Crockpot enchiladas

I love enchiladas.  But now that we make our own shells, I just can't get super excited about making them as they are even more work than tacos.

But..... I found crockpot enchiladas on Pinterest.  I have my own version as I never follow a recipe.  That can be good and can be bad.  But when you grow up in a jungle far from a grocery store, you either make a recipe with the substitutions you have on hand or you go without. 

So since it's Mexican night and we even have leftover tortilla shells from the last time we made them (they freeze well), I'm whipping up some crockpot enchiladas.

First, take your meat.  Is there a rule that enchiladas must only use chicken?  Anyway, I didn't.  I used hamburger.  Put it in your crockpot (this is a trial) on high.  I'm going to find out how this works.  I added taco seasoning  (the recipe calls for about 3 tsp) and 1 cup water.  Leave it this way till noon.  The original recipe used chicken breast and shredded it at noon.  

Homemade taco seasoning is 1 part chili powder, 1 part cumin, 1 part garlic powder, and 1 part onion powder and 1/4 to 1/2 part crushed red pepper. Use 2 T per 2 lbs of meat. It was worth it to me to get the spices that I don't have because I use them in my other homemade seasonings as well.

Meanwhile, I also made my sour cream.  I'll have to let you know how it works.  I don't think I would use homemade sourcream on top of my taco, but in a casserole it works fine.

And last, I made my enchilada sauce.

 In a skillet, pour 2 T oil, 1 tsp garlic, and 1 onion chopped.  Saute the onions and garlic.  Then add 2 T chili powder ( I always use a bit less), and 1 tsp cumin and 1 tsp salt.  After that's all mixed well.  Sprinkle 2 T flour over and mix well.  If my skillet looks like it has more than 2 T of flour I was doing a double recipe and I don't measure things well.

 Then add 14 oz of chicken broth.  Did you know that when you cook chicken you can save the broth in canning jars with a lid and ring and just put it in the freezer?  It works wonderfully, except you have to be careful that it doesn't break.  My quart jar almost had the 28 oz I needed for today.  Mix it in and let it cook for awhile.  Because of the flour it will start thickening up.

Then add 8 oz of tomato sauce. Let it simmer for awhile.  It will keep thickening up for awhile.

Around noon, check your hamburger.  It's not even noon and mine looks just about done.  I mixed my sour cream (1 cup) and soups (1 can cream of mushroom) together.  Then drain the hamburger.  Layer the crockpot with the soup/sour cream, torn up tortilla shells, enchilada sauce, hamburger, and then cheese (2 cups divided by 3).  Do this two more times.

Leave on low until dinnertime.  Mine went too long and I had to turn it down.  I think four hours on low would be about right, but we don't always know when Carpenter is going to be getting home. 

It was so yummy, even though it was a bit overcooked. 

Making the most of today,
Steph