Thursday, November 4, 2010

Uh-Oh Enchilada Sauce


One of our favorite meals is enchiladas. When I found that our go-to sauce had MSG in it, I decided to make my own.

Problem was, I decided this after returning home from town. You know, when the grocery store is a distant memory and all you can think about is how a 16 oz. latte should never spend that much time in a 4 oz. bladder.

But maybe that's just me.

I was determined to make enchiladas though, because I cannot deviate from the meal plan. I will not. It's impossible. Because my brain had already informed my stomach that enchiladas were on the way.

I cannot disappoint my stomach.

I would really love to be able to tell you that I found the perfect enchilada recipe and just happened to have all of the ingredients just lying around, but that wouldn't be entirely true. You see, I did find the perfect recipe, but somehow in my rush to "create", I turned the page before all of the ingredients were added.

My brain didn't get the memo.

I just kept adding ingredients. From another recipe.

Oops.

Good news. It was another tomato-based recipe, so with a little "peaking and tweaking", dinner was saved.

I will never, ever, ever buy another can of enchilada sauce again. But in order to recreate this sauce again, I need a record of what I did. So, not only is this a recipe, but somehow, it has become my therapy for an "almost oops". The enchiladas that almost weren't.

Uh-Oh Enchilada Sauce
~an original~

1 C. onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
2 Tb. unsalted butter
1 quart canned, diced tomatoes (or stewed, broken up well)
1 C. tomato sauce
1 (7 oz.) can diced green chiles
1-1/2 t. ground cumin
1/2 t. sea salt
1/2 t. oregano
1/2 t. basil
2 Tb. chili powder
1/2 t. garlic powder

In medium saucepan, melt the butter. Add onions and garlic and saute until tender. Add the rest of the ingredients. Bring to boil; reduce heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes. Coat bottom of casserole dish with sauce. Dip corn tortillas in sauce to soften. Fill tortillas with your favorite filling. We like black refried beans, shredded chicken and monterey jack cheese. Roll tortillas and set side by side in dish. Pour sauce over tortillas. Sprinkle more cheese and black olives if desired. Bake in preheated 375 F. oven for 20-30 minutes.

This made enough to fill 2-13x9" pans. If you don't want to make that much, put the remaining sauce into a freezer container for future use.

If at first you don't succeed, give it a taste and try again!





3 comments:

Jackie said...

Sounds good! I have a similar recipe--homemade is so much better!

Joanna said...

I made enchilada sauce for the first time last week! Adapted from a Hungry Monkey recipe and it was so good! I'm with you. No more cans, ever!

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