Easy Peasy Enchiladas

Hi everyone! I thought I'd do a quick post on one of our favorite meals - enchiladas.

These are super easy to put together and taste fantastic. So, here's the recipe! (This makes 4 servings.)

Ingredients:

• 4 10-inch flour home style tortillas

• 1/2 pound ground beef, prepared with taco seasoning

• one bag Mexican shredded cheese

• one 8oz jar taco sauce

• one box Mexican style Rice-a-Roni

• 2 tablespoons butter

• cooking spray

Directions:

Prepare the rice according to box directions. This takes about 20-25 minutes and will use the butter. 

Spray a rectangular glass pan with the cooking spray. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Layer the rice, seasoned beef and cheese in the center of each tortilla:

Roll the tortillas and place them seam side down in the glass pan. 

Drizzle the enchiladas with taco sauce. I used roughly half of the jar. 

You don't want to flood the tortillas with sauce. Drizzling them keeps some of the tortilla exposed which will make those areas nice and crispy while the saucy parts stay moist and chewy. 

Sprinkle the tops of the enchiladas with more shredded cheese. 

Put in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Then turn on the broiler and broil until the cheese starts to turn brown and some of the enchiladas start to brown as well. 

You may have to adjust your cooking time depending on your oven. I have an electric oven. I broiled for about 2-3 minutes, but you should watch them closely at this step. 

Take them out and enjoy! I like them plain, but my husband adds extra taco sauce and salsa. I've also enjoyed them with sour cream and I'm sure some guacamole would be heavenly. I've also made them with canned corn added into the middle of the enchiladas, just layer it between the beef and cheese. These come out pretty mild, but you can add more heat by adding some hot sauce to the top or adding some green chiles or chili powder inside the enchiladas. 

I love how quick these are to make and they are pretty cheap. I buy the rice for $1/box when it goes on sale. I also buy the taco sauce on the buy-one-get-one sales. I like to serve it with a salad. I cheat on that and buy the bag mix of Mexican salad. It comes with creamy ranch cilantro dressing, tortilla strips, cheese and bacon. For $2.99 per bag I can't beat that and it's so easy to make! Some corn and refried beans on the side would also be great. 

Anyway, I made these start to finish in under an hour, so they are great when you are pressed for time. And if you have kids they can always help sprinkle the cheese and make the accompanying salad. :) Happy cooking everyone!

Finished Double Irish Chain

I know I promised this a long time ago, but I'm finally getting around to posting pictures of my finished Double Irish Chain quilt. :) We've been using it for a while now so I figure I should show it off!

Here it is all happy on our bed. :)

We love it! I backed it with a really soft cotton bed sheet. It was the easiest back I've ever used. I used a king size sheet for this queen size quilt. That gave me plenty of room for excess around the edges for quilting. And, it was only $15 at Target since it was on sale! What a steal for a quilt back. 

I love how the quilting makes it puff. You can see the stitches a lot better on the back. 

I wasn't always perfect with my lines, as you can see... I used a plate to mark the quilt on the front side. It worked well but I always have trouble following a line when I'm quilting. I do much better free-hand. 

And of course while I was taking pictures my cat Sasha had to help out. 

There she is as a lump under the quilt. Even she likes to crawl underneath!

And here she is all exposed. It's been cold here so we have several blankets on the bed. Of course we have the prettiest on top. :)

I have been doing some other sewing lately, but can't show it until after we've celebrated Christmas. I'll be back with an update after that for sure! Hope you're all enjoying the shift into winter. Happy sewing!