Dinners
Enchiladas are a great way to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. Even if you aren't in a state where this is a common celebration, it is fun to have a reason to have Mexican food. With the sale items this week enchiladas, with all the fixings, are just begging to be made. Here is my recipe for them. It is super easy, although I cannot guarantee the authenticity of the dish as I have been told by my Hispanic students that I am not making them right. That is mostly because I use flour tortillas and their moms, grandmothers and tias, use corn.Enchiladas
Ingredients
10-20 fajita size tortillas (*Mission Corn or Flour Tortillas 10 or 30 ct 2 FOR $3 WITH CARD Kroger)1-2 lbs ground meat (*HONEYSUCKLE Fresh Ground Turkey 85% Lean 1.2 lb. Package 10 FOR $10
3 pkg Taco seasoning (this usually runs about 80 cents a pkg you could make your own, but I do not have that kind of time)
1 can Refried beans (Old El Paso on sale at Wal-mart for $1.00, though I like Gebhardt and it is usually about 90 cents a can)
1 small onion, diced
2 large cans tomato sauce (Albertson's RED GOLD Canned Tomatoes 28 oz 10 FOR $10 *if you have a coupon this is a good deal, if not then the Great Value brand is a better deal at around 90 cents a can)
3-4 cups of grated cheese (Kroger has 16 oz bars for 3.29)
Directions:
Brown the ground meat with the onion. Add in 1 pkg of taco seasoning and about half a cup of water. Stir until combined. While the ground meat is cooking place the refried beans in a large sauce pot and add about a cup of water and a taco seasoning packet. Stir occasionally until beans are hot. In another large sauce pot place the two large cans of tomato sauce and the last taco seasoning packet. Heat until the sauce is heated through. Once all other ingredients are hot, warm tortillas in a skillet or on a comal.
Place 2 tbsps of the taco meat plus 2 tbsp refried beans in a tortilla and roll tight. Place in a rectangle baking dish. Repeat until all tortillas are used. Pour tomato sauce over enchiladas and top with cheese. Bake at 350 until cheese is melted. Serve with remaining refried beans and mexican rice (recipe to follow).
Cost analysis:
3.00 tortillas
.80 x 3 = 2.40 Refried beans
.90 taco seasoning
.26 onion
1.80 tomato sauce
3.29 cheese
1.0 meat
12.64 for about 30 enchiladas. That is enough to feed my family of 5 2 times. So the cost of each of the two main dishes is 6.32.
Mexican Rice
Ingredients
2 cups white rice (uncooked)
1 jalepeno, diced, seeded and with the membrane taken out (I would recommend wearing gloves or placing a plastic baggie over your hand that is handling the pepper and the wash your hands well after handling the pepper. You can adjust the heat of the pepper buy leaving some of the seeds.)
2 cubes Knorr Tomato Chicken Boullion (Caldo de Tomate)
2 cups chicken stock
2 cups water
1/2 onion, cut into rings
1 tbsp butter or evoo
Directions
Rinse the rice in cold water. Then brown the rice, the boullion and jalapeno in the butter. Once rice is brown add the water, chicken stock and onion. Cover and cook until rice is soft.
Cost analysis:
rice .90
jalapeno .20
knorr cubes .40
chicken stock 2.00
onion .13
Total cost = 3.50 divided by 2 (since it is enough for two meals) = 1.75
So cost of enchiladas (and refried beans) 6.32 + cost of rice 1.75 = 8.07 divided by 5
(the number in my family) = 1.61 per serving. Not bad. This is a splurge meal for my family. If you add in chips and salsa and guac (I'll pot that recipe as well) you are at about $2.00 a serving. WAY, WAY cheaper than eating out and much yummier.
Guacamole
3 avocados (.79 cents at Walmart)
1 sm jalepeno, diced really small
2 roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
1/2 a red onion diced
3-4 tsp lemon or lime juice
Salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste
Place all the diced veggies in a bowl with the lemon juice. Smash the avocado until smooth. Add in the spices to taste. Mix in the veggies and chill for a at least 30 minutes. Serve with chips.
There you have it. A Mexican dinner at home for around $2.00 a serving.
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