Food Storage Enchilada Pie! FOR REAL!

This is a recipe I have been making for a couple years. I first introduced you to it in a blog post with some fun challenges to help you use your food storage items more often. The post came with challenges such as cooking your dry beans instead of using canned, making bean flour cream of chicken instead of using canned, and making whole wheat tortillas from scratch. The challenges and post can be found here. Well, then I found a homemade enchilada sauce and posted about that here.

Well last week I brought it to the NEXT FOOD STORAGE LEVEL! I tried it using freeze dried chicken and freeze dried cheese. I always justified the chicken and cheese in there by saying I keep a 3 month supply in my freezer, but I always wondered in the back of my mind, if it could ever be done ALL THE WAY SHELF STABLE?!?!? Well the answer is YES. I was impressed, and relived all at the same time with how it turned out.

TRADITIONAL RECIPE
Ingredients:
1 can of black beans
1 lg onion
1 can of cream of chicken
1 can of cream of mushroom
¾ cup of milk
1 (4oz) can diced green chilies
1 (8 oz) can mild enchilada sauce
1 pkg soft tortillas
½ lb cheddar cheese, grated
½ lb monterrey cheese, grated
3 chicken breasts shredded

Directions:
Wash and cook beans. Mix next 6 ingredients with beans. Place tortillas in greased 9 by 13 inch pan. Top with half the bean mixture and half the cheese. Repeat the layers. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Cool slightly and cut in squares.

SHELF STABLE DELUXE
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups of cooked black beans
1/4 cup dehydrated onion
1 batch of cream of chicken from bean flour
1 (4oz) can diced green chilies
1 batch homemade enchilada sauce
6 whole wheat tortillas
2 cups of freeze dried cheese.
2 cups of freeze dried chicken

Directions:
Cook tortillas, and black beans. Hydrate chicken and cheese (the measurements given are the ingredients dry) While chicken and cheese is hydrating make cream of chicken bean sauce and enchilada sauce. Add beans, onions, cream of chicken sauce, diced green chilies, enchilada sauce, and chicken in a large bowl. Place tortillas in greased 9 by 13 inch pan. Top with half the bean mixture and half the cheese. Repeat the layers. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Cool slightly and cut in squares.

Now I’m not going to lie. Making it the Shelf Stable Deluxe way is a TON of work. BUT, I dare you to try it at least once. It tastes INCREDIBLE because of how much fresher and healthier it is. It’s also a GREAT way to try all sorts of food storage foods, and techniques. If you like the recipe, then you can decide how ambitious you will be with it in the future. Maybe you make some of it shelf stable, and some of it fresh. You may not choose to be as ambitious as I had to be by bringing over 100 samples of it to a food storage fair, but hey – we all have our crazy moments!