Enchiladas!

One of the things that I miss about living in Atlanta was access to lots of Mexican food, both in restaurants (in both cheap and higher-end categories) and in grocery stores.  We probably ate out at our local tacqueria once a week, and I had more margaritas in those five years than in my entire 40 years of life before Atlanta.  Good times, good times....

We had a hankering for enchiladas this week and I have been unable to find enchilada sauce in my local grocery stores.  So I set out to find a recipe online.  

Who knew that it was so easy to make?  Why was I buying it ready-made for so long?  Next thing you know I'll be making my own tortililas.  (Yes, I know that there are home cooks who do this.)

Anyway, here's my fast and easy recipe for enchilada sauce.  I found a recipe online and modified it to suit my available ingredients.

Heat 1/4 cup of vegetable oil in a skillet and add 2 tbsp of flour and 2 tbsp of chili powder (or to taste).  Cook this for a while. (The recipe said until it turns light brown, but the chili powder is dark red...couldn't figure out how this would work exactly.)

Stir in 20 ounces (2-1/2 cups) of some sort of tomato mixture.  Recipe was a combination of tomato sauce (8 oz) and water (1-1/2 cups).   I used some leftover canned diced tomatos that I whizzed in the blender.  That yielded exactly 20 ounces.  Spooky, eh?  Add 1/4 tsp each cumin, garlic powder, onion salt, and salt to taste.  I left out the regular salt.  It seemed fine to me without it.  Cook this mixture for 10 minutes so that it gets bubbly and thickens a little..

And that's it!  Ten minutes, and I even used up leftovers!

It's cooling on the stove now.  I'll box it up and use it tonight when I make enchiladas for my adoring family.