Pantry cooking: Cheesy Enchilada Bake

One of the hallmarks of frugal and thoughtful living is to utilize one's pantry- rather than running out to purchase a missing ingredient.

Tonight I had on hand:
1/2 bag of starting-to-stale corn tortilla chips
16 oz crumbled feta cheese
eggs
4 dried chili pods
butter, flour, and of course rice.

The first thing I did this afternoon was to place the 4 dried chili pods into a 4-cup Pyrex measuring cup, cover with 2 cups warm water, then place the 2-cup measuring cup on top to keep them submerged.  Then I measured out the rice and got it going. (Do you have a rice steamer? I don't. I still do it on the stovetop, old fashioned like.)

After the chili pods were soft, I pull off the tops, rip them open, and rinse off the seeds. Then I rip them into 1" pieces and place in the blender with the juice made from soaking.  Process on high for about 10 pulses, or 20 seconds, whatever- leave no large pieces in there.  Place a mesh over the measuring cup, and pour the processed liquid through the  mesh, using a spoon to force it all through the mesh. Discard the stuff you caught.  Now, place a saucepan on a medium flame and melt 1 Tbsp butter. Add 1 Tbsp flour and stir, then slowly add the chili liquid while stirring constantly to prevent lumps.  I added a clove of garlic as well. Cook and stir for 2-5 minutes to let the sauce thicken a little.

Now make a cheese goop:  break 4 eggs into a bowl and stir. Add 8-12 oz feta cheese, and if you have it some monterrey jack or co-jack, but only 1/2 cup-ish.  I had a jalepeno so I chopped it and added it too.  You could add sour cream- I considered it (but saved it for a garnish).  You want it wet enough to spread, or sort of like the cheese goop for lasagne.

To make my enchilada bake, I drizzled some chili sauce in the bottom of my cassarole dish, then put down a layer of my nearly-stale and somewhat crushed up tortilla chips.  I then dropped the cheese goop by spoonfuls, covering the layer of chips.  Over all of this I drizzled the rest of the chili sauce.  I crunched the rest of the chips smaller and then layered them all over the top of my mess... then I sprinkled on some more co-jack for good measure. They'll eat anything with visible cheese.

So we're fixing to sit down to eat this. I heated up the last 12 chicken nuggets to toss to the wolves and watch them fight over them to supplement the offerings in case the littles didn't like it.  And we have the rice I mentioned before. I also found guacamole in the freezer!

I thought I'd share with you: I googled and found something similar: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/goat-cheese-enchiladas-recipe/index.html

What kind of experiments have you done in the kitchen when you can't (or choose not to) run out and pick up a missing ingredient?