I know they don’t look pretty. I probably could have garnished with cilantro.
Or something. But just trust me: it was GOOD!
Do you ever get in a cooking rut? Cooking the same meals over and over, dreading leftovers and wishing your “eating out” envelope wasn’t empty?
We definitely go through those phases at our house. The best fix is not visiting our favorite restaurants or resorting to cold sandwiches and frozen pizza – although this does tend to be our first response.
The solution for a cooking rut is simple: try new recipes. That’s why I’m looking forward to trying several new dishes over the next few months. I’ve got a stack of printed recipes from websites and magazines, plus months of bookmarked meal ideas saved in my Delicious account, and they’re calling my name.
Several years ago, I’d tried even fewer new recipes and had even fewer meals in the rotation. So we got into ruts – and relied on restaurants – even more often. [See Credit Card Debt, exhibit A.]
One weekend, we visited my cousin and her family, and she made beef enchiladas for us. It might seem silly, but we were So Excited about those enchiladas! First of all, they were good, but second of all, they looked pretty easy to make. And, as you know, that is my favorite combination for a recipe.
Before I left her house, I made sure to write down the recipe – and a few others, for good measure. And over the years, I’ve made the enchiladas, lost the recipe and tried to remember all the ingredients, tried a different recipe from one of my many, mostly unused cookbooks, asked my cousin for the recipe again and found the original recipe filed in the wrong spot in my recipe binder.
It’s been an enchilada whirlwind. [Yes, that’s right, I can create drama from enchiladas.]
Last night, I decided that instead of ordering pizza – sadly, our Sunday night ritual – I’d make a nice dinner for us. When I told Mark that I was making enchiladas, I was actually debating between beef and chicken. But his response was, “Beef?” in the tone of voice that really meant, “Please tell me you’re not going to make me eat chicken?”
And so, beef enchiladas it was.
Cheesy Beef Enchiladas
2 lbs. ground beef
1 small onion, chopped
1 package taco seasoning
1-2 cups shredded cheddar (or other cheese)
1 can cream of celery soup
8 oz. sour cream
8 oz. Velveeta
1 can green chilies (or diced tomatoes with green chilies)
12 Mission large flour tortillas
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brown ground beef, drain, and add onions and taco seasoning. (When I made them last night, I added two packages of taco seasoning and left out the onions.)
Warm tortillas in microwave (about a minute, wrapped in a paper towel). Spoon hamburger into tortilla and sprinkle some shredded cheese on top. Roll it up and place seam down into greased 9×13 pan.
Mix other ingredients in saucepan and warm slowly until cheese melts. Pour mixture over enchiladas. (The trick is to make sure every inch of tortilla is covered. It won’t look pretty, but it will taste good!)
Bake for 30 minutes. Serve with sour cream and salsa. (Although you might reconsider if your two-year-old will be tempted to eat both the sour cream and salsa with a spoon and ignore her enchilada. I’m just saying.)
To make this cheesy meal a little more healthy, I use light Velveeta, 98% fat free soup, light sour cream and Mission’s 96% fat free tortillas.
This post is sponsored by Mission Foods, one of the largest producers of tortilla products, producing almost a quarter of all tortillas sold in the world, and offers a full line of flour and corn tortillas. However, the experience and opinions are my own. For more information, you can read my Disclosure Policy.
Over the next few months, some of the new recipes I’ll be trying – and sharing with you – will use Mission products. Honestly, this probably would have happened anyway, since I’m a well-documented lover of pretty much all kinds of Mexican food.
But what I especially love about Mission (other than 96% fat free tortillas – hello!) is their commitment to supporting Share Our Strength and its goal of ending childhood hunger in America through employee volunteerism and nationwide fundraising efforts. I hope to share ways to get involved with Share Our Strength, as well as ways to enjoy new Mexican dishes!
What do you do to get out of a cooking rut? And where do you find new recipes?
This post will be linked to Mouthwatering Monday, Tasty Tuesday, Tuesdays at the Table, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, What’s Cooking Wednesday, Works for Me Wednesday, Friday Food, Foodie Friday and Food on Fridays. It will also be linked to Ingredient Spotlight at Eat at Home Cooks.
How fun! I need to join the Delicious page and start saving recipes!!! Have an awesome Monday <3
Oh my goodness! These sound delicious!! I LOVE Mexican food! When I’m in a cooking rut, I usually go to allrecipes.com & use their ingredient search to type in the items I want to use.
