The Good Life - Spinach Enchiladas

Oh, the good life, full of fun seems to be the ideal

Mm, the good life lets you hide all the sadness you feel

It's the good life to be free and explore the unknown

Like the heartaches when you learn you must face them alone

These are totally part of the "good life". I said it before that cooking and meals are a scrapbook of my life and there are certain foods that bring a smile to my face and a look of shock to others because they didn't know they would have it so good. These enchiladas are amazing! Their simplicity and richness is unmatched...well, almost (My last supper chicken enchiladas are close). You know by now that the salesman is a meat eater and so is our offspring, but these babies are deceptively delicious. For those of you who don't know, I have a side food business I have been doing for several years now. I cook and prepare meals and deliver them to clients and friends around town. I love doing this because it keeps me on my cooking toes and allows me to "explore the unknown". It also gives me an excuse to barricade myself in a corner with my cookbooks piled up sky high and sit and read through the pages of my books in order to create monthly menus. Getting a new cookbook is sort of like Christmas morning for me and therefore I limit myself as to how many new ones I can get. I literally will sit for hours and read through recipes page by page so I can stock the recipes away in my mental card catalog. This is one of those recipes that was shared with me years ago by my sister and I knew that I would be "facing it alone" since the salesman wouldn't eat it. But, he did eat them. And, I won't say he necessarily fell in love with them, but in my heart I knew that he had shared part of the good life with me. And now I will share it with you.

Spinach Enchiladas

1 24oz container sour cream - regular or low fat
3 10oz packages of spinach, thawed. Squeeze one to remove some liquid, just one.
16-18 flour tortillas
1 small onion diced
1/2 stick or 4 Tbsp butter
2 can Whole green chilies - dice by hand. Promise, it is worth it
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 Tbsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp ground red pepper
1 block of Monterrey jack or pepper jack cheese freshly grated (or 2 cups)

First, let me state that you should not buy green chilies diced if at all possible. They have a gross texture to them if you buy them diced and there is always a gross hard piece of a stem in the can. Slice and dicing the chilies is easy peasy and well worth it to ensure that you get some good chilies pieces that you can actually see and taste.
Second, don't buy pre-shredded cheese. I know I have said it before but it is weird should be banned. Amen. Moving on.
In a large bowl, combine the 2 unsqueezed packages of spinach and the one squeezed package, sour cream, diced chilies, milk and spices.
In a small saute pan, simmer the onion in the butter for about 8 minutes until the onions become translucent. Add the onions to the creamy spinach mixture.
Spray a 9x13 pan with Pam. Take one tortilla at a time in your hand and spoon in about a 1/2 cup of spinach filling. Roll up the tortilla and place it seam side down in the pan. Continue until you run out of tortillas but be sure to leave about 2 1/2 cups of sauce for the top. After you have finished filling and rolling all tortillas, spoon the rest of the spinach mixture over the top of the enchiladas. Sprinkle the cheese on the top. These can be frozen at this point if you want to share a pan or eat them later. If you are cooking right away, place them in a 350 degree oven and bake for 35-40 minutes until the cheese is bubbly and golden.
Serve with some black beans and rice.

Enjoy Y'all!