Vegetable Enchiladas

This is sort of a cheater's recipe, but I learned a new trick: red sauce. Remember when I was complaining that my tortilla pie was good but it didn't serve a lot of people? I figured out that I can use the same ingredients to make vegetable enchiladas, which go further with guests and leftovers.

I do make chicken enchiladas with a green sauce, but I knew that would not go well with this new dish. So I finally tried my hand at Mexican red enchilada sauce. This recipe was completely improvised but was a surprising success! To be fair, I do not use any chilies in my enchilada sauce to tame the heat, so it's not exactly authentic. I do not recommend store-bought sauce because it contains a lot of needless salt and preservatives. However, enchilada sauce can be made with a lot of kitchen staples.

Red Enchilada Sauce

2 tbsp butter

1/2 minced onion

2 tbsp flour

2 cups vegetable or beef broth

1 can tomato paste (6 oz)

2 tbsp chili powder

cumin

oregano

garlic powder

salt

1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

Saute minced onion in butter in a large frying pan. You can use any kind of onion for this recipe. I buy yellow onions because they are so versatile but red onion is also very Mexican and will go well. Once butter is melted, add flour. Slowly pour broth and whisk well. Flour should dissolve and the mixture will become thick. Season with cumin, oregano, garlic and salt - 1/2 to 1 tsp each. You can also include fresh garlic in this recipe - add with onions. Mix tomato paste with water or more broth - about half a cup - and stir into sauce. If you like a thinner enchilada sauce, substitute plain tomato sauce for paste. Be sure to note if the tomato sauce is seasoned with Italian spices - that will not make for a tasty sauce.

Mix cocoa with 1/4 cup water and whisk into sauce. Some people shy away from cocoa in red sauce but it honestly didn't taste like enchilada sauce without this key ingredient. Cocoa does not equate to chocolate. Have you ever tasted unsweetened cocoa? It's not sweet or chocolaty. The cocoa also improves the color. The sauce will continue to thicken as it cools so add broth or water to get preferred consistency.

Vegetable Enchiladas

As I mentioned before, this recipe is a copy cat to my tortilla pie recipe:

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
small can corn, rinsed and drained
bag baby spinach, slightly chopped
1 cup salsa
1/2 medium onion, red or white
1 jalapeño, chopped (optional)
fresh cilantro (optional)
1.5 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper

10-12 corn tortillas

8 oz pepper jack or Mexican blend cheeses, shredded

Preheat oven 400 degrees. Saute onion and pepper in minced garlic, cumin, salt and red pepper. Once pepper and onion are soft, add beans. Add 1/4 cup water to beans and cook until beans start to break. Slightly mash beans to speed up the process. The mixture should be "refried" with some whole beans still in tact.

Stir in corn and spinach leaves. Stir until spinach is wilted. Remove from heat. Stir in salsa. Trader Joes has a fantastic Double Roasted salsa that goes with about any dish I prepare. I highly recommend this salsa for cooking because it is flavorful and chunky. If you are using salsa with a lot of cilantro, than adding fresh cilantro is unnecessary. Otherwise, add cilantro now.

Heat your tortillas in a damp, clean dish rag for about one minute. Spread about 1/2 cup of sauce into a 13x9 baking dish. Fill each tortilla with 2-3 tbsp filling - depending on the number of guests you plan to feed (I like mine FULL). Top filling with 1 tbsp cheese and lay seem-side down in pan. Make sure tortillas are warm, otherwise the corn tortillas tend to fall apart. Top prepared enchiladas with red sauce and more cheese.

Bake enchiladas 20 minutes. If cheese is not brown, turn on broiler for 1-2 minutes. Serve enchiladas with salad - it goes together surprisingly well. I mix chopped spinach with a lite dressing and top with Mexican cheese and pepitas.

Vegetarian Tortilla Pie

Any of you who know me personally know that my weakness is Mexican food. Something about tortillas, cheese and beans that I can't get enough. But it is rough on my cholesterol and waistline. One option I have been able to use is vegetarian tortilla pie. This recipe is an Amy original. It calls for a ton of vegetables, high protein beans and light on cheese (so sad). It doesn't go very far though and usually only makes 2-4 servings. It is perfect for kicking a Mexican food craving though.

When you go to a Mexican food restaurant and order "refried beans" you are usually getting a lot of lard-fried beans. They taste so good, but honestly making beans at home is the best way to get the good nutrition without the unnecessary fats. Pinto beans are actually one of the MOST nutritious beans you can eat, just behind soybeans, with their fiber, folic acid and iron content. Black beans are also high in fiber and folic acid. Beans are also one of the healthiest foods for you that you can get for cheap. Canned beans run about $1 per can and have a lasting shelf life. I stock up any time they are on sale. If you can, buy organic or preferably low-sodium. You should rinse and drain your beans to ensure all preservatives and added salt are washed away.

