My first post of the New Year!

Something pretty standard in most homes for dinner, enchiladas! So versatile, you can fill them with your choice of meat, veggies, or just plain cheese, and you can always find store bought enchilada sauce to pour on top, or even salsa works well. I’ve been making enchiladas for years, but have never attempted to make my own, homemade red enchilada sauce. I made them here with ground beef, but you could always change that out for shredded chicken or steak.

I wanted to use corn tortillas, but all I could find was the little ones for tacos and they did not work at all for enchiladas, so I used rice flour tortillas that are gluten free and they turned out surprisingly well!

For the red sauce:

• 6 dried New Mexico chiles, stems and seeds removed
• 1 1/2 cup reserved liquid from cooking chiles
• 2 cups tomato sauce
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp salt

Heat a skillet over medium-high heat. Add chiles and heat until fragrant, about 10 minutes. Remove chiles to a sauce pan and cover with boiling water. Let stand at least 15 minutes.

Add chiles to a blender or food processor, along with reserved cooking liquid, and blend until smooth. Add remaining ingredients and pulse until well combined.

Pour sauce through a strainer and set aside.

For the beef enchiladas:

• 1 1/2 lbs ground round
• 1 red onion, diced
• 2 tbsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp dried cilantro
• 1/2 cup salsa
• 1/2 cup cream of mushroom soup, ( I used a GF, ready to eat soup, not condensed)
• Tortillas,   corn, flour, or gluten free rice flour
• 2 cups shredded cheddar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large skillet, cook ground beef and onions over medium heat. When beef is cooked through, stir in chili powder, garlic powder, cumin, and cilantro, and cook for 10 minutes. Add salsa and soup, and cook until heated through.

Spoon two heaping tablespoons of meat mixture onto a tortilla, roll up and place in a greased 13x 9 inch casserole. The size tortilla you use will determine how many enchiladas you get. Continue filling tortillas until all beef mixture is used up, or you fill up the pan.

Spread red sauce evenly over enchiladas, and top with cheese. Cover pan with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Serve with shredded lettuce, tomatoes, and sour cream.