Sweet Potato Black Bean Enchiladas

I created a dish that I am proud of! I got really creative one night and decided that I could make my own recipe instead of relying on the genius of others. This recipe is perfect for the fall or a chilly night. It is hearty, healthy, spicy and comforting. Reduce the cheese amount to make the dish healthier...I went a little overboard (this was pre dairy allergy). If you cook it please tell me how you like it. Enjoy!

 

Sweet Potato Black Bean Enchiladas

Ingredients:

• 1/2 jar (or more) green chili sauce (I use 505 Natural South Western)
• 2 jalapenos
• 6 cloves garlic chopped
• Little olive oil
• Sprinkle ground cumin
• Sprinkle ground chili powder
• Sprinkle pepper
• 1 large sweet potato (or yam...I don't know the difference)
• 1 can black beans
• 1 large lime
• Handful Cilantro
• 3/4 lb. Montery Jack Cheese shredded (or cheese of your choice)
• 10 corn tortillas

Sauce:

Dice the jalapenos removing the seeds and ribs. Cook in a sauce pan with a little olive oil for a few minutes. Add 3 cloves chopped garlic. Add cumin, chili powder and pepper. Let cook until jalapenos and garlic are a little soft. Add the half jar of green chili sauce. Let simmer for a while so flavors may blend.

Filling:

Cook the sweet potato in what ever manner you see fit (I started with the oven, became inpatient and chopped it up and cooked it in the microwave). Put chopped pieces of sweet potato into a food processor and blend until smoothish. I left the skins on for added nutrients. Set aside. Drain and rinse the black beans. Add 3 chopped cloves of garlic and some chopped cilantro, to taste. Juice the lime into the beans/garlic/cilantro mixture. Give it a good stir to blend flavors.

 

Compile:

Put half of the sauce mixture on the bottom of a casserole dish. Put a little olive oil in a saute pan and put it on medium heat. Throw a corn tortilla on the oil in pan until it is warm. Put the tortilla in the casserole dish, oil side down, add a spoonful of sweet potato and a couple spoonfuls of the black bean mixture. Sprinkle some cheese as well. Roll up the tortilla and squish it against the edge. You will gather some of the green chili from the bottom in the process. I fit eight of these in the dish and another two sneaky ones on the side. Pour the rest of the sauce on the top of your rolled enchiladas, then top with a generous amount of cheese. Bake for 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees. Garnish with cilantro.

Enchilada Casserole and Pretzels

Sorry for the posting hiatus! Life has been busy! Mind you, I have still been cooking, eating and taking pictures like it was my job (which I really wish it was) I just haven't gotten around to putting together a few coherent sentences for you.

Now I know that Enchilada Casserole (from my mom) and Pretzels (cousin Jennifer) don't naturally go together, but it tuned out to be a pretty decent meal. I had my friend, Luke, over to be a designated eater so I didn't have to eat the leftovers of this dish for weeks to come.

The pretzels were rather challenging. I am pretty sure that whole wheat flour behaves a little different from white flour. My stab at a healthy alternative turned into pretty dry dough. I am thinking if you use whole-wheat flour, then it is a good idea to add more of the liquids. So I was trying my very best to role out the dough into pretzel size tubes when Luke looks over my shoulder, "Do you want me to do that for you?" I appreciated the help as I needed to tend to the casserole, but I understood the underlying message; Luke was thinking; this really can't be that hard...Jenna just sucks at it. So I said yes and Luke tried his hand at it. It wasn't five minutes later that Luke says, "this is a lot harder than it looks'. Ha! See it isn't just me! So we both bumbled through the rolling of the dough and made some skinny pretzels, fat pretzels and one that looked like a snail. You can get really creative with the pretzels: salted, cinnamon and sugar, parmesan, cheddar, really any topping you want. What would you like best on a pretzel?

The Enchilada Casserole was relatively easy and involved few steps. The grocery store was out of grass-fed beef, so I got grass-fed bison instead. It made for a nice substitutions and it was a very tasty dish. Whats great about the casserole is that is seemed to taste better reheated the next day. To me, that is genius.

Pretzels
• 1 pkg. yeast
• 1 ½ cups warm water
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 4 cups flour
• 1 egg
• Coarse salt
Mix the yeast, water and sugar and then add flour. Kneed and shape into pretzels. Brush with beaten egg. Sprinkle with coarse salt and bake on greased sheet for 12 – 15 minutes at 425°F.

Enchilada Casserole
• 1 ½ lb ground beef
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 1 can diced Ortega green chilies
• Picante sauce to taste
• 1 pkg. flour tortillas
• 6 oz Cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese
Brown beef, drain, add soups, chilis and picante sauce. Place tortillas in 13x9 pan, add ½ mixture, top with cheeses, add another layer of tortillas and repeat as above. Bake at 350°F, 25-30 minutes. Top with lettuce, tomatoes, etc.

