Ole! Enchiladas!

This is another adaptation of a recipe from Betty Crocker's New Cookbook: Everything You Need to Know to Cook (8th ed). I use my Crockpot Taco Chicken and Betty's homemade enchilada sauce for a fast and yummy dish! You could very easily adapt this to use taco seasoned beef, or make it a vegetarian dish by omitting the chicken and increasing the beans!


Enchilada ingredients:
1 cup Crockpot Taco Chicken
1 to 1-1/2 cup prepared or leftover rice
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 package 6" tortillas
Homemade Enchilada sauce
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Homemade Enchilada Sauce

Ingredients:
1/3 cup chopped bell pepper
2/3 cup water
1 Tbsp chili powder
1/2 tsp dried oregano leaves
1/4 tsp cumin
2 whole green chiles (optional)
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes

Heat all ingredients to boiling, stirring occasionally; reduce heat to low.
Simmer uncovered for 5 minutes.

To make enchiladas:

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
-Combine 1 to 1-1/2 cups leftover (or prepared) rice, 1 cup Crockpot Taco Chicken, 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese and 1 can black beans (drained and rinsed).
-Spoon about 1/4 cup of the filling into a tortilla, roll tightly and place in an ungreased baking dish. Repeat until the enchiladas fill the baking dish (usually takes 8-10 tortillas).
-Pour Homemade Enchilada sauce over the enchiladas, then top with remaining shredded cheddar.
-Bake uncovered for about 20 minutes or until bubbly.

Total Cost:
Enchilada sauce: $1.10
Taco Chicken: $1.30
Black Beans: $0.69
Rice: $0.20
Cheese: $1.60
Tortillas: $0.99

Grand Total: $5.88 for 4-5 servings (1.47-1.18 per serving)

Easy Meatloaf

I use this recipe from Betty Crocker's New Cookbook: Everything You Need to Know to Cook (8th ed) with a few very minor changes. Meatloaf is a great comfort food, and is very inexpensive to put together! This is just one method to meatloaf....try making it Mexican (with taco seasoning and salsa) or Italian (with parmesan cheese, Italian seasoning, and pasta sauce)!

Meatloaf

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef (or turkey)
1/2 cup milk
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp dried sage
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dry ground mustard
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 cup ketchup, chili sauce or BBQ sauce

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees
-Mix all ingredients together except ketchup/sauce. Use your fingers! Smooshing is fun :)
-Spread mixture into an ungreased loaf pan
-Spread ketchup/sauce over the top
-Bake uncovered for 1 to 1-1/4 hours, or until meat is no longer pink inside
-Let stand 5 minutes, slice and serve!

Total Cost:
Ground beef: $1.99
Milk: $0.08
Egg: $0.14
Breadcrumbs: $0.20
Seasonings: appx $0.30

Grand Total: $2.71 for 4-6 servings - that's 0.68 per serving!