Veggie Enchiladas

Today I found myself home at 6pm hungry tired and nothing to eat but cold spaghetti that my dad had made and a pan full of jarred tomato sauce with sliced pepperoni... not exactly what i consider good eats. So, i was searching my cabinets and thinking about what i could blog about. This came popping in my head so i decided to give it a go- well my own version. I was just making it for me, so i ended up to really following the recipe but i did manage to get a few pics. I have been craving these recently so i should be making them pretty soon and will update the pics to the full thing. I hope you all enjoy these as much as i do! 

NOTE: 

-For all you carnivores in the world, you can saute some pieces of chicken (or used some left over chicken) chop it up and add it to the filling. 

-Also, the full original recipe for the sauce make ALOT of sauce. I have cut the amount down a bit but if you like your enchiladas very saucy at all you may want to double this recipe

So, how are we going to make this?

Veggie Enchiladas
adapted from alton browns enchilada lasagna (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/enchilada-lasagna-recipe/index.html)

Ingredients

For sauce:

2 dried chipotle chiles, stems and seeds removed, diced

2 large garlic cloves, minced

2 teaspoons chili powder

1 1/2 teaspoons toasted cumin seeds, freshly ground

2 cups of chicken broth

2 cups tomato sauce

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

pinch ground black pepper

For Veggie filling:

4 teaspoons grape seed oil or vegetable oil

1 14 can of black beans (or in a pinch you could use pinto beans too)

1 1/2 cups diced onion
1 cup of an assortment of sautéed vegetables (peppers, zucchini, summer squash, mushrooms, corn, etc.) 

Pinch kosher salt

1 large clove garlic, minced

1 teaspoon dried oregano

12 (6-inch tortillas) (or you could use some crepes if you were out of tortillas) 

3 cups shredded queso fresco or Monterey Jack

Butter

Directions

-Combine the chiles, garlic, chili powder, cumin, chicken broth, tomato sauce, salt and pepper in a medium saucepan over high heat. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes or until the chiles are soft. Set aside until ready to use.

-Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

-Chop your assortment of veggies. Sauté in a medium skillet over medium heat with 2 teaspoons of the oil, for 4-5 mins (depending on what veggies you use). Once tender, set aside in separate bowl.
-Heat the other 2 teaspoons of oil in the same skillet over medium heat. Add the onions to the pan along with a generous pinch of salt, decrease the heat to medium-low and sweat for 4 to 6 minutes. Add the garlic and oregano and cook until the onions are tender, 2 to 3 minutes more. Rinse the beans and add to the onions. Add the vegetables and 3/4 cup of the sauce to the bean & onion filling and mix. 

-Rub a 13 by 9-inch glass baking dish down with butter. Place 1/2 cup of the sauce into the bottom of the dish. Fill each of the tortillas with around 1/3 cup of the filling, and 2-3 TBS of cheese. Place in the baking dish seam side down. (If any filling remains you may place it on top of the enchiladas. Once as all shells have been filled and placed in the dish, pour the rest of the enchilada sauce and top with the remaining cheese.

 -Cover with aluminum foil and bake in the oven on the middle rack for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake an additional 10 minutes, or until cheese on top is bubbly.

For Meat Filled Enchiladas

1 lb of chicken breast, diced into bite size pieces

2-3 TBS of Oil (vegetable, grapeseed, olive oil)

3/4 cup of sauteed diced onion

1/2 of sauteed peppers

Pinch of salt

Pinch of freshly ground Black Pepper

Prepare the enchilada sauce just as mentioned aboveChop the chicken breast into bite size pieces. Heat a pan over medium heat with 1-2 TBS of oil. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Add chicken and sauté until juices run clear, and completely cooked through. In a separate pan saute onions and peppers with the remaining 1 TBS of oil. Season with salt and pepper. Saute until tender. Add the veggie to the chicken and also add 1 cup of the enchilada sauce Rub a 13 by 9-inch glass baking dish down with butter. Place 1/2 cup of the sauce into the bottom of the dish. Fill each of the tortillas with around 1/3 cup of the filling, and 2-3 TBS of cheese. Place in the baking dish seam side down. (If any filling remains you may place it on top of the enchiladas. Once as all shells have been filled and placed in the dish, pour the rest of the enchilada sauce and top with the remaining cheese.Cover lightly with aluminum foil and bake on the middle rack for 30 minutes at 350. Remove the foil and bake an additional 10 minutes, or until cheese on top is bubbly.

