Vegetarian Green Chili Enchiladas

Hmmm, just looking at this picture makes me want to gobble it up! This is another recipe I adapted from Mel's Kitchen Cafe. Her recipe calls for chicken, so I just replaced it with spinach, corn and black beans. Everything else stayed pretty much the same.

I'd like to report that my kids loved these, but they actually caused quite an emotional dinner that included whining, screaming, crying, food throwing, spitting, and almost vomiting. Seriously, I felt rather deflated sitting there at the dinner table. But on the bright side, (kid's weird food preferences and aversions aside) my husband and I LOVE these and we had plenty of leftovers.

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Vegetarian Green Chili Enchiladas
Prep Time: 30 min Cook Time: 20-30 min Servings: 6-8

Filling:
1 10oz. package frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and drained
1 15oz can corn, drained
1 15oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 4oz cans green chilies
8oz cream cheese, cubed and softened

Sauce:
2 TB butter
1/2 onion, diced
2 TB flour
1 cup vegetable broth
1/4 cup milk
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 10 oz can green enchilada sauce
1/2 cup sour cream

For assembly:
8 flour tortillas
2 cups shredded monterey jack cheese
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
diced tomato and avocado for topping

• Start by combining spinach, corn, beans, green chilies and cream cheese in bowl. Set aside while you prepare sauce
• Preheat oven to 375 F
• In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Add onions and cook 3-4 minutes until onions are translucent. 
• Add flour to butter and onions (roux), stirring around and cooking for about 1 minutes. It will clump up, but you want to cook it enough to get the flour taste out. 
• Slowly add vegetable broth and milk to the roux, whisking constantly to avoid clumps. 
• Once sauce starts to bubble, lower heat and add enchilada sauce and sour cream. Whisk together. If sauce seems thick you can add more milk or broth until it reaches a good consistency. 
• To assemble enchiladas, start by spraying a 9x13 casserole dish with non-stick spray and spread 1/2 cup of the sauce on the bottom of the pan. 
• Fill each tortilla with 1/2 cup of the filling and top with a small handful of cheese. Roll up and place in the pan. Continue until you have 8 filled tortillas, rolled and in the pan. Top the enchiladas with the remaining sauce and cheese. (if there's leftover filling, you can put that on top of the enchiladas before putting the sauce and cheese on)
• Baked enchiladas for 20-30 minutes or until cheese is browning and bubbly. Let cool for 15 minutes.
• Top with cilantro, avocado and tomato. Enjoy! 

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Tacos

We love this recipe so much that we have it almost weekly. A few months ago VH (vegetarian husband) asked if we could have a break from these tacos....too much of a good thing I guess.

This recipe is by far my most requested recipe by friends. I've gotten, emails, texts and even facebook messages exclaiming people's love of these tacos. I think I've converted a few people from hating vegetarian food, to loving vegetarian food with this little gem. I made this recipe for a large family reunion last week and it worked great for 30+ people and went over well with the crowd. 

I got the idea when I saw a recipe for a sweet potato tostada or something like that. I remember thinking, "ooh ooh what a great replacement for meat." So I whipped this up one night and my husband and I LOVED it. Its super simple and only takes about 30 minutes from start to finish.

We love to eat this with sour cream, shredded cheese, mango peach salsa, shredded lettuce, chopped tomatoes and guacamole. And what kind of tortilla you use is up to you. Or you could even go the crunchy taco route. We prefer using fresh tortillas that you grill up yourself. We buy ours at costco, but I've also seen them at our local grocery store. My next adventure is to make homemade tortillas!

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Sweet Potato and Black Bean Tacos
Prep: 10 min Cook time: 20 min Servings: 4-6 tacos (depending on tortilla size)

Notes: All spice measurements are approximate. I honestly have never actually measured them out. If you want more heat you can add more chili powder or even add a few dashes of cayenne pepper. You may need to add a few tablespoons of water when adding the spices; sometimes they can dry up the mixture. 

1 large sweet potato, diced
1/2 small onion, diced
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1-2 TB olive oil
¼ tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin powder
½ tsp coriander
½ tsp garlic powder
salt & pepper to taste
2 TB minced cilantro
4-6 tortillas (depending on size)
your choice of toppings (cheese, sour cream, salsa, avocado, tomatoes, lettuce, cilantro…)

• Sauté sweet potato and onion in olive oil over medium-high heat until sweet potatoes are tender and cooked through. 
• Turn heat down to low add chili powder, cumin, coriander, garlic powder, salt and pepper, and the rinsed and drained beans. 
• Cook until beans are warmed through, mix in minced cilantro and serve in tortillas with your favorite toppings. 

Crunchy Asian Noodle Salad

I love asian flavors, but I've only made a few vegetarian dishes using those flavors that have really been repeat recipes that we would have again. This is one of those! I first made this recipe about five years ago and we've been eating it ever since. It's a great dish to take to a BBQ or potluck since it's a cold salad. Also great in the hot summers!

When I made this the other night for dinner my husband said "I could eat this every night for dinner"...so "vegetarian husband" (let's go with VH for short) approved! Both my kids (4 and almost 1) ate this. It's always a good dinner when I don't hear too much complaining or food being thrown on the floor. Actually, I won't kid myself, food ALWAYS ends up on the floor with kid #2. There's just something about those highchairs I guess that entice them to throw.

So this recipe comes from Ina Garten. You know, the "Barefoot Contessa" of Food Network fame. I used to watch her show religiously. I would say I was kind of obsessed with the Food Network back in the day. Now that I don't have cable, not so much. But that Ina can cook! I've tried a bunch of her recipes and they've been great. I only made a few changes to her original recipe for this one and they're simply just personal preferences. First, I cut the amount of oil in half to only 1/2 cup. Now I've done it both ways and they both taste equally yummy. Putting in all the oil does make the noodles, how should I say this without putting you off this recipe?....kind of more slippery? Less clumpy? So by only adding half, the dressing does tend to be thicker, but since it significantly cuts the fat and calories out, I'm totally fine with that. I also added fresh baby spinach and grated carrot this time around to increase my vegetable intake for the day. The beauty of the recipe is that you can pretty much add any vegetable you want. I've done it with blanched broccoli and would love to try it with shredded cabbage too. Oh and I didn't use fresh parsley. You know my feelings about fresh parsley...never have it, never use it.

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Crunchy Asian Noodle Salad
Prep time: 10 min Cooking time: 25 min Servings: 6

Tips: (1) Buy fresh ginger, peel it, then stick it in the freezer. When you need fresh ginger, just take it out of the freezer and grate what you need using a fine cheese grater. (2) Most sesame seeds you can buy in the store are not toasted. To toast, put sesame seeds in a dry frying pan and cook them, while stirring over a medium heat until they are light brown and fragrant. Watch them carefully so they won't burn. 

1 lb thin spaghetti
1 lb sugar snap peas
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1/3 cup soy sauce
3 TB sesame oil
1 TB honey (or brown sugar)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
3 TB toasted white sesame seeds
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
2 red bell peppers, thinly sliced
4 scallions, chopped

• Cook spaghetti according to package directions. Drain and rinse well with cold water and set aside. 
• Blanch the sugar snap peas by boiling them in salted water for a few minutes and then sticking them in a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process. This will cook them but keep them nice and crisp. 
• Mix up the dressing by whisking together the oil, vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, honey, garlic, ginger and sesame seeds. 
• Combine your vegetables with the spaghetti and dressing in a large bowl and toss. Salad can be stored covered in the refrigerator until time to serve.