Italian Enchiladas or how to use up leftovers

One of my troubles is that I will make too much food. I guess it’s not really a trouble or problem but in the case of fillings for ravioli or tortellini it does present a problem. There is always a bit of raw egg in those fillings so I have to get creative with what to do with those leftovers. I asked for ideas on my Facebook fan page and on a discussion forum that I frequent. I received a lot of great ideas but one stood out-Italian style enchiladas.

My son, who takes my pictures, insisted I use this one since it’s a ”view of an enchilada”! lol…what a kid.  I had him take a series of pictures, which I will post first, followed by the recipe. These were delicious and I want to thank Judi for the idea.

Italian enchiladas

10- 8 in. soft flour tortillas

leftover filling from ravioli (I used the chicken and ricotta cheese filling I used for the tortellini from Easter)

1 can of quartered artichoke hearts in water

2 cups crushed tomatoes

1 jar of alfredo sauce

1-2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

dried basil and oregano

Begin by spraying your 9 X 13 in baking dish with non-stick spray. Set oven to 350. Spread 1/2 cup of crushed tomatoes on the bottom of the pan. Spread filling on tortilla, top with artichoke hearts, a handful of mozzarella cheese and roll up. Place seam side down in the pan. Top with a spoonful of crushed tomatoes, dried herbs, and a spoonful of alfredo sauce. Sprinkle on some grated parmesan cheese. Continue until the pan is full. Add more alfredo sauce and crushed tomatoes to the pan so they don’t dry out. Cover and bake for about 30-40 minutes until heated through.

 I made a few “white” ones for my son who won’t eat the red sauce or artichoke hearts.

These were so good. And I had a few leftover for today’s lunch. Cool. One more use for the filling that I came up with the other night is Italian bread pizza. Simply cut a loaf of Italian bread in half, horizontally, and spread one half with pesto sauce, then the filling, top with a bit more pesto, mozzarella cheese, a few slices of tomatoes and pop in the oven for about 7-10 minutes until heated and cheese is bubbly. If you need to place under the broiler for a minute or so to toast the bread then do that at the end. Here is what ours looked like.  (please excuse my hubby’s hairy arm and cruddy  pot holder)

I hope these recipes have given you some ideas of meals to add to your menus. I hate wasting food and the last time I made ravioli I had leftover filling and it went bad before I could use it. Another use could be lasagna as a fan posted the recipe on the Facebook page. So be sure to become a Facebook fan and check out the recipe there.

Update on my daughter: she was sent home last evening as the contractions slowed down and have since ended. She is feeling good and glad that the babies are not here yet as they need a little more time to mature in there. I am still excited and can’t wait till we have a real go at this!