Hey guy’s,
Throwing at you a simple but enticing recipe for some Lentil Enchiladas.
We all know my love hate relationship with leftovers, and since jumping on the Dave Ramsey bandwagon I’ve had to learn to tolerate them more.
Basically we are broker then ever and having to pinch pennies where we can. Bringing down our bills, especially groceries is a big factor in this. I’m taking you all along on our journey, and hoping we will be successful and will be able to provide all of you with insight and maybe even some entertainment.
First you’re going to start off with lentils. Dry lentils are your best bet because it’s way cheaper to soak and cook your own beans.
Sound intimidating? It’s not, I promise. You’re getting more bang for your buck and wont be upset about it when you’re done. I make a couple bags of beans at once then throw them in the freezer for other times when I may need a ‘can’ of beans. If your needing some direction, you can see how I make my black beans over yonder: Black Bean’s without the can
Don’t wander away yet though! Lentil’s are a softer bean, so I needed direction of my own to get started. I highly recommend not getting off this train: Lentil burrito bowls
Her website is aaaaaaahhhhhhmazing and I have gotten lot’s of inspiration from here grocery hauls, meal plans and recipes. So after checking this out, go take your bad little self over there and get sucked into the awesomeness the way I have. (I’m an enabler what can I say)
I used her recipe for lentil burrito bowls as the base of my burrito bowls, and we did have the burrito bowls for dinner one night, (SCORE, 2 meals from 1 little batch of cheap beans!) We had quite a bit leftover, and I couldn’t eat it again. That’s just how I am sometimes.
So I turned them into enchiladas for a 2nd meal, then the leftovers got put in the freezer for a THIRD meal.
Ingredients:
- Leftover lentil’s (or whatever lentil’s you have cooked and unhand)
- 1tbsp of chili powder
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced (fresh is best, but use what you’ve got, it’ll still be great)
- Frozen corn kernels (optional)
- salt and pepper to taste
- enchilada sauce
- cheese (whatever you have will work, unless its goat cheese, or something crazy, we almost always have a three cheese fiesta blend on hand, and that’s what I used)
- corn tortillas
You could definitely make your own corn tortillas if you wanted, and are feeling adventurous. I highly recommend it. Homemade corn tortillas make some amazing enchiladas, but if not, store bought is fine. (All you need for corn tortillas is the Masa from the grocery store, and the directions on the back of the bag which is just the Masa and water)
I can’t remember how many tortillas I used for this. I typically just warm a dozen at a time, and can gauge from there how much more I’ll used based on my mixture.
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.
Take your lentils and start warming them in a pot on the stove on med low heat. We aren’t cooking them just rewarming them to make them easier to work with and to better meld the ingredients together. Add your spices-including the minced garlic-as much cheese as you want (I did about 1 1/2 cups) and 1/2 a cup of enchilada sauce. stir well and let it all warm up together. Stir occasionally so nothing sticks or burns to the bottom.
Meanwhile warm your tortillas and place your pan with a greased bottom in an area where you can work cohesively. When the mix is warm, about 5-6 minutes turn off flame. Assemble your enchiladas normally (place tortilla in hand, place lentil mixture in middle, top with more cheese, roll the tortilla and place into pan with seam side down-continue until pan is full or the mix runs out)
All you do next is pour the rest of the can of Enchilada sauce over the top of the Enchiladas, generously sprinkle more cheese on top, and place into the oven for about 30 minutes, or until golden crispy (not brown and burnt, especially if you are planning to make this a freezer meal).
The ingredients are already cooked so this wont need a lot of time in the oven.
If you’re looking to make this into a freezer meal you could stop before the step of putting it into the oven and cooking and just wrap and place in freezer (use a throw away pan if making this a freezer meal).
That’s it! You’ve got some modified leftovers. I mean, really you could just call them a new meal, since you’re a smart cookie and recreated it into something new.
Serve them up with some fresh pico de gallo, maybe a fresh little side salad. Or just eat them as is like we did.
Enjoy!
-Amber
paperdaffodils 