Fall is all around us.  It’s such a beautiful time of year- oranges, yellows and reds everywhere, crisp, cool days, trips to the pumpkin patch, and more rainy days.  I must confess, I secretly like the rain.  It gives you an excuse to curl up indoors, make some comfort food, have a cup of tea and read a book… or play with a baby!

I love my slow cooker!  It’s great to throw a plethora of ingredients in, turn it on and come home to a house that smells amazing and dinner made! This recipe involves cooking the sauce on the stove for a while, and then assembling the dish, so it’s a little more work than a stew or soup.  Don’t let that stop you!  This recipe is worth the extra couple of steps!

When I was working, I liked to prep my slow cooker meals the night before and store the crock in the fridge.  Then in the morning I just had to pull the crock out, plop it in the cooker, plug it in and go!  As a result, anything I tried with tortillas in it turned out soggy.  If you do want to make this the night before, make the sauce, grate the cheese and throw it all in the fridge.  You’ll have assemble the layers in the morning, but it’s not that difficult!

Use small, 6″ tortillas for this recipe.  They fit perfectly in the middle of my slow cooker, making the result look really good!  The tortillas did not end up soggy at all in the slow cooker, or reheated for lunch the next day!  I had so much extra sauce that I froze it- it’s basically a tex-mex flavoured chili.

Slow Cooker Enchiladas
Recipe adapted from Taste of Home
Serves 5-6

1 pound ground beef
1 cup diced onion
1/2 cup diced green pepper
1 can (16 oz) pinto or kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (16 oz) black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (14 oz) diced tomatoes and red chilies (or whatever you can find!)
1/3 cup water
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
6-7 flour tortillas (6″)

In a large skillet, brown the ground beef, onion and green pepper until the beef is brown and the vegetables are tender.  Add the next 8 ingredients and bring to a boil.  Turn down the heat, cover the mixture and simmer for 10 minutes.

In a 5-6 qt slow cooker, layer about 3/4 cup beef mixture, one tortilla and about 1/3 cup of cheese.  Repeat layers until all ingredients are used up.  Cover and cook on low about 5-7 hours, or until heated through.  (Mine took 6 hours!)

Enjoy!
The Hungry Teacher