Lastly, beans are great for vegetarians because they provide high levels of protein with no dependence on meat. Beware my friendly vegetarians, tofu is not as potent with protein levels as beans and also fails to provide adequate levels of fiber for a daily diet. Tofu and other processed soy products lose a lot of nutrition of natural soy beans because of the heavy processing it undergoes. For more about the awesome-ness of beans, catch Cooking Light's September 2010 issue.

Vegetarian Tortilla Pie

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 can pinto beans, rinsed and drained

small can corn, rinsed and drained

bag baby spinach

1 cup salsa

6-9 corn tortillas

1/2 medium onion, red or white

1 jalapeño, chopped

fresh cilantro

8 oz pepper jack or Mexican blend cheeses, shredded

1.5 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper

Preheat oven 400 degrees. Saute onion and pepper in minced garlic, cumin and red pepper. Once pepper and onion are soft, add beans. Add 1/4 cup water to beans and cook until beans start to break. Slightly mash beans to speed up the process. The mixture should be "refried" with some whole beans still in tact.

Stir in corn and spinach leaves. Stir until spinach is wilted. Remove from heat. Stir in salsa. Trader Joes has a fantastic Double Roasted salsa that goes with about any dish I prepare. I highly recommend this salsa for cooking because it is flavorful and chunky. If you are using salsa with a lot of cilantro, than adding fresh cilantro is unnecessary. Otherwise, add cilantro now.

Oil a 1 quart round casserole dish (small and tall if you have one). Layer two tortillas on the bottom of the dish, trying to cover as much space as possible. Top tortillas with half bean mixture and 1/3 cup of cheese. Repeat once more. Top cheese with two more tortillas and remaining cheese.

Bake 15-20 minutes or until cheese is melted. Heat oven to broil for a few minutes to brown top cheese. Cut into fourths and serve with more salsa and sour cream.

Vegetable Burritos with Smoked Gouda - Tupelos World Cafe

Tupelos is a fantastic eatery in Boone, NC. For those old timer Mountaineers, it is the old Angelicas vegetarian café on King Street. Tupelos added meat to their menu but didn't lose their touch on fresh ingredients and organic products. Their spring special included Smoked Gouda Enchiladas, but below is a modified version for the meatless eaters.

Vegetable Burritos with Smoked Gouda

2 lbs red or gold potatoes (or whatever amount you have growing twigs in your cabinet)
Mashed potato staples e.g. milk/cream, butter, salt/pepper etc
1 small can yellow or white corn
2 handfuls of spinach ('cause let's face it, who measures 5 cups of leaves?)
garlic - freshly crushed or minced in a jar
1/2 onion (favorite kind)
2-3 ripe zucchini or yellow squash
1/2 red pepper, chopped (or roasted red pepper)
1/2 cup smoke gouda, shredded
pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
6' or 8' whole wheat tortillas
ripe avocado
favorite salsa

Boil and make mashed potatoes. Typically that consists of cleaning potatoes, cut into quarters, boil until skin starts to come off (about 20 minutes) and mashed with potato masher with tasty add-ins like milk (1%) or light half-n-half and Brummel & Brown butter. There will be so much yummyness in this meal you can probably cut back on the cream and butter. I use a potato masher over a hand blender just to give the potatoes a hearty texture. Don’t forget garlic salt and pepper.

Prep vegetables while potatoes are boiling. Slightly chop spinach and drain and rinse corn. Cut zucchini into 1 inch rounds and then quarter. You want hearty-sized vegetables for this dish so don’t chop too finely. Also chop onion. And fresh red pepper, if using. Sauté vegetables with 1 tsp olive oil and garlic. Season with salt and pepper.

While potatoes are still steamy hot, stir in cheese, corn and spinach until wilted. If using roasted red pepper (from a jar, not the fresh, sauted pepper), also stir into potatoes.

Steam tortillas by wrapping only the number you intend to use in a damp dish towel - make sure it’s clean and not the one you’ve been wiping your hands with all week ;) Microwave for 1 minute. Layer tortilla with mashed potato mix, vegetable mix and top with pepitas. Fold over and lay seam-side down. Top burritos with sliced avocado and favorite salsa.

Pepitas are yummy pumpkin seeds, but not the kind you pull out of the jack-o-lantern. They are tiny, crunchy and solid green. They are surprisingly great on most Mexican dishes. I bought the roasted, salted kind, but the raw, unroasted are a much better pick since you can do more with them raw (there is a dessert I will share with you in the fall).

For a non-vegetarian meal, layer tortillas with sliced, smoked chicken sausage. The Tupelos burrito was so huge it really didn’t need the meat, but it was nonetheless tasty.

Trader Joes now has a reasonably-priced ($4) bag of shredded, smoked cheddar, gouda, mozzarella and provolone - perfect for this recipe. TJs also has wonderful whole wheat tortillas. The other whole wheat I have found in the grocer has been dry and tears easily but TJ’s are unbeatable in taste and texture. Plus they are only six inches so you know you won’t overstuff.