Enchilada Lasagna

Hello Friends!

Today's Recipe:
Enchilada Lasagna

Picture taken by: me, Jennifer Rebecca Photos
[Taste of Home Magazine: Charlene Griffin]

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 lbs. ground hamburger
• 1/2 of a medium onion (any kind that you like- I used red & some green onion)
• 1/2 tsp minced garlic (if you don't have this just use garlic powder)
• 1 (10 oz) can enchilada sauce (medium is my preference)
• 1/2 cup salsa (I used Pace Mild - it's our favorite)
• 1 egg (beaten)
• 1-1/2 cups cottage cheese (I used 1%)
• 2-4 (depends on how much cheese you like) cups shredded cheddar or Mexican cheese blend
• 8 flour tortillas (I think I used less)

Directions:

1. Brown the hamburger
2. Add chopped up onion (use as much or as little as you like)
3. Add minced garlic or garlic powder
4. Let all those flavors kind of simmer together for a minute
5. Add the can of enchilada sauce (I actually didn't have any so I used taco sauce & made homemade enchilada sauce with ingredients I had in the cupboard -I'll post that recipe below)
6. Add 1/2 cup salsa
7. Let all these things simmer for 10-20 minutes (tell it gets thicker, not runny)
8. In a small bowl combine the beaten egg with the cottage cheese.
9. In a 13x9 greased baking pan start to layer the lasagna as follows:

• Meat on bottom of pan - not too much just a little of the sauce spread around
• Lay down a tortilla
• Spread cottage cheese/egg mixture on top
• Add meat on top of cottage cheese/egg mixture
• sprinkle cheese on top of that
• Lay down a second tortilla
• Spread cottage cheese/egg mixture on top
• Add meat on top of cottage cheese/egg mixture, etc.
• Do this until you run out of ingredients (meat & cottage cheese) and try to end with cheese sprinkled on top.  I then added some fresh cut tomato and green onion.

10.  Cover the pan with tinfoil and Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.
11.  Remove tinfoil and continue baking for 10-15 more minutes until bubbly.
12.  Let cool for a few minutes, cut and serve. 
 Enjoy!

Picture taken by: me, Jennifer Rebecca Photos

We ate the lasagna with shredded lettuce added on top of our slices on our plates.  Joel added black beans to his as well.  You could easily make this with refried beans, black beans, corn, or any other ingredient that you would put in enchiladas.  Delicious.  It was like having enchiladas, queasadillas and lasagna all at once!

Next time I think I'll make it with chicken instead of beef just to try something different.

Homemade Enchilada Sauce:

• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 Tbsp flour
• Mix these two ingredients together in a medium saucepan - on medium heat
• 1/4 cup chili powder
• Add 1 can of tomato paste
• Add 1-1/2 cups water
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp ground cumin (I didn't have this spice so I omitted it)
• 1/4 tsp onion powder
• salt & pepper to taste
• Joel (my husband) added ground Cayenne Pepper (he is my taste tester and said this made it less Chili Powder tasting)

Picture taken by: me, Jennifer Rebecca Photos

Bon Appetite!