Slow Cooker Beef Enchiladas

[This recipe was originally posted in conjunction with the Meijer ad week of 1/13/13 - 1/19/13]

We love (mild) Mexican dishes, and recently I decided to try out a slow cooker version.  I loosely based my recipe on this one I found on the Taste of Home website.  It's completely customizable according to your family's tastes.  My kids (and sometimes myself!) prefer a more mild flavor, but you can kick up the heat by adding and changing up ingredients, as you'll see below.  Spend a few minutes layering this in the morning, and you won't have to think about dinner again until it's time to sit down!


Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef
1 envelope taco seasoning
1/2 C diced onion (optional)
1/4 C diced green pepper (optional)
1 can (15.25 oz) black beans, rinsed and drained
1 1/2 cups frozen corn, thawed and drained
1 can (15 oz) diced tomatoes OR diced tomatoes with green chilies (drained of approximately half the juice) OR 1 jar (16 oz) of your favorite salsa
1 can (4 oz) diced green chilies (optional)
3 C shredded Mexican blend cheese
6 tortillas (mine were 8 inches, and they fit perfectly in my round crockpot)

Directions:
Brown ground beef (with onions and peppers if desired).  Drain the grease.  Add taco seasoning and water (follow directions on packet) and simmer 5 minutes or according to the instructions on the packet.  Remove from heat.  Stir in black beans, corn, tomatoes or salsa, and green chilies (if desired).  Grease a slow cooker, or use a liner.  Layer 1/3 of the meat mixture, 1 tortilla, 1 C shredded cheese, 1 tortilla.  Repeat layers two more times.  Turn crockpot on low and cook 5-7 hours.  Cut into pie-shaped pieces.  Serve with sour cream, guacamole, lettuce, salsa, Mexican rice, refried beans, and any other favorite Mexican toppings and sides.  Serves 6 adults.

Options and Tips

• Know thy crockpot!  Some newer crockpots cook MUCH faster than my 13-year-old one. 
• The first time I made this, I forgot to turn it on until about 2PM.  I turned it on high for about an hour, and then changed it to low to cook for another 3 hours.  The edges were a bit dark, but other than that it turned out just fine.

This is not a completely original idea (see the introduction) but I made quite a few changes to the original recipe, which can be found on Taste of Home's website.