Enchiladas!

I was hesitant to start a blog because to be honest, we don't lead very exciting lives. What would I write about? We don't have any kids to post pictures of and tell cute stories about. We work, come home, and hang with the dogs. On the weekends we like to go to the movies and out to dinner. That's about it....except we do like to cook and EAT! When we go on a trip, restaurants in the area are the first thing we research. In fact, if we ever move from New England and we have a choice of where we go, we will research the restaurants in the area and that will be a factor in our decision- I'm only half kidding here! We both grew up out west, me in Idaho and Colin in Oregon. The thing we miss the most besides our families is the food. No offense to the New Englander's, but in the almost 5 years that we have been here, we haven't found many good restaurants. When we visit our hometowns, if you want to see us, you can find us at any number of our favorites. In fact, when we were home at Thanksgiving, my best friend told her 5 year old son that Aunt Heidi was in town and he wanted to know when we were going for pizza because we always go to our favorite pizza place with them when we are there. We are ALL about the food.

We both love Mexican food, especially enchilada's, so ever since we have moved here, we have been in search of a good Mexican restaurant. We have learned that Mexican food is different on the east coast-and we don't like it. The enchilada sauce out here is more tomato based with cinnamon added in...yes, you read that right..CINNAMON! Don't get me wrong- I love cinnamon- just not in my enchilada sauce! We prefer the brown chili based sauce that you find out west. So I went in search of a recipe for it on the web one day, and after trying many, have found one that we like pretty well. It isn't the best sauce I have ever tasted, but we like it better than any of the restaurants that we have found here, so I figured I would share the recipe.

Enchilada Sauce:
2 tbs oil
3 tbs flour
2 tbs chili powder (I use ancho chili powder)
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
2 cups chicken stock or water
salt & pepper to taste

Heat oil and add flour, chili powder, cumin and garlic powder. Stir until combined. Add the 2 cups of chicken stock and stir well. Bring to a boil and then lower the heat and simmer until the sauce thickens, stirring often. Salt & pepper to taste.

Filling:
1 lb ground beef, cooked then seasoned with taco seasoning. (leftover roast beef shredded is also very good if you have it)
1 can refried beans- heated
jack & cheddar cheese- add as much as you like
Mix all ingredients together

Put the filling in softened corn tortillas (I wrap 3 at a time in a paper towel and microwave them for 30 seconds and that makes them pliable enough to roll). Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray and put a little enchilada sauce in the bottom of the pan before putting your rolled enchiladas in. Pour the remaining enchilada sauce over the top of the enchiladas, add more cheese (again, as much as you want), and bake at 375 degrees until the cheese is melted, around 15-20 minutes. These taste great with rice and beans and tortilla chips Enjoy!