Easy Gluten-Free Cheese Enchiladas

Easy Gluten-Free Cheese Enchiladas

This is adapted from a classic Californio enchilada recipe. It’s a tradition in our family to serve Cheese Enchiladas on Christmas Eve. In the olden days we made our own tortillas and enchilada sauces. But we often don’t have time for that now, hence modern short cuts. The gluten-free adaptation is a result of my recent Celiac Sprue diagnosis. The flavor is very, very close to the traditional recipe from my ancestors.

• 1 28 oz. can Las Palmas Red Enchilada Sauce (mild, medium, or hot, your choice)

• 1 package gluten-free tortillas (Trader Joe’s Brown Rice, Mission Corn Tortillas, Food for Life, etc. Make sure they say gluten-free!)

• 1 large can sliced black olives

• 2 cups diced onions

• 6 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend (cheddar, Monterey jack, asadero, queso quesadilla cheeses). You can buy this blend already shredded. It’s cheaper and easier than buying the cheeses separately.

What you need:

• Two pyrex pie pans (or other baking dishes)

• Separate bowls containing each ingredient.

What you do:

Pour about 1 cup of the enchilada sauce in the bottom of one of the pie pans and about a 1 ½ cups in the other. Swirl it around to coat the bottom.

Dip a tortilla in the pan with the most sauce so that it is coated on both sides. Add cheese, onions, and olives at one end of the tortilla and carefully roll it into a tube. It should be fat like a burrito. Place it in the other pie pan with the loose end facing down. Repeat until this pie pan is full of enchiladas (you can squeeze a lot in there!).

Pour the rest of the enchilada sauce on top of the enchiladas. Sprinkle the top generously with cheese. Garnish with the balance of the olives.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Makes about 8 enchiladas.