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Being that many I know were housebound due to snow yesterday, including Raul, I felt inspired to share my famous enchilada recipe. A batch of ten is yielded, giving you ample food to freeze and re-heat should you find yourself snow-trapped.

Always begin with good music. With the snow falling, I wanted to listen to something snowy, but not Christmasy. The last winter I lived in the Comox Valley, I’d go for walks everyday in the snow with Sam Roberts loaded on my Sony Discman, so that was my record of choice for this snowy evening.

Wash your hands and clean your counters! I’m in love with Method’s all-purpose cucumber spray.

Here’s what you’ll need: 10-pack tortilla shells, 1 pound ground beef, 15oz. enchilada sauce (I prefer Safeway’s brand), 500g cheddar cheese, 11oz. cream of mushroom soup, 14oz. refried beans, small container of sour cream and a bit of taco or fajita seasoning (as you wish).

I should preface this by saying that, were I to live anywhere in BC other than downtown Vancouver, I’d most likely have access to a Superstore and the price would be slashed nearly in half. However, $29 – exactly – is what I ended up paying for all of my ingredients at the Davie Street Safeway. Though even so, it’s still only $2.90 for one meal.

First, grate your cheese block – you’ll probably need it all.

Preheat your oven to 350/180 degrees.

After spreading out all 10 tortillas on your freshly-cleaned counter, dollop about one tablespoon of sour cream on each tortilla and spread it length-wise across the shell.

Real girls use pink pans.

Fry up all your ground beef over medium to high heat until all the pink disappears. Then, add taco or fajita seasoning to the beef (if that’s your thing) before stirring in the entire can of refried beans. It doesn’t look pretty – trust me.

In a saucepan, whisk together the can of cream of mushroom soup with the jar of enchilada sauce over medium heat until smooth and bubbling. Spray the sides and bottom of a 9″x13″ casserole dish with cooking spray before coating the bottom with just enough of the mushroom/enchilada sauce to cover it – about 1/3 cup.

Scoop the meat and refried bean mixture into 10 equal portions on the tortilla shells.

Follow that up with a bit of cheddar cheese – a little bit on each, but you can decide how much or how little you want.

Roll all ten shells and squeeze them into the casserole dish like piggies, seam side down.

Pour the remaining mushroom/enchilada sauce over the enchiladas, covering them as best as you can.

Sprinkle all the remaining grated cheddar cheese over the enchiladas.

You can prepare this the night before and bake it the next day if you want. If that’s the case, you’ll need to bake the enchiladas for longer (maybe 20 minutes). Being that I just prepared them and I’m putting the enchiladas directly into the oven, only about 10 minutes is necessary – until the cheese gets melty and the sauce becomes bubbly.

Et voila! You could eat just one and garnish it with some shredded lettuce or tortilla chips and guacamole, but I was super hungry so I dove into two.

Scoop each remaining enchilada onto a sheet of wax paper or cling wrap, roll it up and put them all in a Zip-loc freezer bag for each dinners next time Old Man Winter decides to surprise you.