Olive Dip and Chicken Casserole

I made a Chicken Casserole (Midwestern delight) that comes from family in Chicago. If you have a large group that is really hungry…look no further. This dish is filling! (Not super healthy though, think 2 sticks of butter and Velveeta). Jeff assisted me in cooking up this dinner that we shared with our friend Pat. Jeff did all of the chicken cutting and cooking (obviously) and I took care of the rest. The recipe calls for six chicken breasts, so Jeff’s part was a little time consuming. Jeff was also so sweet and made some Olive Dip because the cooking was taking a little longer than the boys wanted to wait for food. So in the end I was left with about one serving in one casserole dish and a whole other casserole dish! I decided to keep the one serving for leftovers and pawn the rest off on Pat. He has two other male roommates so I was confident they could do the job. I better get my casserole dish back!

Guest Recipes!

Spicy Chicken - Dan (it has Ranch in it!)

Spicy Corn - Dan (not in the recipe book, but yummy and beautiful)

Potato Casserole - Liz (so cheesy and great)

BBQ Sausage - Jan (easy and good)

No Bake Cookies - Jenny

Kori's World Famous Nachos - Kori (duh!)

Hashbrown Breakfast - Jan (best way to start the day)

Cinnamon Crisps with Apple and Orange Chutney - Me (a semi-healthy dessert)

Queso - Ryan (kinda of a dark picture...this is a great party snack)

Peach Cobbler - Gretchen (Seriously good summer dessert)

Bruschetta Chicken Bake - Brian and Jamie

Strawberry Pie - Grandma Alice (this looks way better than my attempt)

Brownies - Mystery (I overcooked these, oh well!)

Gluten Free Brownies, Black Bean Casserole, Tandoori Tofu, Margaritas

Ingredients for the brownies

Gluten Free Brownies, Black Bean Casserole, Tandoori Tofu, Margaritas

I cooked up the Gluten Free Brownies the night before we were to have Dan and Serena over for dinner and Wii games. Jeff had gotten all of the groceries together except Amaranth flour, which needed to be purchased at Whole Foods. After driving to Littleton and back to take advantage of 5 cent photo prints at the Kings there; I stopped by Whole Foods. I got a little carried away….along with the flour I left the store with 4 spice plants (chives, basil, parsley and catnip). I am going to attempt to keep them growing on my porch. I also made a stop at Lowes to get pots to plant them in, cilantro and soil (which I now have a huge bag of…anybody need some soil?). I digress. So anyway, I made up the brownies which are gluten free, egg free and dairy free (I assumed they would taste like crap) and got them in the oven. I was cleaning up my mess and putting chip clips on all the different kinds of flours I had to buy. Oh, lookie here, the Amaranth flour doesn’t need to be clipped, good…..no not good! I didn’t open it; I forget it in the recipe! I had just put the brownies in so I pulled them out to try and stir in the flour. And it actually worked! (I know, I was just as surprised as you are). So the brownies were done and I thought I would give a little taste to avoid the embarrassment of serving cardboard to people and I was pleasantly surprised. The brownies were awesome! They tasted just like normal human food. Success!
So, the next day Jeff and I started to cook up dinner. The Black Bean Casserole (Gretchen) is really good, really easy and very balanced (rice, beans, salsa, tomatoes, garlic, onion, green pepper, cheese, and sour cream). Jeff worked on the Tandoori Tofu and rice. I suggested he cut the tofu into cubes and Jeff wanted to do it in strips like chicken (chicken is in the original recipe). I thought that was a little silly as it isn’t chicken; Serena suggested triangles and the crisis was averted…triangles it is! This Tandoori spice rub is SPICY. The kind of spicy that is near unbearable but you can’t wait to go back for another bite. Dan mixed up the Margaritas (ignoring the low recommendation of tequila amount, which I appreciated) and we ate dinner, drank margs and played Wii. The night ended in a game of Cranium that Jeff and I lost miserably, “come on honey, that looks just like a tambourine”. We finished the night with the brownies topped with ice cream and fudge for dessert.

