Kid Friendly Enchiladas

I don't know what it's like in your house, but here, food that's too spicy is often rejected by Kat, who's not quite 5 years old. So, I try to tone down some of our Mexican and Italian favorites so she'll eat them. We just spice ours up a little once we've filled our plates.

These enchiladas have a mild sauce. I'd made a similar sauce using cream of chicken soup and mild salsa, but not having either of those on hand when I made these last week, I came up with a sauce using a "gravy" I made from chicken broth and tomato juice. Kat enjoyed them with just a bit of sour cream on top, and we topped ours with homemade salsa (the first night) and some spicy Rotel-Velveeta sauce (the second night).

Kid-Friendly Enchiladas (Big Batch)

Sauce:

1/4 cup butter
6 Tablespoons flour
2 cups chicken broth*
2 cups tomato juice*

Filling:

1 lb. ground meat, cooked, drained, rinsed (beef, turkey, pork)
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
1/2 medium onion, minced -OR- 2 T. dehydrated onion, rehydrated in 1/4 cup water
1 pkg. taco season mix

Other Ingredients:

16 corn tortillas
1 cup additional cheddar cheese, optional


Melt butter in medium saucepan. Stir in flour and cook until mixture is bubbly, about 2 minutes. Gradually add chicken broth and tomato juice, whisking until smooth. Cook and stir for about 2 minutes, until thickened.

Spray two 13 x 9 glass dishes with non-stick spray. Spoon about 3/4 cup of sauce into each dish, tilting to coat bottom of pan. Set dishes and remaining sauce aside.

Combine filling ingredients and mix well. Heat tortillas, 2-3 at a time, in microwave, by placing between two damp paper towels and microwaving for about 30 seconds. Tortillas will be hot and pliable (without added fat of traditional softening methods). Fill one tortilla at a time with 1/4-1/3 cup filling.

I find that if you can see stripes in the tortillas from the mechanical rollers, it's best to roll the tortillas so that the stripes go around the enchilada instead of running the length of it. They seem much less likely to crack or break this way.


Place 8 filled tortillas, seam side down, in each baking dish. Spoon sauce evenly over tortillas, making sure each is completely covered with sauce. Cover with foil and bake at 350°F. for about 30 minutes.

Top with additional cheese, if desired, and return to oven until cheese melts.

Makes 16 enchiladas.



* For best taste, one or both of these should be a low-sodium version.