Enchilada Stuffed Shells

There's two go-tos for me when cooking, Mexican and Italian.  Both are easy to do meatless, and, while we're not vegetarians, I like to try to do some meatless meals.  With Mexican, we use a lot of black beans, and in Italian, we load up on carbs.  Screw Atkins, I'm a carbaholic.

Anyway, what could be better than mixing my two favorite types of food together?  The answer is nothing, nothing is better.

I've never made enchiladas, but Jeff wanted me to try, so months ago, he bought me some enchilada sauce, "just to have on hand, in case."  Uh huh.  But then I stumbled on this recipe on pinterest, which included taco meat, beans, cheese, and enchilada sauce.  Can't go wrong!  I filed it away for another day.

Well as we hit the stores before the Polar Vortex Round 2, I found jumbo shells on sale, and immediately knew what we would have for dinner.  It was a little time consuming, just because it's cooking a few different things and then putting them together, but it's not difficult and it is quite delicious.  I ate mine with sour cream and definitely could have used some jalapenos, but Jeff loved his as-is.  Customize to your liking!

Step 1:  Cook taco meat and mix with beans, salsa, and cheese.  Looks unappetizing but I assure you, it's fantastic.  I might have used it like a chip dip while I waited for the noodles to cook.

Step 2:  Fill shells with meat mixture and put in the pan.  Mmmmm

Step 3:  Cover with sauce and cheese.  When are those words ever wrong?

Step 4:  CONSUME.


Enchilada Stuffed Shells
Adapted from here

1 box jumbo shells (you won't use all the shells)
1lb ground beef (browned and drained)
Taco seasoning
1/4 cup chopped onions (or less, season to your liking)
1/3 cup salsa
1 regular sized can of refried beans
2.5 cup Mexican blend or cheddar cheese
1 can enchilada sauce
2 green onions, diced

  1. Brown ground beef and onions in a skillet. Drain.  Add taco seasoning.  Turn heat to low.
  2. In the skillet, add refried beans and mix well, allowing the beans to warm.  Mix in salsa and 1 cup of cheese.
  3. Meanwhile, cook jumbo shells in boiling water until al dente (roughly 11 minutes).  Drain and rinse to cool until you can hold the shells in your hand.
  4. Preheat oven to 350.
  5. Pour about 1/4 of the enchilada sauce into the bottom of a 9x9 pan.  Fill each shell with a heaping spoonful of the meat/bean mixture and set carefully into the pan.  
  6. After the pan is full (you will have leftover shells), pour the rest of the enchilada sauce over the filled shells.  Sprinkle remaining cheese over that.
  7. Bake until the cheese is melted, then sprinkle green onions over the top.


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