Enchilada Casserole with Rice

A dairy free version of Enchiladas, serve shredded cheese and sour cream on the side if desired for those who choose to eat dairy.

3/4 to 1 lb ground beef or ground turkey
1/2 c. chopped onion, optional
1/2 c. chopped black olives, optional
1/2 to 1 c. refried beans, optional
10 oz. La Victoria Enchilada Sauce, 1/4 cup reserved for rice if desired
8-10 corn tortillas
Guacamole, optional

Heat oven to 400 degrees.
Brown ground meat and onions over med-hi heat in a skillet.  Stir in olives, refried beans and enchilada sauce, reserving 1/4 cup of the sauce for rice if desired.
Grease a small casserole dish, about the size of the tortillas.  Add just a thin layer of ground meat mixture to cover the bottom.  Place a corn tortilla on top of meat mixture.  Add another thin layer of meat, then another corn tortilla.  Repeat until casserole dish is full and all meat mixture is used up. Finish with a ground meat layer.  Carefully, so you don't wash away the top layer of ground beef, add 1/2 to 2/3 cup water over the top, more if you used 10 tortillas, less if you only used 8.
Bake 30 min.
Serve with rice, guacamole, shredded daiya cheese (contains yeast) or cheddar cheese(contains dairy), and sour cream (contains dairy).

To make Rice: Combine 1 cup rice with 1/4 cup enchilada sauce and 1 3/4 cups of water in a nonstick saucepan.  Bring the rice and liquids to a boil over high heat.  Cover.  Reduce heat to low.  Simmer, covered for 15 min.  When rice is done, there with be small holes throughout the rice.  Fluff it up with fork, serve with Enchilada casserole.

Quinoa Chili

Made this up for a Relief Society activity and the ladies all loved it! Spiced nicely, but not hot spicey. Hannah liked it too.

(I doubled the recipe for the activity)

2 tsp. olive oil
1 med. onion, diced finely
3 cloves garlic, minced
2/3 cup quinoa, rinsed well until water runs clear and drained ( I used red quinoa)
2 large carrots, peeled and grated
2 cups tomato sauce
3 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. dried oregano
1/8 to 1/4 tsp. chili powder or cayenne (I use chili powder)
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 cup water plus more (added as quinoa cooks for good consistency)
1 can bean (cannellini, red, pinto, or black) drained and rinsed well.  (I used pinto and black)

In a large saucepan, saute onion in olive oil until clear; add garlic.  Add quinoa, carrots, tomato sauce, spices and water.  Bring to simmer and cook 20 min. Add beans, cook 5 min. more.  Add water as needed.  It shouldn't be too thick, but also not runny like soup.