Easy and Authentic Beef Enchiladas

I adore corn tortillas, but I have always had trouble using them in my homemade enchilada recipes because even when I softened them, they would crack and break and end up looking like shredded enchiladas.  I tried a new trick tonight--one that adds no extra calories no less--and it worked like a charm.  As if that wasn't exciting enough, I made an enchilada red sauce from scratch tonight that tasted just amazing and claimed to be "authentic."  I based my version off an archived recipe from Cooking Light.

Here's how to make enchilada sauce:
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups low sodium chicken broth (homemade if you have it)
1Tablespoons Canola Oil
3 Tablespoons Chili Powder
1 Tablespoon Cumin
1 teaspooon Oregano
2 Cloves garlic, minced
2 Tablespoons flour

You will also need:
1 lb 90% lean ground beef
1/2 onion, diced
2 cups fresh spinach
10-12 corn tortillas
1 cup 2% sharp cheddar cheese

Directions:
Heat oil in sauce pan.  Add minced garlic and saute for 1-2 minutes or until fragrant.  Add spices and saute about 30 seconds.  Add flour and whisk until all the flour is absorbed.  Slowly add chicken broth and whisk to combine.  Bring to a boil and allow to simmer until sauce thickens and chicken broth is reduced.  Reserve half of the sauce for the meat and add petite diced tomatoes to the other half (I used about half a can, but our enchiladas could have used more sauce, so next time I will probably use the whole can.)

For the meat I used 90% lean ground beef and cooked it with diced onions and then added some of the enchilada sauce.  I threw in a couple of cups of fresh spinach to up the veggie content in our meal.  I find it tricky to serve healthy veggies with Mexican food for some reason, so I try to hide them!

Here's the trick for softening the tortillas---I read about it online and thought it was worth a try.  Bring about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch of water to a boil in a skillet.  Dip in each corn tortilla for 2-3 seconds on each side.  Too long and they will fall apart, too short and they won't roll up like they are supposed to. I had 2 tortilla casualties before I got the hang of it, but it was pretty simple.

1 lb of meat made about 12 enchiladas.  I topped them with the enchilada sauce mixed with the diced tomatoes and sprinkled about a cup of 2% cheddar cheese over the top and baked them in the oven at 350 for about 20-25 minutes.  Deliciouso!