Last night while I took a break from studying, I decided to do a little meal planning for the weekend.

You see, when we get to have the weekend off together, I spend Thursday nights planning on what we should have for our weekend dinners, usually along with some sort of munchies or dessert.

Well, what I originally planned to be a quick 30 minute break turned out to be a 3 hour break – surfing the Internet, searching for new fun recipes to try, and this is one of them I was quite excited to try right away.

Other than burritos, enchiladas are probably one of my favorite Mexican dishes. I’ve made stacked enchiladas a few weeks back, and I also have a recipe somewhere for some yummy traditional enchiladas as well. Since it’s Friday night and I really don’t want to slave over the stove for hours making a meal, this enchilada casserole sounded like the perfect idea.

Simply put, this dish is basically a deconstructed enchilada with everything mixed together, minus the tortilla.

Meat – check.

Enchilada sauce – check.

Sour cream – check.

Diced chiles – check.

Cheese – check.

Trust me, if you’re short on time but want something the whole family would like, this is definitely worth a try. The hubs loved it so much that he suggested to put this recipe into our “repeat” box.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 1 pound ground turkey
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
• 4 ounces cream cheese
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 10-oz can red enchilada sauce
• 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided
• 1 cup shredded monterey jack cheese, divided
• 1 cup frozen corn kernels
• 4 oz canned diced green chiles
• 12 ounces egg noodles
• Salt & pepper

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• In a large pot, cook egg noodles according to package instructions.
• In a super large skillet (or as I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I love using woks, so I used a wok instead), brown the ground turkey, breaking it up with a wooden spoon. Drain excess fat, and add in the chili powder, cumin, and cayenne pepper. Stir to combine.
• Add in the cream cheese. Stir until cream cheese is melted and thoroughly combined.
• In a medium sized bowl, combine the sour cream, enchilada sauce, half of the two cheeses, corn, and green chiles. Stir to combine.
• Add the sauce mixture to the meat mixture. Stir. Let simmer for a few minutes.

Being in the healthcare field, I could come up with a few things this mixture reminded me of… but don’t let that deter you! I promise it smells AND tastes delicious, and it will look a lot more appealing in the end!

• When the pasta is done, drain the pasta, then add it to the beef mixture. Make sure you give it a good toss to make sure all the egg noodles are all evenly coated with the sauce.
• Pour in the pasta mixture into a large casserole dish and top with the remaining cheeses.

• Bake for about 15 minutes or until the cheese has completely melted.

Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Table for Two

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