Vegetarian Enchiladas

So enchiladas may be my favorite meal. I love everything Mexican. EVERYTHING. I think it has to do w/ my appreciation for all things cheesy. My dad makes awesome cheese enchiladas, and I've been pretty successful at turning Christmas Eve dinner into Mexican night w/ enchiladas and tacos, and I'm pretty sure that's the best tradition ever. BUT, I'd never ventured to tackle enchiladas myself. My dad's have tons of steps and makes a boatload of food, so I think I was always overwhelmed that it would be a lot of work and produce too much food. Then one night Mollie invited me over for dinner and she'd made enchiladas and they were delicious, and didn't seem too difficult to recreate.

So I was at the store, planning on making an eggplant feta pizza when all the sudden the urge to make enchiladas overtook me. Corn tortillas were on sale, I had refried beans in my fridge I needed to use up, my cousin had brought me some fresh jalepenos, BUT there was only one type of enchilada sauce, and only one can wasn't dented. I bought that one... Then I came home and googled recipes to get some ideas.

I diced up jalapenos and a banana pepper and sauteed that w/ onion. Then I stirred in some cayenne pepper, chili powder and cumin into the refried beans. I warmed some corn tortillas, then smeared the bean mixture, threw in some peppers and onions, some shredded cheese and then rolled it up. I filled up a small baking dish and then just poured the can of sauce over top, threw some more cheese on top along w/ some dried cilantro. What is easier than that? Threw it in the over for abt 30 min and the enchiladas were done! Easy and delicious. Now that I know how easy it can be, I want to try and experiment, especially w/ the sauce. I used red, but would like to try the green. My dad stirs in some sour cream to make it creamy. Perhaps I'll attempt to make my own sauce... We shall see

Mexican Night

This night I made black bean soup, homemade tortilla chips, guacamole and corn bread for when I brought the soup for lunch.

I made this soup a long time ago, so my memory may be a bit hazy, but here goes. It's essentially the recipe off the back of the Progresso black beans, but w/ some changes. I'd made it once before and found it to be a bit too salty, this time it was a bit bland. Maybe next time... Also, I prefer a thicker soup and this is still a little runny for my liking. As for the recipe, I'm not a big follower. I always make adaptations and as a result will not be very specific. I think it best to play around and find out what works best for you.

I diced up a large onion, some celery and carrots and sauteed them for abt 5 minutes w/ chili powder and cumin. You then add 2 cans of black beans and something random like 4 cans or 52 ounces of chicken/vege stock. Last time I stuck to this and I blame it both for the saltiness and the runniness, so this time, I believe I added the beans in their liquid, instead of rinsed and drained, and one cup of stock and one cup of water. It was still a bit runny, but definetly less salty.

Then you take 2 cans of drained, rinsed beans and blend them with a jar-ish of salsa. Last time I used up my jalepenos and their juice and that added a nice kick. This time I needed to add additional liquid to get everything moving. Then you mix this mixture into the soup, which thickens it up a bit. I like that this soup has blended beans and chunky beans and vege, I guess I just want the overall soup a bit thicker. I'll need to continue to play w/ water content...

Next, I used my new favorite kitchen gadget to make some delicious guacamole. I love this gadget cuz it is a salad spinner, egg separator and hand spun food processor all in one. It's amazing! I think guacamole is one of the best things ever, but I'm pretty much a purist and don't like to add much to the avocado. I generally use red onion, garlic, salt, lime juice, cilantro and maybe tomato. No sour cream ever, it just cuts the flavor. I also prefer it a bit chunky, that's why I use this gadget and not the infamous Magic Bullet.

For tortilla chips, I just rip flour tortillas and place on a sprayed baking sheet. I generally make a spice mix that has salt, chili powder, cumin, paprika and pepper. I then pinch this over the tortillas. I bake them for abt 8 minutes at about 400 degrees.

Here's the finished meal. I garnish the soup either with scallions or a Mexican cheese mix (seen here). This meal was complimented by a glass of Spanish sangria that I brought back from my most recent European vacation...