Beef, Bean & Pumpkin Enchiladas

Beef, Bean & Pumpkin Enchiladas ~ Adding pumpkin puree is an unusual twist for this classic Mexican meal.  It enhances the sauce & makes getting in an extra veggie really easy!

The other night, I came up with an unusual way to sneak in some pumpkin to our dinner.  (sometimes I like to cook solo, that way no one can see what I'm up to :)   I'm calling this dish my ~ Beef, Bean & Pumpkin Enchiladas. Yowza!  They turned out great & were super easy to make.  I just added a cup of pureed canned pumpkin to a large can of red enchilada sauce (Old El Paso) & followed (sorta) the recipe on the back of the can.  Easy-Peasy!   (I changed up the recipe just a little bit ~ using 1/2 the amount of meat & replacing it with half a can of chili beans)

The pumpkin puree made the sauce thick & rich tasting.  You can't taste the pumpkin at all, but it really enhances the overall flavor & mouth-feel of the enchilada sauce.  No one suspected a thing ~ it was such an easy way to sneak in an extra veggie! (OK, pumpkin is really a fruit, but I consider it a veggie)    

So, why not give this unusual use for pumpkin a try for your next Mexican meal?  I think you'll enjoy it as much as we did!