Enchiladas - 2 ways: chicken, spinach & mushroom

One of the many joys that summertime brings is the ability to cook food over an open flame, outdoors. I know you can grill year-round, and I sometimes do, but it's just not the same. However, for as much as I love grilled food, I find myself longing for more fall-friendly food as the summer draws to a close. I crave things roasted and braised. Stews and long-simmered pasta sauces come to mind when I'm hit with pangs of hunger. A dish that falls right in the sweet spot of this category of cooler-weather cuisine is enchiladas. I made the ever-popular version with chicken but also decided to make a second batch with spinach and mushrooms, as those ingredients had been languishing in the back of the refrigerator.

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Posole with pork, black beans, rice

I've done some recipe research on posole in the past and discovered that the thing that defines a posole is the hominy. I'm sure there is an original version somewhere that is considered authentic but I found so many variations of posole that I felt ok to make my own version. As long as I have hominy, I should be good. So this version comes to being because of leftover carnitas, rice and tomatillo salsa from this past weekend.

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Weeknight fajitas

I don't know about you, but I love Tex-Mex food! Sure, I enjoy and have appreciation for regional Mexican cuisine but there's a level of comfort in "south of the border" favorites such as burritos, ground beef tacos, a plate of nachos, and fajitas! Also, the weather was fantastic in Chicago today so I knew it was time to wake the grill out of its hibernation slumber and put it to work.   

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