1 cup rice
2 cups chicken broth
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 small onion, minced
1 small tomato, chopped
1 red chili, sliced (optional)
1 tablespoon cumin seed
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano

1. Heat oil in skillet and add rice.
2. Mix spices, onion and garlic into rice and stir until browned.
3. Add remaining ingredients.
4. Cook uncovered until rice is tender and water is evaporated.

Makes 6 servings

1 tablespoon oil
4 cloves garlic
3 tablespoons chili powder
3 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
4 cups beef stock
5 ounces tomato paste

10 corn or flour tortillas
1 pound lean ground beef
2 tablespoons tomato sauce or ketchup
1 cup mozzarella, shredded
1 cup cheddar, shredded

1. Prepare sauce by browning garlic with the oil in a sauce pan.
2. Add half of the spices, all of the tomato paste and beef stock to the pan.
3. Simmer sauce over low heat while preparing filling.
4. Prepare enchilada filling by browning ground beef in a frying pan.
5. Add the other half of the spices and remove from heat.
6. To prepare enchiladas, while preheating oven to 350 degrees, wrap tortillas in foil and place in oven to soften them.
7. Spoon filling into center of tortilla and add 1/10 of the cheddar.
8. Fold edges of the tortilla inward (like preparing a burrito) and place into a large baking dish, seam side down.
9. Repeat this method with remaining tortillas, rationing the cheddar and filling.
10. Cover enchiladas with the mozzarella and prepared sauce and bake in the oven for half an hour.

Makes 5 servings

19 ounces canned navy beans
4 slices smoky bacon
1/4 cup molasses
1 small onion, chopped
1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon cumin seed
1 teaspoon chili powder

1. Fry bacon in a skillet over medium heat until crisp.
2. Drain excess fat from pan and pat bacon dry with paper towel. Let cool.
3. Cook onion with cumin and chili powder in the same pan until browned.
4. Slice cooled bacon into 1/2" pieces and add it and the rest of the ingredients to the onions.
5. Reduce heat, cover and simmer. Flavor is more pronounced the longer you leave it, but can be served immediately.

Makes 4 servings

I feel like a bad Ukrainian for both forgetting about and failing to celebrate Ukrainian Christmas over the weekend. Perhaps I'll whip up some Perogies and cabbage rolls this weekend to make up for it.

Last week Shannon received the "Deep Thoughts: Inspiration for the Uninspired" Jack Handey book from a friend of hers. I told her that I would use of the "inspirations" for a theme this week, so I am: "If God dwells inside us, like some people say, I sure hope He likes Enchiladas, because that's what He's getting!" Since His holiness deserves no less than holy side dishes, I figured I'd pair it up with some Holy Smokin’ Beans and some Holy Moly Rice-a-Roni. I nearly made some Holy Guacamole as well, but figured that was a bit much.

Making enchiladas from scratch is hard work. I won't hold it against you if you cut corners with store bought sauce or anything. I decided to pick a more uniquely flavored enchilada recipe and went with a sauce that was based on chili and cocoa powder. The only problem is that there was nothing in the ingredients that ever caused the sauce to thicken. "Authentic Mexican site" that shall remain nameless — you thought you could fool me, but I saved your pathetic sauce by adding a can of tomato paste! My enchiladas were incredibly tasty, no thanks to YOU.

What a filling feast. 2 enchiladas by themselves were enough to stuff Shannon. The beans had a wonderful mesquite BBQ flavor to them, but would have been even better if they were cooked over an open fire. They were definitely better than buying a similar variety from a can, though. The rice kicked my ass a little bit because I underestimated the heat of the chili pepper, but it still had a nice complimentary flavor to the rest of the meal.

¡Buen provecho! (I hear this is a Spanish equivalent for Bon Appetit! but qué sé?)