Not sure if it was my Texas upbringing that grew me into a Mexican food lover, but this enchilada recipe definitely sprouted from my Austin roots. Every New Year’s Eve our church would have a potluck and pray in the New Year together…and every year we all looked forward to Hugh’s Enchiladas…I’ve still never tasted better, and am so glad he shared the recipe with the church family…
It’s one of those recipes that is just as easy to double (or triple for large groups), it freezes well, and I just finished stashing two 9×13″ panfuls in my refrigerator for tomorrow night! Y’all be sure to try it sometime!
Hugh’s New Year’s Eve Enchiladas
Meat filling:
- 1 lb ground chuck
- 1 tsp cumin, ground
- 2 clove garlic, minced
- 1 tsp salt, if desired
- pepper to taste
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 1 small tomato, chopped fine
- 2 TB water (to keep meat moist)
- 10 oz grated cheddar cheese
Put the meat, garlic and onion in a skillet with no oil. Cook over high heat till meat loses color…do not brown…Turn heat to low, drain grease. Add remaining seasonings, and tomato and 2 TB water. Cook covered, over very low heat 20 minutes. Be sure meat stays moist. Add more water if needed.
Sauce:
- 4 TB flour
- 1/4 cup cooking oil
- 2 TB chili powder
- 2 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 1/4 cups hot water plus one 8 oz can of tomato sauce
Place the flour in a cake pan and brown in a 350*F oven, shaking occasionally, till golden brown.
In large pan, put oil, flour, chili powder, cumin, garlic and salt. Blend well.
On low heat gradually add water and tomato sauce. Stir constantly so it won’t lump. If lumps appear, remove from heat and stir until lumps are gone. Keep stirring. Simmer about an hour.
In a skillet in a tiny amount of oil, heat, one at a time, 10 flour tortillas. Turn and remove and keep warm in a pan. (I skip the “keep warm in a pan” part and work quickly, throwing one tortilla in the pan to heat as I take another and add filling ingredients, roll and place in baking dish)
In each tortilla put: 2 TB meat filling mixture and 2 TB cheese (or just enough to cover the meat, no need to be precise!). Roll and put in baking dish, seam side down. Pour any leftover meat mixture on top along with sauce. Top with more cheese.
Bake at 350*F for 15-20 minutes. Done when sauce starts bubbling all around. Be sure they don’t dry out as they bake. (Generally, if all the tortillas are covered in sauce prior to baking, they don’t dry out.)
Besides enchiladas, we’re sure to have a slew of snack foods handy for the evening’s duration…stuff like puppy chow, poppyseed bread, chips-veggies-dips, jerky etc…
Movie Recommendations
We always spend NYE at my b&sil’s house playing games and watching movies. This year I have three top-notch family movies to recommend…
- Facing the Giants~This tops the list! What I took away from this movie is that when our hurts and hardships overwhelm us, if we open our hearts to God, He is free to work amazingly in our lives and in the lives of those around us. We laughed and cried and LOVED this movie–all of us, even 3 year old! It’s been out a long time, and after asking around, we discovered that none of dh’s extended family had even heard of the movie! So don’t be shy about recommending it to people, or loaning out your copy. It’s hugely inspiring!
- Amazing Grace~The true story of “anti-slavery pioneer” Wilber Wilberforce, the man who took on slavery in England’s House of Commons more than a hundred years before we Americans abolished it on our soil. He was inspired by his contemporary, John Newton (writer of Amazing Grace)…this is a must-see movie, but we chose to watch it without our children, as some of the slavery parts are a bit hard to take. (FYI, we are way more careful than most parents–and I think my 10 yo could have handled it all right, but definitely not my tender-hearted 7 yo)
- The Christmas Card~I recently watched this Hallmark movie with one of my sisters, and promptly fell in love with the captivating cast, the storyline–and the military theme left me patriotically inspired from beginning to end. A great movie, despite all the kissing! My favorite Hallmark movie ever! (Don’t let the “kissing” comment automatically rate this as a chick flick, I think even my dh might like this one!)
- The ’07 Cutting Horse Futurity~my dh stopped by as I was writing this and suggested I add it to the “must-see” family-approved list…I’m telling you, if we had cable and the RFD channel, he’d never leave the house! His dad taped this event for him this year and sent it over…we have definitely NOT been TV or movie free this past week!
What NYE traditions do you embrace? Got any movies to recommend? Don’t forget, wherever you are, to pray the New Year in, something we all should do as we reflect on the blessings of the past year, and open our hearts to God’s will for us in 2008.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!
