Mexican Enchiladas & Home Made Sauce

I got this recipe from Recipe Zaar. I tried it about 6-9 months ago and we all loved it but I misplaced the recipe and pretty much forgot all about it. The store bought can I like is Montecito from Smart N Final. I was looking OAMC up on that site and bumped into this. I was glad I did. I wound up making up a bunch of food for the freezer these past two days and day 1 I quadrupled this recipe. I used it the next day(yesterday)to make 2.5 pans of enchiladas. It made about 112 oz of sauce(when you quadruple the recipe). That was enough for 2.5 pans plus about 10 oz left over that I tossed in with 2 15 oz cans of tomato sauce and some water into a pot of chile beans.

Normally I lay the tortillas flat but I wanted all this to go in the rubbermaid containers and into the freezer in individual servings. It still would of worked the other way but I was hoping for it to be a bit neater, two enchiladas all rolled up, instead of cut. My eldest dd was home yesterday and was actually in a helpful mood. All the other kids were at school except the youngest dd. I was in the kitchen from 7:00-2:45 I was son my feet the whole time and stopped at 12:00 to talk to dh for a few minutes and sample the enchiladas. They were great!!

As you can see by the picture they didn't turn out as cute as I had wanted. Oh well. They still tasted great! We warmed the tortillas up before rolling so they would be more flexible. They definately could of been cheesier. I usually use about 1 lb of cheese per pan. I had 2 lbs of cheese and made it stretch for 2.5 pans! I wasn't doing this to be frugal. I was trying to watch the portions. Each enchilada had 1/4 cup shredded cheese and 1/8 cup of roast beef, a little onion and olives sprinkled on top. They were really good and if I had more cheese on hand I would of made up a bunch more! I also cooked up a 2 lb pack of brown rice and made 17 cups of spanish rice to go with it. I also made a big pot of beans.

Do you like Mexican food? WHat is your favorite enchilada recipe?

Mexican Enchilada Sauce

I got this recipe from by grmil who was born and raised in Mexico City. The secret to its flavor is the cocoa

15 min 15 min prep
Change to: servings US Metric
3 tablespoons chili powder
3 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon oregano
3 cups water
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce


1. Combine all dry ingredients in a small bowl.
2. Stirring constantly, slowly add enough of the water to make a thin paste.
3. Pour into pan and add rest of water.
4. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens.
5. Stir in tomato sauce.
6. Use in your favorite enchilada recipe.
7. The amounts on the ingredients are very flexible.
8. For instance, if I am feeding my kids who do not like"spicy", I will halve the chili powder and double the tomato sauce.
9. Experiment to suit your taste, but don't leave out the cocoa.
10. For a quick meal, we will soften a corn tortilla in a bit of hot oil, drag it through the sauce, and lay it flat on a plate.
11. cover it with grated cheddar cheese, sprinkle with chopped onions and sliced black olives.
12. Then cover with another softened sauced tortilla and melt the cheese in the microwave for 1 minute on high.

Rubbermaid vs. Gladware

Which do you use?

Please tell me the rubbermaid is sturdier. lol Yes I know these items aren't meant to last forever only tupperware but jeez you would think it could last longer than a month!
I had gotten alot of gladware about 2 months ago in various sizes and yes they were the freezer ones as well. It seems like every time I turn around one is cracking! I had some krusteaz mix in one salad size container in the fridge. It fell out of the fridge and cracked! Another container with spaghetti did the same thing!

Those kids of mine are pretty clumsy. Cause you know that I never ever, EVER drop anything! lol ;)

One of the small containers to put like single serve puddings in, I went to take the lid off and the tab broke off! Jeez!!!!

It almost seems like if the container is frozen or refrigerated they become highly breakable! None of those 3 were frozen , only in the fridge and I hate to think if they were. There would probably be more broken. I am going to keep them but at this rate they won't last long it seems.

Around x~mas I got some of the cute x~mas ones as well in 4 and 6 cup sizes and I froze some flour in those (pre-measured for exactly 2 loaves of bread) and those seemed fine. So far. grrr....

Anyways. I was at Walmart today and seen their rubbermaid take alongs on sale for $1.97 plus they all had a bonus container! So I went a little nuts.

At our wedding a year and a half ago someone had gotten us a set of the bigger storage containers, like the humongous bowls with lids, the huge rectangle ones. Those have held up fine, we haven't frozen them but don't remember if those ones were freezable or not. But we have refrigerated them with no trouble. The only problem was when we leave them sitting to close to an open flame. haha

They melt.

