Week Two: Wednesday (Day 6)

As I said in my last post, all is not lost because I had a change in dinner plans. I will be serving my planned Enchiladas for lunch. I also have the salad ready to go. It's so easy I'm attempting to pat myself on the back.

Part of the purpose of my cooking 5 meals a week is to have plenty of leftovers for a "smorgasbord" on the weekend. We WANT leftovers (well, of the things that tasted good, that is!).

I thought I had corn tortillas in the freezer. I actually DID have them, but they were so freezer burned I tossed them when I did the cleaning and inventory phase of my experiment. What to do? I have a box of tortilla shells. I went to Ortega's website and found the following recipe. HERE is the original and below is my modified version.

The Recipe:

1 pound ground beef
1 small onion, chopped
1 can (10 oz.) Enchilada Sauce
1 can (6 oz.) tomato paste
6 oz. water
1 package (12 ct.) taco shells
1 C shredded mozzarella cheese
1 C shredded cheddar cheese
Shredded lettuce
Salsa

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Brown ground beef and onions. Drain.
• Stir in enchilada sauce, tomato paste and water.
• Fill taco shells halfway and line up in a 13x9 baking dish.
• Cover with remaining meat sauce. ETA--there won't be much to "cover" anything.
• Sprinkle with the cheeses.
• Bake 17 - 20 minutes and serve with lettuce and salsa.

NOTES:

• My can of enchilada sauce is 19 ounces. I have to figure out to do with the leftover 9 ounces. I will probably freeze it and note it in my Master Inventory.
• The original recipe called for tomato sauce. I did an internet search and discovered that you can substitute tomato paste by mixing it with an equal amount of water.
• I will serve the black olives on the side to be mixed into the individual servings. I detest olives but Hubby and J (my son) think they're great. I don't want to deprive them.

Verdict:

Me: At first I thought it was going to interesting because the tops of the taco shells were sticking out. I was wrong. The tops got all crunchy and the filling was VERY nice. If you want spicy, however, this isn't it. One could add hot sauce to the filling to crank up some heat.

Hubby: This definitely could use some heat. Thankfully we had hot sauce in the house.