Mushroom Enchiladas

This is part of my cooking for a month series....
The cook book calls this Cream Mushroom Empanadas but I think that is a typo because these are not like any empanada I've ever seen and the look suspiciously like an enchilada. Therefore I call them enchiladas. With this recipe we discovered that freezing and reheating tortillas just does not work. They get soggy and gross. So, while I think the filling (chef's treat) for these was quite tasty Jeff said they were absolute mush so I didn't eat them after they were reheated. But he said it tasted good so I think this recipe is a keeper but only when not frozen first.

Creamy Mushroom Empanadas
10 servings

2lbs mix of wild mushrooms
2T olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 t dried thyme
pinch of salt
pepper
3T finely chopped fresh cilantro
1C light sour cream
8oz neufchatel cheese, cut into small cubes
1 can mild green enchilada sauce
8 burrito size whole wheat tortillas
1/2C shredded monterey jack cheese

Spray a 9in backing dish with non-stick cooking spray.  Chop mushrooms and set aside.  Heat olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.
Add garlic and cook, stirring constantly for 1 minute.  Add mushrooms, thyme, salt, pepper, and cook stirring often until mushrooms release their moisture and become tender and brown, about 7 minutes.
Transfer to a large mixing bowl and stir in cilantro, sour cream, neufchatel, allowing the cheese to melt and the mixture to get creamy.
Heat enchilada sauce in a large skillet over low heat. Dip tortilla in sauce to coat both sides and allow excess sauce to drip off.
Lay tortilla in the baking dish and fill with mushroom mixture, rolling tortilla around filling and placing enchilada seam-side down against the side of the baking dish.  Repeat with remaining tortillas and mushroom mixture.  Pour remaining enchilada sauce evenly over tortillas and sprinkle with cheese.Put in oven for 20-30 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and lightly browned.

This is before freezing.

My notes:
I froze this. It didn't work out so well. Also this made two (13X9) pans of enchiladas. I used regular sized tortillas instead of burrito sized because my store doesn't have whole wheat burrito sized tortillas. I think this would be quite tasty fresh out of the oven. Frozen it turned to mush during reheating. Not terribly appetizing.

Better Than Takeout Asian Beef Strips

This is part of my cooking for a month series...
We had this recipe last night. Jeff and I found it to be somewhat bland* which is disappointing it seemed to have a lot of good flavors in it while I was making it. I would say this was not better than takeout but it was edible. The kid seemed to like it quite a bit.

*as I am typing this recipe I realized that I let out the red pepper flakes. So that might have had something to do with it.

Better Than Takeout Asian Beef Strips
1/2 C fresh squeezed orange juice
1 T minced orange zest
1 T minced fresh ginger
2 T rice wine vinegar
3 T shoyu
2 T honey
Pinch of hot red pepper flakes
2lbs flank steak, sliced diagonally into 1/4 in slices
1 T cornstarch
1 T canola oil
1 T sesame oil
4 C cooked brown basmati rice, cooled completely

In a large bowl, whisk together orange juice, orange zest, ginger, vinegar, shoyu, honey, and red pepper flakes. Place steak in bowl and toss to coat. Cover bowl and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Remove meat from the marinade and whisk cornstarch into marinade. Heat oil in a wok over medium-high heat. Swirl to coat.

Stir-fry the meat for 2-3 minutes add the marinade and cook, stirring, until sauce is thickened. Drizzle with sesame oil. Remove from heat and let cool completely.

To freeze
Individual Servings: Divide steak and rice into 1qt freezer bags or freezer and microwave safe containers.

For a crowd
Place steak and rice in 2 separate 1 gallon freezer bags, removing as much air as possible before sealing.

To reheat
Let steak and rice thaw in fridge overnight.

Microwave method
Reheat individual servings in the microwave on high for 2-3 minutes or until heated through.

Oven method
Preheat oven to 350F. Place rice in a baking dish and top with steak.  Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes or until heated through.

My notes
I got this out of the freezer Sunday night after dinner. The rice was still rock hard when I got it out to start cooking at 5:30 yesterday. so that was a bit of a problem. I also didn't like the fact that there were no vegetables in this dish so I added some bell pepper. Jeff said mushrooms and onions would be good as well. I also used agave in place of honey as my honey had crystallized. Oh and my store doesn't have shoyu or basmati brown rice so I used soy sauce instead of shoyu and regular brown rice instead of basmati.