Cranberry-turkey enchiladas

I was intrigued when I first saw this recipe. It sounded weird, but tasty at the same time. I love Mexican food, and you can't have turkey soup forever, so I gave it a try. I'm so glad I did. This will be a leftovers staple from here on out. It can even be made other times of the year, if (like me) you happen to have several pounds of leftover turkey in your freezer. We give four stars without hesitation.

I took some pictures of mine, but they actually make the meal look really gross, so I'll let you look at the photos on the site where I originally found the recipe. Here's a teaser for you:

The original recipe can be found here.

*************************
Cranberry-Turkey Enchiladas

2 to 2½ cups shredded cooked turkey
16 oz can whole berry cranberry sauce
15 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
1½ cups bottled salsa
1 cup shredded colby and Monterey Jack cheese (4oz.) (or more, if desired)
½ cup sour cream
3 whole green onions, sliced
¼ cup snipped fresh cilantro
1 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp salt
½ tsp ground black pepper
Eight 7 to 8″ whole-wheat or regular flour tortillas
1 tsp bottle hot pepper sauce
cilantro, green onions and sour cream for garnish, optional

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly coat a 13×9-inch baking dish with cooking spray; set aside.

2. For filling, in a large bowl stir together turkey, half of the cranberry sauce, beans, ½ cup of the salsa, ¾ cup of the cheese, sour cream, green onions, cilantro, cumin, salt and pepper. Spoon about 2/3 cup filling on each tortilla. Roll up tortillas around filling. Place, seam sides down, in prepared dish; set aside.

3. For sauce, in bowl stir together remaining cranberry sauce, remaining salsa and hot pepper sauce. Spoon over filled tortillas. Cover with foil. Bake for 45 minutes. Uncover; top with remaining cheese. Bake 5-10 minutes more or until heated through and cheese is melted.

4. Sprinkle with additional cilantro and green onions.

Yield: 6 to 8 enchiladas
*************************

I didn't have hot sauce, and I didn't want to buy a bottle just to use on this recipe. I can handle Mexican heat, but I don't like the flavor of hot sauce. I did, however, have some green enchilada sauce leftover in a can in the fridge, and it had quite a bit of kick, so I added 1 1/2 tsp to the topping. It was way too hot -- you couldn't taste the rest of the food well enough. We always use medium heat salsa. If you use anything hotter than mild, don't bother putting hot sauce in the topping.