Beef & Bean Enchiladas: A Little-Known Favorite

I have been blessed with a husband who is incredibly easy to cook for.  As long as I steer clear of peas (he views them as evil), raisins (h...

I have been blessed with a husband who is incredibly easy to cook for.  As long as I steer clear of peas (he views them as evil), raisins (humiliated grapes) and overwhelming onion flavors he's on board. Last week I made my weekly request as I was planning out our menu: Is there anything you really want to eat this week?  Instead of replying with his usual, "not really, anything is fine with me" response, he said he was really craving some classic enchiladas.

Apparently enchiladas are one of my husband's favorite foods and I had no idea.  No big deal, we've only been married for going on 4 years and have been friends for over a decade.

Face palm.

I started searching enchilada recipes and cobbled together one of my own. I've done some great twists on enchiladas, a favorite being the one I did featuring roasted shrimp (check out that recipe here), but I couldn't remember the last time I did a more traditional enchilada.  Below is my recipe for some truly tasty enchiladas. We tend to prefer flour tortillas over corn in this dish, but if you would rather use corn just make sure to slightly warm them before using so they roll well without cracking.

Beef & Bean Enchiladas

Ingredients
1 lb. lean ground beef
15 oz. can of kidney beans (drained & rinsed)
1 ½ cups frozen corn (thawed)
4 oz. can of green chilies
Salt & pepper
1 tsp. cumin
½ tsp. chipotle chili powder (or you can swap in regular chili powder)
½ cup salsa
2 10 oz. can mild enchilada sauce
10 fajita-sized flour tortillas
Mexican cheese (1-2 cups)

Instructions
Preheat oven to 375.  Brown ground beef in a large skillet, drain off excess fat, then mix in the kidney beans, corn, chilies and spices.  Set aside on low heat for the flavors to combine, then sprinkle in about 1 cup of shredded Mexican cheese.

Combine salsa and enchilada sauce in a separate bowl.  Add about a cup of this sauce mixture to the ground beef filling and stir well to combine.  Spread ½ cup of the sauce in the bottom of a glass 13x9 pan. 

Start filling the tortillas and rolling them up (seam side down) and place them in the pan on top of the sauce. Top with the remaining sauce mixture and cheese.  Cover with foil and bake for 25-30 minutes.

Top with sour cream and guacamole for serving.

Note: This would also work with chicken, just cut into bite-sized pieces before cooking or use leftover roast chicken that has been shredded.

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