Anyhow so I seen the small ones on sale and thought I would give them a whirl. We got 16 of the 3.7 cup divided containers, 4 of the 4 cup rectangle containers, 15 of the 5.2 cup deep square containers, 15 of the 3.2 round containers and 15 of the 2.9 square containers.

We also got 2 of the 13 cup serving bowls since we liked the other ones we got at the wedding so much. That was the only one with a bonus bowl that was smaller than what I
was buying. It had a bonus that was a twist n seal. I think I paid $3.88.

All in all not bad. I think I spent about $32.00 for 68 containers and 68 lids.

Home made Creamy Chocolate Pudding

Make your own pudding packets for only .45 cents. Aren't they like $1.50 in the stores most of the time? I think once in a while I see it on "sale" for $1.00.

1 1/2 cups plus 2 TBS unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
3 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 1/3 cup cornstarch
1/2 tsp salt

Basically add all the ingredients together and stir with a wire whisk. This makes enough for 6 cups of dry mix. Which is enough for 6 packets of chocolate pudding mix.

1 cup of mix
2 3/4 cups milk
2 TBS butter
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

In a sauce pan add the mix and the milk. Cook and stir until it thickens. Remove from heat and add in butter and vanilla. Makes 6 servings. Enjoy!

I will have to check the prices again at Smart N Final but from what I remember the cocoa is $5.69 for 16 oz(4 cups), the corn starch is $3.00 for 10 lbs(40 cups) and the sugar is $3.00 for 5 lbs(20 cups), I didn't bother adding the salt.

So $2.13 for cocoa, .49 cents for sugar, .10 cents for corn starch = $2.72 divided by 6 = .45 cents each. :) Oh I forgot to add in the butter but really, how much can it be? lol Not much more. ;)

What do you like to do with chocolate pudding? DO you like to make chocolate pie? Or just as a treat for the family?

Cheesy Lasagna & Garlic Stix!

Well I just finished adding up what I spent on the lasagna. $40.53 for 4 pans! Ouch!! You see now I remember why people just grab what is packaged at the store. Time and convenience and sometimes it isn't much cheaper making your own! lol I never look down at others who don't cook from scratch or make their own food cause I used to be in their shoes. Work, home, kids, husband. When you work out of the home, your attention is seriously divided. Those fast food lights are looking brighter and brighter and if you pick up a box of Stouffer's come home and toss it in the oven with a salad and rolls, that is MAKING dinner. haha You are a Queen.

I am blessed now to be able to stay home and take care of my family. I do feel our health has improved with cooking from scratch more often and all the fresher foods. But jee wizz I spent like 6 hours in the kitchen yesterday! Now this is no new feat for me. There are quite a few days a week I am in there for 4-5 hours or so. What I generally try to do is to make up food all at once so that I can have it later. You know, later, when I don't want to be in the kitchen at all. ;)

Here is what I spent.

4 pans of lasagna

2 20 oz packs of sweet italian sausage= $8.00
2 20 oz packs of ground turkey = $4.20
3 lb ricotta cheese = $3.99
2.33 lbs of lasagna noodles = $2.60
5 lbs of mozzarella cheese = $13.99
6 lbs, 6 oz of whole tomatoes = $3.00
10 6 oz cans of tomato paste = $3.33
4 eggs = .40 cents
1 can of Hunts spaghetti sauce = 1.00 = $40.53/ so $10.13 each.

I think next time I need to use 4 lbs of cheese and maybe half the meat! lol Oh well.
It was really good. It fed two adults, two teenagers and 3 other kids and enough for lunch for Joe today.

SO that is what I do. I will take a day when I feel like being in the kitchen, cooking, cleaning, chopping, baking, soaking veggies, etc. I will have a bunch of things I am trying to do at once. I get them done and guess what? If I did a good job I won't have to be in the kitchen the next day except to do the basics like dishes, counter, stove.

So yesterday I decided it was time to make up 4 lasagna's and some garlix stix. I went in at 10:00. I think we ate about 4:00 Now of course I didn't spend the whole time with the lasagna and stix, cause I have 5 kids underfoot and dh. Of course the first thing that happened was the 3 male late breakfast stragglers. I guess they didn't get the memo to eat some cereal and as soon as I hit the kitchen the boys were running in, I am hungry, what are you making? Etc. To their credit they were busy that a.m. cleaning the garage.

So I cut them some h.m. bread, made some eggs and sausage. My girls were supposed to be cleaning their rooms. My eldest dd lied and said her cat box was clean and in the dumpster and when i went to check it was not even done! I threatened to get rid of the cats if her box wasn't cleaned in 15 minutes and she had two days to get her room completely clean. It was awful. It was clean this a.m. :)

Anyways so little interruptions here and there and she eventually came in and grated cheese and chopped up cantaloupe and watermelon and strawberries and apples. Middle dd did not get much done in her room but read alot of good books! I will have to see if I can get a handle on that today. She did come help me with the lasagna & bread stix though.

