Healthy meal of the week: Beef Enchiladas with Beans and Spanish Rice

Healthy leftover idea: Beef quesadillas

Here’s a meal and a leftover idea, both with a Mexican flavor that is sure to bring your taste buds to life. For this example, 97% lean ground beef was used, but the beauty of this meal is that you can literally use any type of meat you want to change the beef enchiladas into chicken enchiladas, steak enchiladas, pork enchiladas, or even Fish enchiladas if so. choose. To be honest, I’ve never had a fish enchilada, haven’t even heard of one before, but hey, if that’s what you’d like to try, go for it!

Another benefit of this meal is that you will find it relatively easy to load that baking sheet with several enchiladas so leftover meals are a breeze and you still have the option of creating the meat quesadillas as listed. The choice is entirely up to you. Enjoy!

Necessary equipment

– 3 pots / pans with lids

– baking tray

– flip flops

– spatula

Preparation time

– 10 minutes

Time to cook

– 50 minutes

Ingredients

(6-8 servings)

– 1-2 pounds 97% fat-free ground beef

– 1 package of corn tortillas (70 calories each)

– 2 cans of refried beans

– 1 cup of white rice

– 1 can of tomato sauce

– 1 can of red or green enchilada sauce

– 1/4 cup yellow corn kernels

– 1/4 cup white onion, minced

– 1/4 cup skim or low-fat milk

– shredded skim mozzarella and cheddar cheese

– 1 chicken bouillon cube

– 1 tablespoon minced garlic

– optional: sliced ​​olives and diced green chili peppers

– 1 teaspoon seasoned salt

– 1 tablespoon of cooking oil

For Meat Quesadillas

– whole flour tortillas

– spicy tapatio sauce (or preferred type of sauce)

Addresses

1. Start with the ground beef. Remove from the wrapper and place in a pan and dice with a spatula. Add 1/4 cup of minced white onion, 1 tablespoon of minced garlic, 1 teaspoon of seasoned salt, and a pinch of pepper. Mix well, turn the stove to medium heat and cover. Stir again every 5 minutes for about 20 minutes.

2. When the meat is finished to your liking, heat the enchilada sauce in a skillet for about 5 minutes. Make tortillas, both cheeses, and other extras like sliced ​​olives or diced green chilies so that when the sauce is warm, the assembly line can begin.

3. To prevent the tortillas from breaking when filling / rolling, lightly heat 4 to 6 at a time in the microwave wrapped in a paper towel for 25 seconds. Then dip one at a time into the sauce on both sides and then place directly on the baking sheet in the oven. You may need to use tongs if the sauce is too hot.

Four. Add some meat, a teaspoon of each cheese, a teaspoon of sauce, and whatever extras you are using and roll gently. One method is to try to stack all the items in a line on the left side of the tortilla so that you can turn it over completely and tuck it in.

5. Line up the prepared enchiladas side by side so that they lightly touch each other to maintain good shape. Use a spray brush to coat the top of the enchiladas with the leftover sauce and lightly sprinkle with both cheeses. Place in the oven at 350 degrees for 12 minutes.

6. For the Spanish rice, add 1 tablespoon of oil to the pan and spread. Over medium heat, add a cup of white rice and stir for about three minutes to “brown”. Add the 8 oz can of tomato sauce and mix well for two minutes. Add 1 3/4 hot water, 1/4 cup yellow corn kernels, and 1 chicken stock cube. Increase the heat and bring to a boil, stirring well so that the bouillon cube dissolves. When the water begins to boil, reduce the heat to medium / low, cover, and set the timer for 18 minutes, stirring only once halfway through.

7. Refried beans should only be opened and added to a skillet over medium heat along with 1/4 cup of milk and 5-7 squirts of Tapatio hot sauce if you prefer spicy beans. Cover and stir occasionally for 10-15 minutes.

8. When everything is finished, serve a suitable portion along with a calorie-free drink and enjoy. Regarding calories, keep in mind that each enchilada will have around 150-220 calories each, depending on the number / type of items you put inside, so don’t get carried away. An enchilada with rice and beans will have about 350 calories.

Healthy leftover idea: beef quesadillas

If there is some meat left and you want to change it up a bit and keep the flavor of a Mexican-style creation, you must try these meat quesadillas. You can use the corn tortillas, or like in this example, whole wheat flour tortillas to provide a larger surface area to put a little more items inside.

Just lightly grease a large skillet (or use non-stick spray) and lay out an omelette and turn the stove on to medium heat. Spread two tablespoons of beans, then add a little cheese, then meat, hot sauce like Tapatío, and again a little more cheese. Top with another tortilla and use a spatula to lightly press the quesadilla down. Let cook on each side for a couple of minutes with your left hand to help hold the quesadilla together so items don’t fall off. Once each side is lightly browned and the cheese is melted, you can remove it from the heat, cut it in half or quarters, and enjoy.