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Enchiladas Rojas with Jeanette Maldonado
Story and Photos by Dania Pulido

When it comes to cooking, St. Mary’s University student Jeanette Maldonado takes the whole enchilada—literally!

The junior Biology major freed up some time in her busy schedule to talk about the three F’s: food, her future, and all around fun at St. Mary’s while she prepared a particularly special enchilada dish for dinner.

Maldonado, a Laredo, Texas native, may be petite in frame, but don’t let this fool you.

Both her taste buds and work ethic are just as spicy as her enchiladas.

Enrolled as a full-time student, she somehow manages to balance a job in the school’s biology department and is currently preparing for her MCAT exam to gain entry to medical school upon graduation.

Maldonado hopes to become a dermatologist one day and believes St. Mary’s is just the place to help her make that dream come true.

“I really like the small size of the school and the professors. They take the time to help you personally and care about your progress,” says the third-year student.

Some of the only breaks she gets from her hectic schedule are to cook meals for herself, so Jenny has more than one reason to enjoy the task.

“I love to eat buffalo wings and anything with a lot of cheese, but I especially enjoy cooking spaghetti and other pastas,” she says.

“I crave Mexican food the most, though. My mom taught me how to cook, and I prefer to eat homemade food because I like to have control over what goes into my body,” continues the health-conscious student.

After all those biology courses, who could blame her?

The enchilada dish she chose to prepare is a particularly special one, and is rare to come by.

“I can only make these enchiladas every once in a while when I drive back to Laredo or my parents come to visit me because my grandmother makes the chile sauce,” she explains.

“It has a very distinct and tasty flavor, so I like to make the most of the sauce and the dish.”

We’ll be sure to make the most of it as well!

Ingredients

• 2 c goat cheese
• 28 oz can of chile colorado
• 1 onion
• 5 corn tortillas
• 2-3 T oil

Directions
Pour 2-3 T of oil into a medium-sized pan. Cut 4-5 small pieces of the onion and place into the pan to give flavor to the oil. Pour some of the chile colorado onto a plate. Take the first tortilla and soak it in the chile sauce. Pick up the tortilla and place it into the pan to heat in the oil. Once it is heated, remove it and place into on a separate plate. Repeat steps 1-3 with all five tortillas. Once all the tortillas are soaked red and heated, sprinkle a desired amount of cheese onto the middle of the tortilla and roll it up to hold the cheese inside. Repeat this step until all the enchiladas are done. Sprinkle cheese on top of the finished dish and enjoy! Makes 2 servings.

Filed under: Class Projects, Entrees, Recipes | Tagged: dania pulido, Enchiladas, Jeanette Maldonado, rojas |