Now I normally don't use eggs for lasagna but I seen a recipe online where they added eggs to cottage cheese and a little parmesan. It also called for whole tomatoes and tomato paste. I ran low on sauce so that is why i opened a can of hunts sauce. I really liked using the whole tomatoes and tomato paste. I think I need to cut them up a little next time. lol I had a recipe earlier in the year from someone how to make the sauce but I can't find the book I put it in. :( So I did try that. It tasted the same. We ate one and wrapped the other 3 in freezer paper. We also made 3 extra batches of bread stix to freeze as well. I am going to look for another reecipe for those too. They are good. I do like them. But finding that new bread recipe that was even better than the last one makes me think maybe I can find a great recipe for garlic bread. We'll see.

Here are some pictures. I think everyone knows how to make lasagna so I will skip any instructions. ;)Here is my blog about bread stix: Bread Stix

Do you make your own lasagna? Do you buy it from the store? What do you like to do to help with oamc? For pictures of the finished product check out the blog below.

Home Made

Okay so I still have those 3 home made pizza's in the freezer. Last week we went out for Little Caesar's as a treat. I think on Wed. What I like most about those pizza's is not the thought of having pizza in the freezer. It is having something that is done a bit healthier, made from scratch. I control all the ingredients. So there is not a long list of ingredients made in a laboratory somewhere.

Same thing with lasagna. Yeah it would be easier to just spend $11.00 and pick up a Stouffer's 96 ozer from the store. But it is nice knowing exactly what you are eating.

Stouffer's lasagna ingredient list:


Ingredients
WATER, COOKED LASAGNA (WATER, SEMOLINA WHEAT FLOUR), COTTAGE, PART SKIM MOZZARELLA AND PARMESAN CHEESES (MILK INGREDIENTS, BACTERIAL CULTURES, SALT, MICROBIAL ENZYMES, LIPASE, CELLULOSE), TOMATO PASTE, COOKED GROUND BEEF, TEXTURED SOY PROTEIN CONCENTRATE, MODIFIED CORN STARCH, SALT, WHEAT FLOUR, DEHYDRATED ONIONS, SUGAR, SPICES, AUTOLYZED YEAST EXTRACT, MILK INGREDIENTS, GARLIC POWDER, COLOUR, FLAVOURS (SOY SAUCE [WATER, SOYBEANS, WHEAT, SALT], AUTOLYZED YEAST EXTRACT, SOY OIL, FLAVOUR).

Okay so not as bad as some food list' I see, but still. I italicized some of the more questionable ingredients. Like, why do we need soy sauce in an Italian dish? Milk ingredients? Is that in addition to the mozzarella? If so, then what? I don't see ricotta or cottage cheese even listed. We also need colour? Really. I thought lasagna had enough color on it's own. AUTOLYZED YEAST EXTRACT, MODIFIED CORN STARCH.

I don't see yeast listed on anything I put in yesterday. Now I do see modified food starch listed on the container of ricotta I bought. I will have to check the other brands of ricotta at the store but I think they all have something. Grr....

Okay but you get the picture. There is not as many questionable ingredients when you make it yourself. I couldn't google frozen pizza ingredients quick enough but just take my word for it. There is alot of extra stuff in there and most of them have transfat to boot! I will be back right back with my adventure in home made lasagna.

Freezer French Toast Recipe

Freezer French Toast Recipe

Make your own freezer french toast rather than buying similar commercial frozen ones from the grocery store! Makes 16 slices for quick breakfasts.

5 eggs
1 1/4 cups milk
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 tsp salt
16 slices white bread

Heat oven to 500F. Combine eggs, milk, sugar, and salt, mixing well. Dip slices, then place on baking sheets sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Bake about 5 minutes, until bottom is golden brown. Flip and cook for 2 more minutes. Cool then freeze in single layer. Once frozen (about two hours) they can be packaged individually or placed in a single freezer bag.

To cook:
Remove from freezer, and heat in toaster or toaster oven, then serve.

Okay so I tried this a few months ago. I used up the rest of the "goof up" bread. It seems the thicker pieces looked more appetizing to me. I am not a big breakfast freak as many of you know so this is mainly for the kids.

You'll notice there are some cheese and egg bisuits in the pics too but that is another blog.

These pics were taken after they were already flash frozen.

Well the verdict is in. Everyone tried them along with our omelettes in a bag and they were great! I will make them again next week another time.