Thank you for the comment on my blog. It’s not always easy, but I can’t stop now! I used to try real hard to find songs/lyrics that really fit; but now if the title works, it’s good! I only include the lyrics when they really do pertain to my day!!
I hit the Pioneer Woman’s website. So far I’ve liked everything I’ve made from her website. I even made my anniversary dinner from her site. I made briased short ribs over creamy goat cheese polenta. Sounded so fancy, was super easy to make and really, really good. I’m southern, so I don’t really do “fancy”.. but you should try it… it’s so good. And, be sure to say the name over and over cuz you sound so fancy making it. (Hint tho.. short ribs..not much meat.. sub a roast.. and call it short ribs… less fat too…just sayen) I also have a Southern Living homecooking cookbook that I love!
These look AWESOME! I have been trying to find an easy enchilada recipe! Thank you! :)
Those look delicious! I love trying new recipes whenever we are in a rut too, and Mexican food is a no-brainer for me. My husband loves having a Latina wife because he gets Mexican food whenever I’m not really into trying anything crazy LOL
I followed your comment from SITS over here, and I just HAD to check out this recipe – I love it! I will definitely be keeping an eye on your blog!
I am a sucker for Mexican food and these look great! I get in ruts too where just nothing sounds great. I try and branch out and cook things out of my comfort zone that I have never cooked before. I mostly find recipes on all the cooking blogs I follow as well as Cooking Light or Weight Watchers. I have so many recipes bookmarked I don’t think I’ll ever be able to make them all!
I’m always in a recipe rut! I love the idea of keeping recipes in Delicious – I think I need to play around there for awhile!
Oh, my! These look absolutely scrumptious! We love enchiladas!
Thanks for sharing!
Sherry
tried the beef enchiladas last night and they were really good and easy! I opted out of the chopped onions for times sake and it was still delsih! thanks for the quick, easy, and tasty recipe! we shall enjoy the leftovers tonight!
We never do the onions, just a sprinkle or two of the dried kind when browning beef. You know…the cheater’s way. But I notice you forgot the 8 oz. of evaporated milk! At least that’s what is written in our recipe.
I know we’ve discussed that Sarah just hands out bogus enchilada recipes to anyone who asks, but I really think the evaporated milk does something. It makes it a little runnier or something, and I like that.
Also, our recipe doesn’t call for the shredded cheese. Apparently we need to get these recipes together and grill someone on the authenticity. I feel duped. Ok…maybe not, because how we make them turns out great too! Every time. It’s not the quickest dish, and I can say I’ve burned the cheesy sauce waaaaaaay more than once, but it is easy and pretty darn tasty.
I’ll have to try adding the shredded cheese next time.
Ha! This is all part of my “tweaking.” I added the shredded cheese. Mainly because I don’t believe you can ever have too much cheese. But I just never HAVE evaporated milk, so I leave it out. I’m sure it does make it better.
{RECIPE UPDATE for everyone else: Add 8 oz. of evaporated milk. As Pioneer Woman says, don’t be like me.} :)
I really wanted to add black beans to the meat, but Mark would have thrown a hissy fit.
Ooh black beans. I would have to agree with Mark. I don’t know if I’d like that…but I’ve never tried, so maybe I would! Of course, I think that maaaaaay make them a little “too” fancy. I mean, meat and cheese is pretty simple, but add in something like black beans and it sounds like it’s from a restaurant: “I’d like the black bean infused meat and cheese enchildadas, please.” I’m pretentious, but that’s over the line.
Love your title, Mary! Wouldn’t we all love to give up on living perfect! I sure would. Also like your recipe! Our family loves Enchiladas. We both went Mexican today. Stop by and see my easy Taco Salad.
Blessings,
Janis
I love taco salad, Janis! Heading over to see how you make yours now…!
Wow, what an easy way to mix up Mexican night with some a little special! Thanks for linking this to Food on Fridays. Janis at Open My Ears posted about Mexican salad, so I’m already thinking in this mode. I just had my husband pick up avocados for some guacamole, and someone else linked to a grilled avocado recipe.
Is anyone else’s mouth watering??
Haha! YES, of course that sounds good enough to eat RIGHT NOW! (And I’m still full from breakfast!)
I haven’t made enchiladas before–I’ll have to try them out!
Let me know how they turn out!
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