Enchilada Ring & Guacamole

Lately I have been trying to do better with my grocery shopping. A lot of times I spend nearly $200.00 at the grocery store, and hardly ever make any meals. Most of the things I buy are snacks or quick meals, and so for our bigger meals (dinners) we end up going out to eat somewhere. Don't get me wrong, I am a big fan of going out to eat, but I know I waste a lot of money that way. My solution: meal planning. A day before I plan to grocery shop I get online or use cookbooks to find recipes for things I plan to cook for the next week. Then I base my grocery lists off of the ingredients needed for the recipes, and VOILA! I have all the necessary ingredients for a week's worth of meals. Of course I still buy snacks, but not nearly as many - and I'm also trying to make those snacks healthier ones. This system also keeps me from wasting so much food. I feel horrible everytime I clean out the fridge or the pantry because of all our wasted food!

For my first recipe I made an enchilada ring, guacamole, and black beans. It was very simple to make, and delicious too! I did find out though that I need to invest in some larger baking pans and cookie sheets. The one I used wasn't as big as I needed it to be, so my circular shaped "ring" ended up being more oval shaped. *Another good thing about meal planning: I'll be able to go shopping for pots, pans, baking sheets, utensils, and other things I'll need for cooking/baking!*

Before cooking

After cooking

Jaime and I both really liked it, and were impressed with how well it turned out. Aiden was too tired to be interested in eating, so I will have to try it again with him later. Jenny filled up on beans, guacamole, and milk so she wasn't too crazy about it either. So, it looks like we'll have to try it again in order to get their opinions on it, but I think they'll really like it! You can find the recipe for it on Kelly's Korner Recipe Blog, you can find it here. I changed it up a little bit and added some cilantro and extra cheese. Now that I've eaten it though I have already thought of a few other variations for next time!

I also made guacamole and black beans to go with it. The black beans were just regular canned black beans that I added a few spices to, and the guacamole was just something I came up with on my own. There is a guacamole recipe on Kelly's Korner Recipe Blog too, and you can find it here.

Guacamole is one of our family's favorite foods!

I hope you'll try these recipes because like I said, they are really good!