Great weather, good cooking.

 Absolutely perfect weather. Didn't do anything special at all, just another regular day. Luckily my EBT money came in yesterday so I could do some shopping. Schedule differences and such, but it's all good. I decided to make my famous Enchilada casserole and given the less than ideal conditions I did alright.

Firstly, didn't make a double batch of sauce which it needed. Thought I only had one packet of the mix and remembered after scarfing down my first helping I did have a second packet. Oh well. Will make that up tomorrow and pour it on the leftovers for lunch and dinner for the next few days.

I normally use a 8x8 pan but couldn't find it (likely with a lot of other things in storage) so i bought a pack of 9x13 'Dressing(Stuffing) Pans' which was perfect. You'll notice in the picture how big the pan is on the stove.

Jon thinks it's perfect (he doesn't put sour cream on it that's mine) but we had some mild salsa from Target and that worked wonderfully for me. 

Anyway, other versions of this by the same name they put beans in it. Beans. Okay whatever, I came up with this on my own as far as I recall just used the lasagna layering method with different ingredients and it's been a favorite ever since. I got two layers out of this recipe in the pan.

Recipe & Directions:

2 packs Lawry's Enchilada sauce (used to use McCormick's but can't seem to find that anymore) Follow directions on packets, doubling measurements)

18-20 white corn tortillas

Favorite chunky/homemade salsa (I found the Good&Gather/Target mild jalapeño salsa is good)

2 lbs ground beef (very lean is okay)

1 lb block Colby Jack cheese (or regular sharp is fine) shredded (if you want to use pre-shredded I won't judge)

1 large can sliced black olives (about a cup)

5-6 chopped green onions (1/2 cup or more)

1/2 c finely chopped red or yellow onion

9x13 baking pan

1-2 tbl oil (olive, vegetable, whatever)

salt and pepper, chili powder, powdered cumin

 

Cook sauce according to directions and have that simmering while the meat is cooked add two or three heaping tablespoons of salsa to the sauce as it simmers and stir well.

 Heat the oil in a large frying pan and add the chopped red or yellow onions, cook until soft then add the meat, breaking it up with spatula to cook evenly. Add spices generously and continue to stir and cook. When meat is cooked, drain and move to a large bowl and add 2-3 heaping tablespoons of salsa and mix it in.

Layer everything as follows:

Ladle some of the sauce on the bottom of the pan, just coating it to the edges. Using six corn tortillas lay them to cover the bottom. (Two parallel rows, overlapping is good)

Spoon meat onto tortillas, not too dense but enough that it's covered.

Cover the meat with some of the shredded cheese. Portion it out so there's enough for two more layers.

Green onions and olives are next, portion everything accordingly.

Another layer of tortillas and ladle more sauce on that.

Repeat layer one more time.

You should be at the top of the pan by now and at this point, you'll likely have meat left over, oh well, tacos tomorrow!

Last layer of tortillas for the top, the remaining sauce and a good layer of cheese. Sprinkle the remaining olives and green onions on top. Whatever you have left is good.

Bake in preheated oven at 350-375 for about 20-30  minutes depending on your oven. Top should be well melted, with sauce bubbling at the edges.

Remove from oven, let cool for as long as you can stand it (about ten minutes). Cut into 2x3 inch pieces add a big dollop of sour cream on top and dig in! Don't be surprised if you go back for seconds.

 

8x8 pan will be just a single pack of sauce and half everything else. But then, that's only if you're single and have a lot of self control. In my house that's called a 'Jon size portion'. 

 So other than that, just enjoying the spring weather, hoping some extra money comes in on the next check or maybe an extra check. Not sure how that is going to work. Next weekend there's a few things going on that we are interested in doing. One is the Gem and Mineral show which is primarily for jewelers and crafters to get supplies but it's a nice looky looky show for the larger minerals and gems. The other is the Concourse de Elegance in La Jolla. Fancy name for a fancy car show.That is a looky looky show for Jon. Cars are cool and all but... they're cars. Meh. We would only be able to go to that on Friday because it's free, parking is going to be rough so we might opt for the gem show instead.

Will see what happens. All this free time and no money to spend on doing stuff. Oh, my credit score is up over 700 now, on one of the companies. I can try and apply for EDD again next month so we'll see how that goes as well. Honestly we are trying to save nickles and dimes when we need to save 20 or 40 at a time.

I found a great mobile home in a nice part of Oregon, just south of Roseburg. Relatively new, payments would be low, only kicker is there isn't any mention of the lot lease and this is a fairly nice well kept park. It is even in the USDA area to get a zero down loan! Again, we don't have any extra money to move with so by the time we may have the money will be looking more seriously. Haven't had a chance to get to storage to continue downsizing unfortunately. Low on money, low on gas and energy. Will try again this week.

Wish the weather stayed like this for the next four months.