Beef Stew and Sweet Potato Casserole

Beef Stew and Sweet Potato Casserole

I was excited to cook and even more excited that Jeff had gone grocery shopping, it sure makes it easier! I really need to read the recipe instructions before I start cooking, as I thought this would be an easy night. Oh how I was wrong! The Beef Stew (from Aunt Virginia) took me 4 hours to complete! I started by browning stew meat, which I decided after it was already cooking that the precut cubes were not as small as I had hoped. So I took a fork and pulled the pieces out one at a time, cut them in half and replaced them back to cook. Then I had to add a lot of spices, some water and let it simmer for an hour and a half. I got smart this time and cut the recipe to a 1/3. The original recipe called for 3 lbs of beef! As well as a lot of other ingredients in massive amounts. I had a few close calls though, when I forgot that I cut it in thirds and almost added the full amount. Thank God I have all the brains in my head and had a careful thought session before adding anything. As the stew simmered, I removed the lid and took a large whiff to smell the progress. Horrible idea! The covered pot had created an intense steam that came rushing out and into my nostrils. BURN! I may have even singed some nose hairs. I sniffled my way through the rest of the stew, more veggies, and another 45 minutes cooking. I then had to sauté in butter some mushrooms which I have despised my whole life. As they were cooking I thought maybe I could wean myself into liking mushrooms; they are covered in butter, so it shouldn’t be hard! I gave a mushroom a taste….nope, I still despise! Add the mushrooms, cook another 45 minutes.
The recipe states 6 servings…which could mean 6 servings if you are a professional eater, or Jeff or Devon. With only 1/3 the portion, it was plenty!
The sweet potato casserole is one of my recipes I pulled out of foodnetwork.com. It is very easy, very tasty, and kind of healthy. It seems like it would make a great side dish for Thanksgiving.

Green Chili Chicken Casserole and Cherry Pie Jello Salad

Sunday I made my Mom’s famous Green Chili Chicken Casserole; it is a mouthful to say and once you start eating it, you will probably have a mouthful as well. I also made Gretchen's Cherry Pie Jello Salad (which is a salad in the Midwestern sense….no veggies, more of a dessert). I once again coerced Jeff into coming to the grocery store with me. We had a long list of our staples we needed to get as well. I had a $5 coupon at Kings, so we went there. We are really getting good at this shopping thing. There is less back tracking and we know what brands we prefer (or else I sit there for 5 minutes reading nutrition and ingredient information).
To start I had about 4 cheese samples. They are the same samples every week so it’s not really a ‘sample’ anymore, but who’s counting? We had a little disagreement about where the rice cakes were…turns out Jeff was right (I insist it is the first time that he is right).
I was feeling better about cooking. I wasn’t so tired, it wasn’t so cold and I was excited to have some yummy food around the house. I was pumped to start right away, but first I was just going to lie down and watch TV with Jeff for an hour before he had to work. I got a pillow, got under a fuzzy blanket…(do you see where this is going?) Must not fall asleep…must cook!…But low and behold, Jeff left after an hour and I was asleep for most of the second and third period of the USA-Canada hockey game. I did wake up to see the USA tie the game, only to lose in overtime (IT WAS STRESSFUL!). I blew my motivation and didn’t make it off the couch for a while. I was just about ready to move, and a sneaky, cuddly, little kitten crawled up and plopped down right on my tummy and chest for a nap. How can I get up now! He even gave me a few kisses before he nodded off into dream land. I sit for a while, heaven forbid I disturb the kitty (this is the same kitty that will meow at the door or knock over water or chew on my lamp at 6am when he is ready for me to be up on a Sunday morning!). I think God made kittens so cute so we wouldn’t kill them!
I started on the Cherry Pie Jello Salad only to realize the bottom layer needs to set for 4 hours or overnight before I make the top layer. Oh well, I will finish Monday after work. I started cooking the Green Chili Chicken Casserole by boiling two chicken breasts as careful as I can without letting the chicken get near any exposed skin. I add onions, garlic, cream of chicken soup (what a Midwestern surprise), cream of celery soup, and chicken broth to make the sauce. Once everything was cooked, I layered sauce, corn tortilla pieces and cheese in a 9x13’’ dish (I have one now thanks to my Mom!). The recipe only calls for 2 cups of cheese, so I bought a 4 cup bag to have leftovers for the week…that didn’t exactly pan out. I finished my layers, and to my dismay the bag was empty. Extra cheese never hurt anybody! Once complete, I put it in the oven for 40 mins, sat down and enjoyed a glass of good tequila while I watched the boring closing ceremonies. I ended the night with a long bubble bath and went to sleep happy.
Monday after work, I set out to complete the Cherry Pie Jello Salad. I mixed up cream cheese, cool whip and crushed pineapple. The crushed pineapple was a bit of a crisis! I accidently bought chunked pineapple instead of crushed pineapple, which would lead to large chunks dispersed uneven amongst the cream. I tried to blend the chunks…which just settled into the bottom of the blender and didn’t chop. Dang it! Why can’t cooking just be easy! I added a bit of water and was able to blend it a bit better, drain the water and mix it in. Success! I had a ‘Foodo’ Shoot to get some great food pictures for the recipe book and share my creation with Jeff and Dan.