Double Batch Cooking with Enchilada Filling...

Good morning! I decided to break with my traditional writing of my Thoughtful Thursday, and instead give you a little glimpse today into some of the things I do regularly to keep my family fed, my time streamlined and not overwhelmed, and my freezer filled with meals that I can use at any time.

 

 Now, before those of you who have been reading this freak out that I am talking about using my freezer, knowing how much I work on shelf stable foods and such with canning and preserving methods, I wanted to state that I believe a freezer absolutely has a place in your kitchen prep, and food storage.

My problem with it is that most often, that is ALL that people rely on, and as I can personally attest, when you lose a freezer full of food, especially meat, in a power outage...well, its financially devastating for a family who lives on one income, or a family who does their best to make every penny have nickels. So in my mind, a freezer is a short term storage option, and that is exactly how I use it.

One of the ways that I use it frequently is in batch cooking.

Now if you read my series on Making DO Without Missing A Thing you would know that I often double or triple a recipe so that I have meals made ahead for long days of teaching lessons, or even friends who suddenly have needs and I can drop one off.

You would also know from reading that series that I have a set schedule of what we eat each night of the week depending on our tastes, with Tuesday evening being our "Ethnic Meal night".

And one of our very favorite meals ever around here are Enchiladas. Any form, any filling, but we love our Mexican food around here. SO, today I am going to show you how we make a double batch of Enchilada filling, plus my homemade tortilla recipe (sorry in the pics I took a few weeks ago I used store bought due to illness, but these are the BOMB with homemade corn tortillas). I plan on doing this a couple times in the next two weeks, showing you some of what we cook and how, and giving you recipes, so keep your eyes open!

Many Blessings to you and yours,

Heather

 Enchilada Filling

2 pints of home canned Chicken 

(or 3 lbs of shredded chicken breast, cooked and ready)

2 cups corn 

(again, I use home canned or rehydrated)

2 diced green peppers

2 diced onions

(both of these are right out of my freezer or my dried foods stash from the garden) 

4 cups Spanish rice or plain rice with chili powder 

(recipe for my Spanish rice master seasoning is in my Ebook, The Master Mix Way)

I season with chili powder, red pepper flakes, garlic salt, celery flakes, and ground cumin.

Toss all this together in a bowl and mix really well. 

Next:

You will need either 2 packs of homemade tortillas,

 or will need to make 20-24 homemade tortillas from this recipe: 

(OR, if you already have or are interested in purchasing my Ebook, The Master Mix Way, there is a master mix in there for Tortillas that makes this step obsolete. Click here to head over there and pick it up at 30% off with the code JanuarySunshineDeal:  

Master Mix Way E-Book)

Homemade Corn Tortillas

4 cups masa harina

2 1/2-2 3/4 cups warm water

Homemade Fresh Ground Wheat Tortillas

4 cups Whole Wheat Flour (I use my amazing WonderMill for this)

2 tsp salt

1/2 cup lard (or shortening)  

1 1/2 cups warm water.

Both of these you mix it up really well, let it sit for about ten to fifteen minutes, and then form into small balls for each tortilla. You can use a tortilla press for the corn tortillas, and roll the flour ones out  by hand. Be sure to keep the dough covered up while you are doing this with a wet towel, as it dries out quick and makes it harder to work with. Both of these recipes use tortillas that have already  been baked on a hot skillet or cast iron pan.

     

Now, here is how I do simple, rolled enchiladas in a large pan.   

 Step one:

 Step two:

Step three:

AT this point I cover them with 2 cups shredded cheese, 

and then pour 3-4 cups of Enchilada Sauce over them.

Next I take the other half of the tortillas, and make another pan of Enchiladas, but in a different form so my family has another option in a couple weeks.

Step One:

 

 Step Two:

At this point I freeze the second one, and pull out the first one for dinner for my family!

A big thank you to the Grain Mill Wagon Company for blessing my family and I with a WonderMill. If you are looking for a grain mill, I would encourage you to check out my post on the 

WonderMill vs the NutriMill and why I switched.