Beef Enchiladas with Pepper Jack and Homemade Enchilada Sauce

I know I'm a little late for Cinco De Mayo but hey.....better late than 

never right?  My family LOVES Mexican food and we have it at least 

twice a week but I haven't made enchiladas in a while and I was really 

craving them!  Instead of using a canned sauce I decided to make 

my own.  It was really fun and quite gratifying to buy those dried 

peppers and actually use them and not let them sit in my pantry for a 

couple of years.  I've done that......   Don't be intimidated at all, it's really 

super simple to make your own homemade enchilada sauce.  I just love 

how it turned out....and the color!  Oh my gosh......I love the color, except 

that I got some on my favorite lime green  Longboat Key, Florida t-shirt.  

Note to self......wear your apron next time....oh and buy tons of t-shirts on 

your trip to Florida in a couple of months!  (sorry Jimmy....I have to...)

Beef Enchiladas with Pepper Jack

(printable copy)

1 1/2 lbs. ground beef

1 onion

1/2 green pepper, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 jalapeño peppers, minced

1 1/4 ounces taco seasoning mix (to use mine click here)

4 ounces cream cheese, softened

2 cups enchilada sauce (see below)

8 ounces pepper jack cheese, shredded

12 flour tortillas, softened (6")

Brown beef, onions, peppers and garlic in a large skillet over medium-high

heat until browned and veggies are soft.

Add taco seasoning and 1/2 cup enchilada sauce into the bottom of a greased

9x13 casserole dish.  Spoon about 1/4 cup of meat mixture down the center of

each warmed tortilla and roll up.  Place enchiladas seam side down in the dish.

Top enchiladas with remaining enchilada sauce.  Then top with pepper jack

cheese.  

Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees or until cheese is melted.  

Enchilada Sauce

(printable copy)

12 dried New Mexico Chilies

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon oregano

4 garlic cloves

1/2 an onion

2 cups chicken broth

Remove the stems off the dried chilies and seed them.

Put them in a large pot of water.  Cover them and bring to a boil; 

simmer until soft about an hour.

In a food processor add the peppers, onion, garlic, salt and cumin.

Blend adding 1/2 chicken broth at a time until the desired consistency.

My kids loved these enchiladas!  Tanner kept coming in and saying 
"oh my gosh mom, that looks fantastic!"  He even made me save him 
a plate for the next day and "proclaimed me the best cook in the world"!  
LOL!  I don't think so by a long shot but his high praise made my day!   
Even my youngest Bay loved them.  I was expecting her to balk at the 
sauce, thinking she saw me with all those peppers.....

Oh...btw...the enchiladas call for half a block of cream cheese in the meat 

mixture. Not wanting to waste the rest, I put it in my refried beans.  Nice!   

I'm going to keep on doing that!

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