Crepes

Crepes...
they are a perfect blank canvas for a wide array of flavors. Sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar, or topped with sliced strawberries, or maybe some whipped cream they could transform into a sweet breakfast treat or desserts. With a filling of sautéed veggies you have a nice light lunch. Wrapped up with cubed chicken in a casserole it could be a satisfying dinner; Or with some black beans or refried beans with cheese it could be a quesadilla style snack. With the knowledge of how to make a good crepe a whole world of endless possibilities of meals is at your finger tips.

So, how do we make 'em?
Ingredients
-2 eggs
-1 1/2 cups of milk
-1 cup of all-purpose (ap) flour
-2 tablespoons of melted and cooled butter
-1/2 teaspoon of salt
Directions
-In a bowl combine the eggs and beat. Add the milk, flour, butter and salt; whisk until smooth. Heat a lightly greased small skillet (6-inch). Pour 2-3 TBS of batter (just enough to cover pan) into the pan and swirl around until the entire bottom bottom of the pan is covered. Cook for 1-2 mins and flip. (To flip you may want to try out a rubber spatula. It allows you to pick up the edge of the crepe to be able to flip it over with out a bunch of tears.) There is several videos on youtube that are very helpful if you are finding yourself struggling to make them.

Get Me to the Greek

As I write this, there is approximately 206 days,  19 hours, 2 mins, and 24 seconds until I will be on a plane headed toward the city of athens, some 5,000 miles away from Kansas City. I am going to Greece, not as a vacation but for a missions trip. My church supports a refugee feeding center there and we will be helping out there. Traveling that far away isn't cheap so I have been baking for trip. At my school I handed out bake sale forms and people turned them in with their money and I returned to them with baked goods. I did nearly a full day worth of cooking for just the people at my school. And when I say full day, I mean I was baking for nearly 24 hours. It was completely worth it though. I made 225 from sales at school, and more from friends and family. And don't worry, while i am over there I will be sure to take many pictures, and write about all the delicious food too.

What I'm All About

This is the story of how a girl changed from being one of the pickiest people on the planet to a vegetarian cook who loves food.

My name is Andrea and I love anything to do with food, which wasn't always true. Growing up I was extremely picky. I wouldn't even eat baby food when I was a baby. My childhood diet consisted of Macaroni and cheese (only certain shapes of macaroni though), peanut butter and honey sandwiches, graham crackers, and raisins (my Grandma convinced me that raisins were candy). Thankfully, there were 4 people that helped turn that around; It was Sarah (by brother's wife and girl friend at the time), Betty Crocker, Rachael Ray and Alton Brown. I received a cook book for Christmas when i was about 8, from my brother and his girlfriend. It was a Betty Crocker's kids cooking book, and the first thing they helped me make form the cookbook was an apple pie. I decided that I might as well try what I had made, and I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I liked it. The second person to revolutionize my view on food was Rachael Ray. Sarah loved Food Network so i started watching it too. I watched it nearly every day. Rachael was the one who taught me the basics. I started cooking for my family every once and a while, then nearly every week, then nearly every night, until I became the family cook. I then graduated on from Rachael Ray to the person who I am now currently a bit obsessed with -Alton Brown. On his show Good Eats, he breaks everything down so that you can understand why things are in a recipe. When you know why something is there in a recipe, and understand what it is doing for the dish you appreciate every component so much more. When you have a handful of knowledge, a few quality ingredients, and some time, Good Eats is bound to come about. And about me being a vegetarian, I say I am one habit. I don't see anything wrong with eating meat, I just have never been one who loves to eat it. I went for a few weeks without eating it last october, and when I tried to eat some chicken, it got me sick. So I decided, why not just become a vegetarian? And I did. Many of my recipes may be vegetarian, but don't get me wrong. I live with 3 other carnivores who really love a hunk of meat, so some of the things I cook may be meat dishes or could easily become a meat lovers dish.