/2 can of water.  Season with a little garlic powder…a couple of good shakes ought to do it.

While the tomatoes are heating, shred the cheese if you didn’t buy it already shredded, cut the olives in half or slice them, and clean and chop the green onions.

Fry the ground beef, chopping it up into crumbles, until  cooked through.  Season with salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and chili powder to taste.

Fry the tortillas in hot oil one at a time and drain on paper towels.  Don’t make them crispy (a little crispy around the edges is okay!)

By now your tomatoes will be hot, thicken them with a little corn starch dissolved in water.  They should be a little thinner than your best gravy!  Put a little bit of the thickened tomatoes in the bottom of a 9X12 pan and spread them around.  This just keeps the stuff from sticking to the bottom.  I spray my pan with Pam before I put the tomatoes in.

Okay, here’s where the lazy part comes in.  I used to stand for HOURS (well, a long time anyway), rolling each tortilla with just the right amount of filling and making sure they were all about uniform.  Finally got smart and now I just spread half the tortillas in a 9X12 pan (deeper is better).  Let the tortillas come up on the sides a little.  Overlap the tortillas as needed – it all works out. 

Toss the hamburger evenly over the tortillas, pour about half of the tomatoes on top, then spread on half the cheese, onions and olives.  Put another layer of the remaining tortillas.  Top the tortillas with the rest of the tomatoes and cheese, and sprinkle the rest of the onions and olives on top.

Bake for about 30 minutes at 325 degrees or until cheese and tomatoes are bubbly.
Serve with Mexican rice and refried beans.  Guacamole and chips are optional!

 Oh... about that frozen guacamole…it tasted fine but the texture was a little changed.  When I buy, rather than make, guacamole, I get it from Costco and it comes in four plastic bags.  I’ve frozen those many times with no loss of quality.  I’m not so sure I would freeze the homemade variety again.

Well, that’s enough for now.  We had a VERY BUSY day today, but we can visit about that tomorrow.  Glad to see that Rick and Paulette are just about ready to hit the road.  Elaine reports that the other Rick’s surgery was a success so they may still get to head south sometime this winter.  Here’s hoping.  If you need smile, hop on over to the Dixon’s, and read about Sandie’s 98 year old Aunt Happy!  What a great story.  Merikay had a succinct comment on comments last night.  It won’t take you long to read her post!!  I really liked Donna Cave’s thoughts on old photos, and Al had some great tips on taking backlit photos.  Just one more that really made me laugh…Hobo Joe posted a You Tube video about living at Walmart in your RV.  It’s worth the watch.

So many fun things to read about in Blogland and so many bloggers getting ready to fly south for the winter.  Fun times.

Holy Guacamole–it’s stuck in the freezer!

First thank you all SO very much for your care and comments on my post yesterday.  Yeah, it’s the pits when something like that happens, but you all know that pithy old saying, “*hit happens.”  We will talk to the insurance tomorrow and I’m sure it will all work out.  Hope I didn’t sound like a whiner.

If you want a great synopsis on what’s happening in Blogland, hop on over to Donna’s (not me!) Cave Dwellings page.  She worked her fingers to the bone bringing the latest happening onto one page. 

Well, if there is one thing that can take your mind off a problem, it’s another problem.  A few weeks ago, I made some REALLY good guacamole.  We didn’t eat it all so I put the leftovers in a bag and put the bag in the freezer.  Didn’t think anymore about it until I tried to remove the bag from the freezer about a week ago. 

What I failed to consider was that the bag was filled with a semi-liquid substance and I sat that bag on a wire shelf.  Well, DUH, gravity and liquid combined to find the lowest possible point and the corner of the bag settled down between two wires on the shelf…and then FROZE that way.  The result was that the glop of guacamole that settled under the wire was wider than the space between the wires making it impossible to extract the bag from the freezer. 

I pondered this for several days and pushed and pulled and tried to spread the wires without breaking them.  All to no avail.  That guacamole was not coming out of the freezer.  Guess I would have to defrost the whole freezer.  But wait, said my brain finally kicking into gear, why not just take the other stuff off the shelf, take the self out and defrost just the guacamole???  Now why did it take me more than a week to think of that?

I took it out on the deck to get a picture.  That is the bottom of the shelf.



See how it has frozen around the wires?  It would NOT turn loose.  Then I took the whole thing inside and hit it with the hair dryer for a couple of minutes.

Voilà… the guacamole was freed and Russ was a happy camper.


Now here’s the reason I wanted the guacamole so badly.  I was REALLY hungry for some home-made enchiladas…the old family recipe.  This is not fancy but it sure is good…made just like mother used to make them.  Well, almost…years ago I gave up rolling individual enchiladas, I just layer everything in the pan.  Tastes exactly the same with a lot less work.  So we had us a Mexican feast today, Enchiladas, bean, rice, and yes, chips and guacamole!

Heart Attack On a Plate

Not so good for you but good all the same.

Just goes to show…nothing like a little stress eating of high fat, high carb food to make you forget your troubles!!

P.S.  I also made a pumpkin pie but that’s for later tonight after the enchiladas have settled!