enchiladas;

Happy cinco de mayo!  Well, happy cinco de siete, technically, but who’s counting?  I’ve been a busy pup mom this past week, not to mention work’s been a little crazy.  But T and I both had rough weeks, so we decided to go all out for cinco de mayo on Thursday, and had some margaritas (henceforth known as ‘margs’), some yummy enchiladas, and some churro cookies for dessert!  So you’re in luck, you get: not one, not two, but THREE posts today!  I’m feeling generous.  And T’s out of town visiting his family for mother’s day, so I only have the pup to distract me.  Currently he’s snugged up under the couch, which I’ve decided is his “den”.

But anywho, on to the enchiladas!  I love this recipe because it’s so versatile.  The only thing in this recipe preventing it from being labeled singularly as vegetarian is the ground beef, which is just as easy to leave out!  You can always add more veggies too: different colored peppers, squash, tomatoes, jalapenoes for that extra kick…use your imagination!

I will say that I cheat and use canned enchilada sauce, because it’s handy, and tastes good.  In general I advocate for making your own things because of fewer preservatives and sodium (that sodium will get you), but I am also completely okay with off-the-shelf products.  There’s a time and place for both.  And Thursday evening after spending an hour and a half at the grocery store picking up maybe 10 things–they forgot to scan my coupons, and apparently this is a hard thing to rectify…–making enchilada sauce on top of the enchiladas was just not happening.

My friend’s fiance makes some amazing from-scratch chicken enchiladas using a recipe from America’s Test Kitchen, but these were just as tasty, and I’m pretty sure they take less than half the time of those.  If you have the time, definitely check out that recipe!  But if you don’t, well, these are just as tasty for a weeknight meal.  I used Joy’s recipe from Build Your Bite to get the base of this recipe, but I basically ended up just tossing things in a pan as I saw fit once I had all the ingredients.

I do want to recognize that cinco de mayo, while American’s use it as an excuse to party and drink some margs, is only celebrated very limitedly in Mexico.  American appropriation sometimes kinda pisses me off, unless people actually recognize what they’re doing.  In the spirit of long work days, and being exhausted, a little Mexican-themed dinner was exactly what T and I needed, and cinco de mayo was just an inspiration!

Be sure to check out the other recipes from this cinco de mayo feast: frozen margaritas and churro cookies!

Related posts:

vegetable enchiladas; broccoli cheddar soup; easy cheesy beef empanadas; tamale pie; enchiladas verdes;