Author: Jim, Sagebrush

“If God dwells inside us like some people say, I sure hope He likes enchiladas, because that’s what He’s getting.”
— Jack Handy

New Mexico style enchiladas come either rolled or flat. Rolled is the kind familiar everywhere else. Flat enchiladas stack corn tortillas like pancakes, with cheese and chile sauce in between each layer (and no syrup or butter :-).

My trail version uses tortilla chips, saved throughout the year from bags of blue corn tortilla chips where the little broken pieces at the bottom of the bag are too small for dipping salsa. Thicker tortilla chips work somewhat better in this recipe, compared to thin “restaurant style” chips, since they get less mushy during rehydration. In consistency the trail version resembles flat enchies more than rolled, and like many trail recipes can be appreciated much more a few weeks into a long trip when hiker-hunger makes simple meals taste delicious. Perhaps this version is more like an enchilada casserole, or frito pie if you add the dried beans. (Know that frito pie is not ever really a pie.)

Our recipe follows the PCG dinner template, with cheddar cheese powder as the protein choice, crumbled tortilla chips as the carb, and New Mexico red chile powder as the spice. (Note that we skip the instant soup mix because we have enough salt with the tortilla chips and additional cheese.)

Prepare in quart freezer zip bag:
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon seasoned pepper
1/4 cup skim milk powder
2 to 3 ounces broken tortilla chips
1/4 cup cheddar cheese powder (see below)
2 teaspoons Bueno or Chimayo mild New Mexico-style red chile powder (adjust amount to taste)
(1 small foil packet chicken for chicken enchies)
(1 generous squirt of olive oil for valuable hiker calories)

To prepare on the trail, boil 1 1/4 cup of water, pour into bag, close bag, mush bag until mixture is more-or-less uniform, and rehydrate for three to four minutes until ready. If using the optional chicken packet, add now. Eat from the bag for a no-clean meal.

Before my last long hike I ordered cheddar cheese powder through Amazon, a one pound bag for $13.79 with free shipping. (For small quantities, just steal the packet from a box of macaroni and cheese, but I needed a larger amount.) For my upcoming hike I want to make my own cheese powder– just to see how well it works, and possibly to save a few nickels.

Searching the web for ideas on drying cheese, I found this video:

The process requires blotting the shredded cheese frequently to remove grease. I wondered if it is possible to melt the cheese and skim off the fat prior to shredding, to eliminated the need for blotting. In a comment thread for this video someone mentioned starting with low-fat or no-fat cheese so one can skip blotting. I found fat-free shredded mild cheddar cheese at the local grocery, and purchased a bag to experiment.

A 7.5 ounce bag of no-fat shredded mild cheddar, cost us $2.50 on sale, dries on the plastic fruit roll-up tray in my food dehydrator in a few hours at low heat to half its original weight.

A blender or food processor makes a coarse powder from the dry cheese.

You might try further grinding with an electric flour mill to produce a fine cheese powder, but we got good results without this step. We tested with the enchilada recipe: ¡Que bueno!

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