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Ok, as traditional enchiladas go, they’re a chicken or ground beef affair, in a corn tortilla, smothered in red sauce. Yummy. But tradition doesn’t always fly here, and all the old school ones I’ve ever had in my life have been, well, puny. No more. These are beyond easy, and just as good for breakfast the next day (not to mention super filling.) Enjoy!

• 1-1.5 lbs ground beef, drained (use taco seasoning if you feel so inclined- I do!)
• 1 can Red sauce (I use Old El Paso)
• 1 16-32oz can vegetarian refried beans (I use Taco Bell brand)
• flour tortillas (amount will vary)
• shredded cheese- cheddar, pepper jack, monterey jack, colby jack, Jack Palance, whatever. I use a lot

Assuming you have browned, drained and seasoned your beef already, remove it from heat and set it aside. Spray baking dish with a bit o’ cooking spray, and pour a small amount of red sauce into bottom of dish (making sure to spread it all over). Preheat oven to 375 or whatever temp is recommended by your sauce brand. Start spooning beans onto tortillas (I spoon them straight from the can with a large spoon), and top with beef (about 2-3 tbsp). Roll up and place in dish, seam side down. Repeat until dish is full. *I use an 8*8″ Pyrex dish, so my yield is usually between 4-6, but I always have a good amount of leftover meat and beans. If you have more mouths to feed, use a larger dish.* Pour on remaining sauce and top with cheese. Lots of cheese…..Bake for 15 minutes, and cool for 2 (ok the cooling is not imperative, especially to hungry, impatient types. They may be easier to plate after a slight cooling, but I wouldn’t know, because I’ve never waited, sorry.)

I normally serve these alone, 2 per person. They are pretty darn filling. Of course, you can serve them with some Spanish rice, a little salad, or my personal favorite, Rotel dip. Which is also a yummy breakfast treat :p

You gotta love Louisiana. We have winter for about three minutes. Spring is usually pretty warm and nice (except the pollen, but eh), summer’s hot, humid and lasts forever, and fall is like chilly spring in a different outfit.

This year, spring has been way too moody for me. It started off nice enough, then became a rainy mess. This has thrown off my garden plans considerably (but, I have given more thought to planning, so not a total loss). Monday afternoon I decided that Tuesday would be the big day. Then the weatherman ruined it all: we were in for a light frost Tuesday overnight. What?!?! In the middle of April? So we had record low temps Tuesday night. Great. My slothiness combined with inclement weather is throwing off my plans.

In further news, I’ve decided to add a small food garden plot to the backyard. I hope to have a small harvest of corn, peas, six kinds of tomatoes (three of them cherry!), carrots, okra (for pickles), and I want to get a couple strawberry plants. I think there are others I have (not counting “takes-forever-to-grow” artichoke), but those are the main event

So hopefully tomorrow, I will go and start planting flower seed, and then still feel like digging up my plot (by hand!). We’ll see how it goes.

Did a little bit of shopping Saturday night. I enjoy shopping for seeds. You get a lot for a little, and I like the thrill of seeing seedlings poking through dirt. I’m easy that way And, since the outer section of the garden department was closed by the time we got there, I had to stick to the seed section. Which was just as well; I’m sure I would have gone over budget throwing blooming flowers into the buggy.

Last year, I picked a nice variety of taller flowers- Lupine, Snapdragon, Columbine, Foxglove and Zinnia. This year, I picked Dahlia and Aster (I really like round, dish-y type flowers). So the backs of the beds are covered. I don’t have many shorter varieties (last year’s are California Poppies, Johnny Jump Ups and Pansies- they all pooped out last spring, no blooming at all). This time, I got more Pansies and some English daisy and Phlox. The daisies can’t be planted until August (!) and take 180-300 days to bloom, but the Phlox are just right. And just between the tall and the short, I have “Fuzzy Face” sunflowers; they are crazy cute and will look great in one of my little green planters.

Today was spent clearing space and deciding where I want things to go. I started by clearing weeds away from my rose (which is about to go into its first bloom of the year! so excited!) and tilling with a small rake. The soil in our yard is still easily workable from the rains of the last week. And I have decided what’s going in that area. (I hope to post a picture in short order.) In the rose bed, I’ve decided that gladiolus will go in the back, a mix of dahlia and sunflowers in the middle, and California poppies in the front. I had considered lavender in the back, but the majority of what I’m putting in that spot is in the warm color family, so purple will not work in that spot.

Since last spring, I thought petunias would look nice along each side of the front walk. They mound a little, they spread a lot, and who doesn’t love them? Now, I’m thinking it’s been done; you go to any garden center, and look in random carts (not that I ever have…..), and you will find at least one petunia. So, I’ve decided to mix it up a bit. Since phlox is upright but not too tall, I think it will mix well with them. Plus, they aren’t too far from each other on the color wheel. I’m also considering a few pansies in the shadier spot along the walkway. It’s not original, but it’s what I like.

The current cost of this is:

• Seed- $6.22

• Garden rake- $1.97

Bringing the grand total to- $8.19. So $11.81 left! I really think I’m going to be under budget, and that makes me want to stay under budget even more. If only I could do the same thing with groceries…