Beef and Greens Enchiladas

I love Mexican food, but every time I eat it I am reminded that it's not the healthiest and usually lacking vegetables.  That's where the spinach come into play with this dish.  I had it on hand and thought this was a dish I could incorporate it into the filling.  In addition to spinach, I added grape tomatoes.  I also used a lean cut of meat, low fat cottage cheese and minimal amount of shredded cheese.

I'm still unclear about the guidelines surrounding when you can call a recipe your own.  I'd like to go out on a limb here and say that's the case with this one, however, I have made Chicken Enchilada Bake, having referenced a few blogs.  I didn't reference any recipe when it came time to throw this together, I used what I had on hand and went with it.

While it looks like a lot of steps to put together, I use the crockpot to cook the meat while I'm at work.  Once I got home from work the remaining steps came together fairly quickly.

Here is what you'll need: 

For the Meat Filling:

• 3/4 lb top round beef
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1/2 pint grape tomatoes

For the Cheese Filling:

• 8 oz. 1% small curd cottage cheese
• 2 oz. Monterrey jack cheese, shredded
• 2 tsp minced cilantro
• 1 huge handful of spinach, chopped

For the Sauce:

• 8 oz. tomato sauce
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp coriander
• 2 tsp sugar
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 oz. canned mild green chilis

Remaining ingredients:

• Nonstick cooking spray
• 9-10 corn tortillas
• 2 oz. canned mild green chiles
• 2 oz. Monterey Jack cheese, shredded

Place meat filling ingredients in crockpot.  Set to low and cook 8 hours. 

In a small sauce pan add all sauce ingredients and stir together.  Allow to simmer 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray glass baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.

Shred meat filling with a fork.  Set aside. 

Combine all cheese filling ingredients together in a small bowl.  Set aside.

Heat a small frying pan over medium heat.  Put 1 corn tortilla in the pan for 30-60 seconds until it becomes pliable.

Remove tortilla from the heat.  Place a forkful of beef filling in middle of tortilla.  Next put a tablespoonful of cheese filling on top of meat.  Roll tortillas to close and place in baking dish.

Repeat above steps with remaining tortillas.

Once all tortillas a filled, pour the sauce over the tortillas in baking dish.  Sprinkle with remaining 2 oz. of green chiles and Monterey Jack cheese.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.  Makes 9-10 tortillas.