It's a question that I ask myself every day...What's for dinner?? I wish I was one of those super-duper meal planners who could churn out our menu several weeks in advance, but I'm a little more spontaneous when it comes to dinner. Truth be told, I'm often driven by my moods, taste buds or what I've seen most recently on Pinterest! This year though, I have tried to plan at least a day or two in advance (baby steps!) & keep a mental inventory of what we have on hand that needs to be used up. I recently purchased some lean ground beef at a good price because I thought we were out. I cooked it up one night when I was cooking something else for dinner & packaged it in 1 pound bags. When I went to put it in the freezer, turns out that I already had 3 one-pound bags of cooked ground beef waiting to be used. (So much for that mental inventory!) So, I moved dishes with ground beef to the head of my mental menu list!
I was putting something away this morning in the cabinet where I keep my crock pot & it occurred to me that I should dust that puppy off & use it for dinner tonight. The temps are already in the 80s here, so it is nice to keep the oven off if possible. (I'm thinking now that this post should be subtitled: A study into the way Melanie's brain works!)
A couple of hours later, I got around to searching "ground beef crock pot" on Pinterest. It yielded this yummy looking Crock Pot Enchiladas recipe. I had most of the ingredients on hand, except for the Ranch Style Beans. A quick Internet search provided the info that Ranch Style Beans are pinto beans with extra seasonings. I had pintos on hand & decided I could wing the seasonings.
A huge plus, this crock pot recipe cooks in 2 to 2 1/2 hours on LOW! So it's essentially a quick cooking slow-cooker recipe. This is absolutely perfect for me since, despite my best efforts, there are still many days when I'm first asking myself the What's for Dinner? question mid-to-late afternoon...long past the slow-cooker time frame window. As it was, the recipe was perfect for today...the kids played outside all afternoon & I was in & out...In folding laundry & Out settling disputes or In picking up toys & Out sweeping out the garage...so even with a plan in mind, I didn't end up starting on our dinner until almost 5:00pm! Ordinarily, that would be waaaay too late for a crock pot dinner, but this one worked perfectly!

I guess you were wondering if I would ever get to it. So without further ado, here is my adaptation of the Crock Pot Enchiladas recipe...it is really a lot like a Mexican lasagna.

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef, browned & drained
1 can diced tomatoes (I used the ones seasoned with garlic & oregano, but the chili seasoned would be good, too.)
1 can pinto beans, drained & rinsed
1 package (approx 8 oz.) Madras Lentils (I buy these at Costco & use them for everything from chili to tacos)
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
Cumin
Onion powder
Garlic powder
Chili powder
2 cups (8 oz) colby jack and/or cheddar cheese, shredded
5 large (burrito grande) flour tortillas
1 can (15 oz) red enchilada sauce

**If you are cooking your ground beef, you can add in diced onions or green pepper if you like. Since I needed to use up some frozen ground beef, I just thawed it in the microwave for 30 or so seconds.

Mix together the ground beef, diced tomatoes, pinto beans, minced garlic & Madras lentils. (I actually had made a package of the lentils a couple of nights ago to use as chili on hot dogs. I was the only one to use it, so I had almost a whole package left over. When I was getting something out of the fridge, I noticed the container & it was the perfect addition to the recipe!)

Stir in seasonings (cumin, onion powder, garlic powder & chili powder) to taste...I probably added about 1 tsp of each (probably a little less chili powder because my family isn't big on spicy dishes.)

Line bottom of crock pot with one large flour tortilla (The large burrito grande size fit my round crockpot perfectly, but you could easily use two smaller ones, overlapping.)

Spoon 1/4 of meat mixture on top of tortilla. Top with 1/4 shredded cheese.

Repeat layers 3 more times, ending with the ground beef mixture sprinkled with cheese on top.

Pour can of enchilada sauce over the top. (I also sprinkled a little more shredded cheese on top.)

Cook on low for 2-2.5 hours. (Since I started so late, I cooked it on high for about an hour & then switched to low...it worked out well because my husband came home over an hour later than normal, so it was fine to keep warm on low.)

We served it over jasmine rice, with a side of corn & it was a delicious meal! Finished it off with yogurt & fruit parfaits, sprinkled with granola.
I was cleaning broken glass off of the counter when Jeff got home. Of course the first words out of the kids' mouths' were, "Mommy broke a glass & it landed in our dinner!!!" Everyone wanted to see, everyone wanted to ask questions. After a few tense moments, we decided the top layer of the food could be removed & the rest eaten. There was no way to tell if there might be tiny specks of glass in the top layer, but everything below was fine. So we scooped off all of the enchilada sauce, and all that meat & cheesy goodness on the top! Oh, I hate to waste food, but there was just no reason to risk ingesting glass. Regardless, the dish was still quite delicious & enjoyed by kids & parents, alike. It will go on my short list to make again sometime soon, only next time we hope to enjoy the top layer along with the rest of it!