Homemade Tortillas

A few weeks ago I decided to make tacos for dinner and after starting realized that I didn't have enough tortillas and instead of calling Andy to stop at the store on his way home, I decided to use a recipe my mom had that I added to my cookbook that I typed up for our family years ago and hadn't tried.
Ingredients:
4 cups Flour
1 tsp Salt
½ cup Shortening
1 cup Hot Water

Instructions:
Mix all ingredients in order. Knead, roll, and cook on griddle. I could cook two or three on my big griddle at a time.
I just did this by hand because it didn't take much effort to make the dough. Here is some of the dough.
Here are some tortillas that I rolled out while waiting for the others to brown. One side browned. They take about three minutes to cook each side at the 300 degree temperature I had my griddle set on.The recipe said that it makes 36, but for me it actually made about 16 tortillas. Maybe I should have rolled them out thinner... I would just make what you plan on eating because theses didn't work well reheated. They were great for dinner though and cheap because of the ingredients. The kids loved these. Next on the list: Pitas!

Baked Chimichangas

My husband's cousin passed on this recipe to me last week and I was dying to try it out. We love Mexican food, and especially the kind that is easy to put together, uses ingredients we already have all the time, and is DELICIOUS!This plate includes Spanish Rice and Tortilla chips as well. The chimichanga is under the sour cream, salsa, and cheese in the middle. You can see the gooey goodness on the middle right side.

This recipe makes 6 chimichangas, so if you are feeding a large family, double or triple it.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups Cooked Chicken (I boiled three chicken breasts in water with garlic and onion powder and then tore them up after they cooled.)
1/2 cup Salsa (whatever your favorite kind is)
1 cup. Shredded Cheese (I used Cheddar, but I think just about any cheese would be delicious.)
1 teaspoon Cumin (I wouldn't think that missing this one ingredient would matter that much.)
1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
1 teaspoon Onion Powder
1 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Black Pepper
1/2 teaspoon Dried Oregano

6 (8 inch) flour tortillas
2 Tablespoons Butter, melted
Salsa, sour cream, cheese, lettuce, etc....for garnishing

Combine chicken, salsa, cheese, and spices in a bowl. (I did this step during naptime so I could pull it out right when my husband got home from work.) Divide mixture evenly among center of tortillas or about 3/4 cup for each tortilla. Fold opposite sides of tortillas over filling, then roll up from the bottom and place, seam side down, onto a baking sheet. Brush with melted butter.

Bake at 400 until golden, approximately 25 minutes. Garnish as you wish.
I would expect these to freeze well, so if you wanted to have an easy freezer meal later, you could make a big batch and then freeze them in a ziplock bag to pull out on one of those exceptionally busy nights when no one eats at the same time and you don't have much time.
Recipes for Black Beans and Spanish Rice to come soon. As soon as I've perfected it.

Red Sauce Chicken Enchiladas

This is NOT from scratch. At least not the sauce. I use the cans of red enchilada sauce. It is very yummy though and it has made it to Andy's top five meals that I make. He likes everything I make (because I know what he doesn't like and don't add those things).
You could make this ahead of time or even the night before. It throws together fairly quickly. I made mine this morning and then put it in the fridge until we got back from after-school activities. Otherwise, dinnertime would be harder and I'd want to break my goal of only going out to eat once a month. Now dinner's in the oven.

Ingredients:
2-3 Chicken Breasts
1 large or 2 small cans Red Enchilada Sauce (brand doesn't really matter. We actually tried the more expensive one when I had a coupon and liked the WinCo brand Hytop more.)
13-15 Corn Tortillas (works with regular flour tortillas too in a pinch. Guess why I know?)
2 cups Shredded Cheese (Mexican is good. Cheddar works fine)

Instructions:
I just boiled two chicken breasts (with the spices I like-garlic, parsley, red pepper, and chili pepper, use what you like) and cut them up.
Spray 9x13 pan. If you want to, you could pour half a can of sauce in. Heat up 6 tortillas at a time with a paper towel around them, then put some chicken across tortilla with some cheese and roll it up. Place it in a 9x13 pan and repeat until the pan is full. Dump sauce on top and some cheese. Cover with tin foil and let it soak in all the juices from the sauce. You can cook it right away too. Cook for 40 minutes at 350 degrees. If your pan is coming straight from the fridge, you can put it in before the oven is heated.
Either way, this is a great filling meal. The kids like it too. It's so good!
You could serve it with sour cream or guacamole if you want to. We like it just the way it comes out. It also works to tear up the tortillas if you don't have time to fill each one and make an enchilada casserole. Make some Spanish rice to go with it or some corn if you want.

Chicken Enchilada Casserole

Chicken Enchilada Casserole
Ingredients:
2 Chicken Breasts
12-18 Corn Tortillas
1 can Red Enchilada Sauce
2 cups Frozen Corn (a drained can of corn would work fine too), Optional
1/2 cup Cheddar Cheese for top

Instructions:
Boil chicken with garlic, red pepper, parsley-or however you like to flavor your chicken. That is the mixture I like. Boil for 20 minutes or until no longer pink. Let soak in the boiled water with lid on for 15 minutes or so. Place chicken breasts on cutting board to cut up into little pieces.
Spray casserole pan or 9X13 pan.
Tear up corn tortillas into dish. Put cut up chicken on top of tortillas. Mix. Add can of enchilada sauce. Mix. Add corn. Mix. Spread cheese on top and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or so.
I made mine at lunchtime and then put it in the fridge until 45 minutes before Andy gets home, so it will have time to cook and time to set up with the lid on while we get ready for dinner. Serve by itself or with Spanish rice.