Enchilada Sauce

I always figured it would be difficult to make a good red sauce for enchiladas.

I was so very wrong.

I looked it up recently to find out how to make it, and discovered that I had almost everything in my pantry. In fact, I could have made the sauce without a trip to the store if I wanted a basic version. I did need corn tortillas to make the enchiladas, so I had to make the trip anyway, so I picked up some good chicken stock for it.

Otherwise, this is just a slightly modified version of the recipe on gimmesomeoven.com.

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons Grape Seed, Olive, or Avocado Oil 

2 Tablespoons flour

1/4 Cup Chili Powder

1/2 Teaspoon Cumin

1/2 Teaspoon Garlic Powder

1/2 Teaspoon Cocoa Powder

1/4 Teaspoon Dried Oregano

2 Cups Chicken Stock

1/4 - 1/2 Teaspoon salt

Heat oil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Add flour and cook for 1 minute, whisking constantly.  Add in the chili powder, garlic powder, cumin, cocoa powder, and oregano and cook for 1 more minute, whisking constantly. Gradually pour in the stock, whisking constantly to combine until no lumps remain.  Continue cooking until the sauce reaches a simmer.  Then reduce heat to medium-low to maintain the simmer (the sauce should continue lightly bubbling) for about 10-15 minutes, uncovered, until the sauce has slightly thickened. Give the sauce a taste and season with salt, as needed.  (I typically add 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt, but the saltiness of the sauce can vary depending on the brand of stock that you use.) Use immediately.

Note: You can mix together the dry ingredients and store them for up to several months in a Ziploc bag or another airtight container for later use, then just fix it more or less as above.

Spanish Rice

Folks-
Obligatory mea-culpa over how long it's been since I posted anything.
Now that I have that out of the way...
I've enjoyed making Spanish Rice as a side dish with my Smoky Southwestern Pot Roast (my first post here!) for several years now. I've found it especially easy to make, and a rather unexpectedly forgiving recipe. You can tell just how versatile it is from the options I give below. The key to making it is the Browning of the rice, and the rice to liquid ratio (follow the instructions for your rice. The below amounts are an average suggested amount.) Feel free to try your own variations! Anything you try here is going to be better than boxed, store-bought rice.
Here's my recipe for Spanish Rice:

2-4 tbsp cooking oil (vegetable, olive, grape seed, or sunflower)
2 cups long grain white rice
3 cups chicken stock OR beef stock OR vegetable stock OR water and bullion cubes to make a stock
1 cup finely chopped onion
1-2 cloves garlic, minced or crushed
1 heaping tablespoon tomato paste OR one cup chopped stewed no-salt tomatoes, drained OR one cup chopped fresh tomatoes
1/2 tsp dried oregano OR 1/2 tsp dried Italian spices

Optional (any or all of these):
1/4 tsp paprika or chili powder
1 tbsp chopped green pepper
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 - 1/2 tsp turmeric

Heat the cooking oil in a pot over high heat. Brown the rice just until it is somewhat translucent. Add the onion, garlic, tomato paste or tomatoes, and if you're using it, the green pepper, and continue to cook until the vegetables are tender. Add stock and spices and bring to a rolling boil. Cover and reduce heat to very low, and summer for 20 minutes. Do NOT lift the lid to check on it! Use a glass-top pot if you might want to do this. Turn the heat off and allow the rice to rest covered for five minutes before fluffing with a fork.
You can optionally stir-in a pound of browned and drained hamburger meat, diced and cooked chicken or turkey, shredded pork, or fish to make this a main-course, or serve it as a side-dish with my Smoky Southwestern Pot Roast, or with tacos, encheladas, or other Mexican foods.
Just try it already! It's a breeze! Honest!