A Monday Menu {& a Sunday Dinner}

 Just so you know, this isn’t what we’re having for dinner tonight.  It sure was good when we had it last week, though.  Also, you should probably know I made it up.  Usually that turns out pretty well for me.  Joshua says I only ever use recipes for inspiration, which is true.  This one definitely was inspired by the recipe for Creamed Spinach in this.  I love this dish because it’s full of vegetables that kids normally won’t eat alone, but once you wrap something in a tortilla and put cheese on it, mine are begging for more.  Well, Annabelle does pick out the tomatoes.

Creamy Spinach and Beef Enchiladas
10-12 tortillas
2 lbs ground beef
1 tbsp taco seasoning (I use this homemade recipe)
1 c fresh spinach
1 tbsp butter
1 can evaporated milk
1 tbsp flour
1 can diced tomatoes w/pepper and onion
1 c shredded monterey jack cheese

In a large pan, brown the ground beef.  Sprinkle with taco seasoning while browning.  Drain and set aside.  In the same pan, saute spinach.  Set aside with beef.  Melt butter in the pan and whisk in flour until smooth.  Gradually add milk, stirring constantly until smooth on medium heat.  When mixture thickens, add back in the beef and spinach.  Stir well to combine.  Season with salt and pepper (or more taco seasoning) to taste.

In a casserole dish, pour out half the tomatoes and spread across the bottom of the dish.  Spoon beef mixture into tortillas, roll, and place seam side down in dish.  My dish will hold 6-8 rolled tortillas.  Extras I roll and place in a gallon freezer bag for later.  (I just thawed and cooked some last week and they froze really well.)  Top tortillas with remaining tomatoes and then sprinkle cheese on top.  Cover with foil and bake on 350 for 20 minutes.  Uncover and bake 5-10 minutes more until bubbly.

Now how about this for dessert?  That’s my mama’s lemon pound cake.  She made it for our the first Payne-ful Sunday dinner of the year yesterday.  My siblings and I are trying to hang out more and have less drama. So instead we played a board game.

It went pretty well.

Gus is bonding with his Uncle Corey, who my girls still call Uncle Bubby.  Corey’s going to teach him how to survive in a house full of girls.  He should know how, after all.

Poor Gus.  They just try to keep him contained all the time.  Doesn’t work.

Yeah, that’s my onion bin.

It’s 6:37.  I’ve been working on this all day in brief moments that I can snatch between fussy baby, laundry, vacuuming, making butternut bisque over orzo with sausage (that’ll be next week’s Monday Menu post, I told you I’m always behind).  I think I’m done.

Enjoy!