Enchilada Sauce

So here's the enchilada sauce recipe I promised this morning! It was perfect for the burritos I made and much less salty tasting than the canned stuff you can buy in the store.

Enchilada Sauce

Ingredients:

• 2 cups chicken broth
• 4 Tbs Chili Powder
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• 2 heaping tsp. garlic powder (with no salt added)
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 1 pinch ground cinnamon (less than 1/16 tsp.)
• 1/3 tsp. sugar
• 5 Tbs. cold water
• 5 Tbs. white flour

Directions:

Add the chicken broth, chili powder, garlic powder, cumin, salt, cinnamon and sugar in a medium sized sauce pan. Whisk to mix everything together. Heat to a boil, reduce heat to a low boil and cook for 3 minutes. Whisking frequently to keep lumps from forming.

While the sauce is on a slow simmer/boil, add 5 tablespoons of cold water in a small bowl.With another whisk mix 1 tablespoon of flour at a time. Try not to have any lumps in the flour mixture by the time the last tablespoon of flour is added.

After 3 minutes of cooking sauce, turn the heat up to high. Slowly pour the flour mixture into the boiling sauce. Whisk sauce continuously to avoid lumps in your sauce as you add the flour mixture. After all the flour is added, continue to whisk for one minute. Remove from heat and serve.

Burritos For the Freezer

I've been saying I was going to share this recipe for a while now, but I just finally got around to making these during my freezer cooking day this weekend. I stumbled upon this recipe at Amy's Finer Things and it looked so easy and delicious that I thought it would fit in perfect to our meal plan. I changed a few things, but they were just as delicious as they sounded!

Burritos for the Freezer (Adapted from Amy's Finer Things)

Ingredients:

• 2 lb. Ground Turkey
  
• 2 cans refried beans
  
• 1 1/3 c. enchilada sauce (I make my own, I'll post this recipe as well)
  
• 1/2 c. water
• 1/4 Cup onion, minced
  
• 1 Tbsp. chili powder
• 1 Tbsp. garlic powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 3 c. shredded Mexican cheese
• 20 large flour tortillas

Directions:

Brown ground turkey in a pan, drain and set aside. Add remaining ingredients (except tortillas), bring to a boil. Add turkey back to pan and mix to coat with sauce. Reduce heat and let simmer for 15-20 minutes.

Heat tortillas 3-4 at a time. Spoon about 1/4 cup of the mixture onto each tortilla and roll up like a burrito. Because I'm freezing these, I rolled them up in a paper towel first and then in foil for each one as Amy suggested in the original recipe. I found that you can unwrap the foil and then just pop the burrito in the microwave right in the paper towel to heat it up when you are ready to eat. It was very convenient!

I got exactly 20 burritos out of this recipe.

Mexican Meatloaf with Salsa Noodles

Due to sick kids and a busy weekend, I didn't have time to plan meals like I usually do. So, tonight was a fly by the seat of our pants kind of night for dinner. I fed the kids leftovers, and attempted to find something to do with the 2lbs of hamburger I had in the fridge. The hubby was in the mood for meatloaf, and I was in the mood for something spicy - so I got to creating! The end result was great, nice moist meatloaf with a side of salsa and cream cheese noodles. My husband was very disappointed at first that I wasn't whipping up some mashed potatoes with this meal, but as soon as he tasted the noodles he changed his mind. We'll definitely be making this one again!

Mexican Meatloaf

Ingredients:

• 2lbs ground beef (or turkey)
• 1 cup whole kernel corn
• 1 pkg taco seasoning (I make my own)
• 1 cup refried beans
• 1 cup shredded mexican cheese
• 1/2 cup salsa

Directions:
In a bowl, mix ground beef, corn, and taco seasoning. Add 1/2 of the meat mixture to the bottom of a bread pan. spread refried beans over the meat mixture and sprinkle with 1/2 of the mexican cheese. Place the rest of the meat mixture on top of the beans and cheese, pinching around the edges to seal the meat layers together. Top meatloaf with the rest of the cheese and pour the salsa over the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-55 minutes. Serve with a side of Salsa-Cream Cheese Noodles.

Salsa-Cream Cheese Noodles

Ingredients:

• 1/2-1 lb cooked egg noodles
• 2 cups salsa
• 4-6oz cream cheese
• 1/2 cup sour cream

Directions:

In a sauce pan, combine salsa and cream cheese over medium heat until cream cheese has melted and blends well with the salsa. Remove from heat and stir in sour cream. Mix sauce with cooked noodles. Serve.