Stacked Enchiladas

I'm making enchiladas today. I'm making 3 different sized pans of enchiladas and putting them in the freezer. One serves 3 (which is how many live at my house), one serves 6 (which is how many are at my house some days), one serves 9 (which is the whole family and I love when everyone is home).

I love that flour tortillas come in so many different sizes now.  I like to make stacked or layered enchiladas. You can find small taco size and medium fajita size and large burrito size. I like to choose the sizes that fit round disposable freezer pans. These pans come in 3 different sizes. The small pan is 7-inches, is just right for the taco size tortillas and holds about 3 cups. The middle size pan is 9-inches, fits the fajita size tortillas and holds a little more than 6 cups. The large round pan is 10-inches, fits the large burrito size tortillas and holds about 9 cups.

Different brands of tortillas are different sizes so I take a little tape measure with me to the store to measure the tortillas. You could also take the pans to the store or at least take a paper with a circle drawn the size you want. Sometimes even when I buy the size of tortillas I want, a few in the bag will be odd shaped or a little too big. A quick little trim with scissors fixes this. I want them all to fit in the pan because I want to layer my enchiladas! No rolling the enchiladas. I'll use all the same ingredients but I will leave the tortillas flat and layer each ingredient between the tortillas.

These layered enchiladas taste exactly the same as the rolled ones, but these are so much easier to make. And how fun is it to use round tortillas in round pans?!

Making enchiladas this way is not only easy, but allows you to use whatever ingredients you'd like. I'll show you my list and how I make them. You add to or take away from the list any way you like.

Stacked Enchiladas

green enchilada sauce
sour cream
tortillas
shredded cheese
refried beans
black beans (drained, rinsed if you like)
Spanish rice (made from a box mix)
roasted chicken

Layer ingredients, cover and freeze. To serve, thaw and bake covered for about an hour at 350. If you bake from frozen you'll need to add another 15 to 30 minutes baking time. If you heat them in the microwave, take off the lid since the while the pans are microwaveable, the LIDS are NOT.

 Mix the sour cream into the green enchilada sauce.

 It becomes smooth and creamy. I use about half a cup sour cream to a 10 ounce can enchilada sauce.

Spoon a bit of sauce onto the bottom of each pan. I'm making all 3 sizes at once.

 Top sauce with a tortilla. Spread tortilla with refried beans, a little more sauce, scatter black beans and then cheese over top.

The Spanish rice mix I used called for diced tomatoes. I used the kind with green chiles.

 I topped the beans and cheese with another tortilla, a bit more sauce and a nice layer of Spanish rice.

 Topped the rice with a tortilla and some more sauce and cheese.

 I roasted chicken breasts salted with Rotisserie Chicken Seasoning.

 Slice it up.

 Arrange it over the top. Pour any remaining sauce over all.

 Attach labels to the lids BEFORE putting on the pans.

You could add other ingredients like corn, green chiles or salsa, etc. Or use red sauce instead of green. Or use shredded or ground beef instead of chicken. It's easy to go nuts and add too much to the pan and then the lid barely fits!

I'll put these in the freezer and bring one out for dinner to feed the family. The size I bring out will depend on who comes home for dinner. Only one child, Sam (16), lives here so if it's just the 3 of us, the small one will be perfect. If either of my married kids comes home with their spouse, the middle size will be great. If they both come home on the same day, wow...would you look at that...I'm prepared for them, too. =D

AND, if you can believe it, the lovely disposable freezer pans are also microwaveable! Yes, really! (not the lids.) So not only do I have dinner in the freezer (for no matter who comes home for dinner), but it is as easy as popping dinner in the microwave. I can feed the family in minutes!

I'll show you a picture of the meal later when we eat it. Mmmmmm.....sounds good right now.

More Freezer Recipes here.