300 Square feet: Beef, Bean, and Cheese Enchiladas

Our apartment may be small, but our dreams and appetites are anything but. In our home there is always good food with more flavor then you can shake a stick at. And so bean, beef and cheese enchiladas are the order of the night.

But first to make things easy I do some cooking ahead of time. Whenever we purchase ground beef we go ahead and brown it, portion it, and store it in the freezer. This makes quick weeknight meals even easier. To do this simply go ahead and brown with onions, garlic, salt, whatever flavor combination you want. This take some time but the flavor is much better then meat that is frozen and then thawed and browned. To portion the beef simply measure out 2 cups and place in a plastic freezer bag. They've kept in the freezer for about a month for me. Remember to always reheat thoroughly before consuming or serving to other.

The beans are also prepared ahead of time. Start with one pound of dried beans (kidney, pinto, black, what ever you like) 2-1 1/2 cups. After rinsing the beans place them in an oven-safe pot with twice the amount of water and cover with lid. Place the pot in a 400 degrees F oven for 2 hours. After one hour you may want to add 1 1/2 tsp salt and half of a diced onion, depending on your aims and means. That is also a good time to add more water if needed. It is important to not let them go dry and burn. Trust me the smell of burned beans is awful. After 2 hours drain or boil off any liquid that remains. *Hint: Black beans may take slighlt longer.* This also freezes well, in a gallon sized bag laid flat.

Now that the beef and beans are taken care of. It's time for the sauce. You could always open a can of your favorite red enchilada sauce (especially if time is not on your side), but here is a recipe from Allrecipes.com by Brandy T. that I think you might like.

You will need:
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 Tbs flour (or corn starch)
1/4 cup chili powder
1-8oz can tomato sauce
1 1/2 cups water
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion power
~1 tsp salt

Start by heating the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in flour and chili powder and let brown over medium heat. Stir constantly to prevent burning. Gently stir in the tomato sauce, water and the rest of the seasonings. Cook over medium heat for roughly ten minuets or the desired thickness is achieved. You can watch a video of how it is made here.

Now the fun part can commence: building the enchiladas! I used flour tortillas because I had those on hand but this recipe can be used with corn tortillas. For the filling use half of your enchilada sauce (or half of a 26oz can of sauce) with roughly one pound of each browned hamburger and cooked beans. From the above mentioned techniques that's about one baggie beef and half of all your beans. Mix together and place in the center of each tortilla. Add a generous sprinkling of cheese to the inside of each enchilada. Roll up and place seam side down in a greased baking pan. I use an 8x12in baking pan with much success.

After filling your pan distribute the remaining sauce and whatever filling is left on the top. Cover with 1-2 cups cheeses (as desires) and bake for 30 min in a 350 degree oven.