Recipe - Five-Minute Enchiladas

I remember years ago hearing a sister in our ward tell about how she had spent a long summer day with the family at Lagoon.  "Hey Mom, what's for dinner?" one of the kids queried as they piled into the car for the trip home. "How should I know?" she answered in frustration.  "I've been here with you all day!"  For some reason little people (and not so little ones) assume Mom will always come through with some form of sustenance, even if she's nowhere near the kitchen.  And believe it or not, after the kids grow up and leave home, six o'clock still rolls around with insistent regularity and hungry people still seem to show up at the table.

During the remodel I've relied on various forms of convenience foods for dinner.  One day last week I had planned to throw some rice into my trusty rice cooker and serve it with this delicious looking entree retrieved from the depths of my freezer:

Sounds easy, right?  But soon I realized I had no idea where my rice cooker had been stashed the last time we moved everything from one room to another as the work progressed.  After searching high and low I finally realized it was probably on the far side of this room (my former living room, if you can believe it).  Yep, it's back there somewhere. . .  I think.

After a couple of bold attempts, I realized there was no traversing my clumsy self to the far side of this room, so that plan was scrapped.  Next idea for dinner?  Pancakes made from a mix, I decided, and commenced another futile search for an item that had clearly been moved to parts unknown.  After no luck finding my pancake mix, I trudged to the basement and started pondering the contents of the food storage room for Plan C.  Browsing through cans on the past-date shelf,  a bright idea began to form.  I call it Five-Minute Enchiladas because no kidding, these enchiladas, using the  ingredients pictured below, really did only take five minutes! 

A half hour in the oven, and we were eating by 6:45.  I was able to assemble them in a 2 foot square area of counter space by opening a few cans and pulling some items out of the fridge. It literally took five minutes to have these made and ready for the oven.  We ate them for two days in a row because they were very tasty and did I mention they only took five minutes?  In my life right now (and maybe in yours) that's no small thing.  See my almost laughably simple instructions below, and dare I say, bon appetite?

Five-Minute Enchiladas

To make this incredibly easy meal, you need only the following items:

1.  A large can of Green Chili Verde Enchilada Sauce  (I recommend getting the LaVictoria brand.  Maceys is the only store I've found to consistently carry this).
2.  Two cans of Stagg Steakhouse Chili with no beans
3.  An 8 to 10 count package of Flour Tortillas
4.  Shredded Cheddar Cheese 
5.  Optional:  Sour Cream and Shredded Lettuce

It is important, in my opinion, to use high quality canned goods for this dish.  LaVictoria Enchilada Sauces, both green and red, are excellent, but for this dish the green sauce goes best with the red chili filling. 

Instructions:  First, open the enchilada sauce and pour 1/3 of it out in a big oblong glass casserole.  Spread over the bottom of the pan. Next, lay your tortillas out on paper towels on the counter.  Divide the two cans of chili between them so it comes out even.  Spread the chili down the center of each tortilla and top with a generous amount of cheese.  Roll these up tightly and place in casserole dish, side by side.  Pour the rest of the enchilada sauce evenly over and top with more cheese.  Bake at 375 for about 30 minutes uncovered until hot and bubbly.  If desired, top with sour cream and shredded lettuce.  That's it!