Mexican | feast your eyes on my veg

Well, since I have been so lame at posting anything lately, I wanted to get this goodie up! I was thinking the other day about how good these were and wanted to finally share this post.

I went to a local Mexican restaurant that offered veganized versions of most of their menu (so happy to see a restaurant carrying vegan cheese and cream options to add that extra something to vegan Mexican food). I had their green enchilada and it was so good I knew I’d have to find a recipe to make them at home.

I came across a simple and very tasty recipe for Green Enchiladas on a blog called Vegan Dad. It is thrown together pretty quickly with pre-made ingredients like the salsas, canned chilies, and canned refried beans. If you decided to get all adventurous you could always do these from scratch, but sometimes life is too busy and you need a good ‘n quick meal!

Green Enchiladas

INGREDIENTS
– 1 tbsp oil
– 1 medium sweet onion, diced
– 2 cloves garlic, minced
– 1 tsp chili powder
– 1/2 tsp cumin
– 1/2 tsp cinnamon (don’t skip – it’s SO good)
– 2 cans Old El Paso green chiles, with juices *Note: these are not spicy and they really make the flavor of the dish, be sure to include them!
– 1/2 cup tomato salsa – this is where you can choose your spicy level; choose wisely because the green salsa added at the end tends to be a medium spice.
– 2 cups finely chopped veggie lunch meat (or refried beans, which is what I opted for)
– 1/2 cup shredded vegan cheese (I recommend Daiya Jack Style Wedge) plus more for top, optional
– 10 large tortillas
– 1 1/2 jars green salsa (the amount you use depends on how spicy you want it)

METHOD
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a 9 x 11 baking dish.

Heat oil in a saucepan over med-hi heat. Saute onion and garlic for 5-7 mins, until translucent. Add chili powder, cumin, and cinnamon and mix well.

Add chiles, salsa, and beans to the pan and bring to bubbling.

Stir in cheese if using, and adjust seasonings to taste. Remove from heat.

Oooh, the creaminess!

Place 1/10th of the filling in a tortilla and roll up. Place in prepared baking dish. Repeat with remaining filling and tortillas. Cover everything with green salsa and as much cheese as you want.

I went the spicy route and slathered these bad boys up with green salsa!

Bake for 20 to 25 mins, or until sauce is bubbling and cheese is melted. Arriba!!

This dish is easy, low in calories, and packed with nutrition. It’s also tasty and versatile – just add whatever other Mexican flavors you like to it! I had leftover green onion and jalapeno to use up that was already chopped up from other recipes, so I added this to the recipe as well.

I got this recipe off the Daiya website.

Servings: 6

Preparation Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups cooked quinoa (I cooked the quinoa in veggie broth I needed to use up)

1 cup fire roasted diced tomatoes with green chiles OR salsa (I used fresh tomatoes and mixed with some salsa)

1 Tbsp cumin

15 oz can of black beans (drained and rinsed)

10 oz frozen corn kernels

4 oz can mild green chili peppers, chopped (if you use salsa and not diced tomatoes with chiles)

2 Tbsp chili powder

10 oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed & drained

1 cup Daiya Cheddar Style Shreds (I used about 1/2 a cup – Daiya is strong sometimes and didn’t want it to overpower the dish)

Instructions:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Coat your favorite casserole dish with olive oil or non-stick spray. In a mixing bowl, combine cooked quinoa and tomatoes, set aside.

In a separate bowl mash the black beans with a fork. Combine beans, corn, chili powder & cumin in the same bowl and set aside.

Spoon 1 cup of the quinoa mixture on the bottom of the baking pan. Layer spinach on top of the quinoa. Scoop bean mixture on top. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup of Daiya cheddar shreds. Add the remaining quinoa and top with the remaining cheese.