Sweet Potato and Black Bean Enchiladas

I first found this recipe a few years ago on the Gluten-Free Goddess website. If I were making it for my MIL, I'd go ahead and do the GF version, otherwise I'd likely use a mix of flour and corn tortillas. 

SWEET POTATO AND BLACK BEAN ENCHILADAS (gluten-free version)

Green Chile Sauce:
1 cup light vegetable broth (I have also used chicken broth)
1 tablespoon arrowroot starch dissolved in a little cold water (I just use cornstarch, or even flour)
1 generous cup chopped roasted green chiles- hot or mild (I use the canned kind)
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon cumin or chili powder, hot or mild, to taste

Filling:
1 15-oz can black beans, rinsed, drained
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
Fresh lime juice from 1 big juicy lime
2 heaping cups cooked sweet potatoes, smashed a bit, but still chunky (you can cube them and soften them. If you make homemade baby food, bake several potatoes, set aside a couple for this, and purée the rest!)
1/2 cup chopped roasted green chiles
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder, or curry, mild or spicy, as you prefer
Sea salt and black pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

To assemble:

2-4 tablespoons light olive oil or vegetable oil, as needed
8 white corn tortillas
Shredded Monterey Jack cheese

-Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Choose a baking dish that will hold 8 enchiladas.

-Make your Green Chile Sauce by combining the broth, dissolved arrowroot (or cornstarch), green chiles, garlic and spices in a sauce pan and heating over medium-high heat. Bring to a high simmer. Simmer until thickened. Taste test. Set aside.

-In the meantime, using a mixing bowl, combine the drained black beans with minced garlic and lime juice. Toss to coat the beans and set aside.

-In a separate bowl combine the lightly smashed sweet potatoes with the chopped green chiles; add the spices. Season with sea salt and pepper.

-Pour about 1/4 cup of the Quickie Green Chile Sauce into the bottom of the baking dish.

-Grab a skillet and heat a dash of oil. Lightly cook the corn tortillas to soften them - one at a time - as you stuff each one. (Note: sometimes I just soften them a bit in the microwave between damp paper towels and then soak for a minute or so in the sauce so that I don't have to make them oily at all)

-Lay the first hot tortilla in the sauced baking dish; wet it with the sauce.

-Spoon 1/8 of the sweet potato mixture down the center. (Note: to make really yummy, add some cream cheese down the center as well)

-Top with 1/8 of the black beans.

-Wrap and roll the tortilla to the end of the baking dish.

-Repeat for the remaining tortillas. Top with the rest of the sauce.

-If you like, top with shredded Monterey Jack cheese.

-Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the enchiladas are piping hot and the sauce is bubbling around the edges.

This tastes unbelievably amazing-- people usually can't figure out what it is exactly that they're eating, but know they want seconds... and thirds.

Mashed red potatoes

Mmmm... There's nothing like setting a steaming bowl of mashed potatoes on the table and seeing everyone start to smile as they anticipate their first bite. And there's definitely nothing like seeing the look on their faces when they savor their first forkful of creamy deliciousness.

Of the myriad of versions of mashed potatoes I've made in my life, this recipe takes the cake. Or the potato.

Mashed Red Potatoes

2+ lbs red potatoes, washed and quartered
1/2 c butter
1/4 c milk
1/4 c buttermilk
1/4 c sour cream
Salt and pepper to taste

- Bring water and a dash of salt to boil in a large pot. The boiling part is important if we want to make creamy potatoes! Add the cut potatoes (with peels still attached) and boil for 10-15 minutes, until tender but still firm enough that they don't fall apart.

- Drain potatoes and put in a large bowl. Start mashing! This is a good time to take out your daily frustrations. After mashing around half of the potatoes, add the butter, cut into chunks. If you want to make this a bit lighter, feel free to cut down on the butter. I make the full-on delicious variety for special holidays and then reduce the butter the rest of the time. But, if you want to go for the whole stick, I won't tell.

- Add the milk, buttermilk, and sour cream. I always use reduced-fat versions of these, but I have no doubt it would take even more amazing (is this possible?) with the full-fat versions. And as always, don't worry if you don't have one or more of the ingredients (well, except for the potatoes... they're kind of important). The only reason I started using buttermilk was because I wanted to add 1/2 cup milk, but only had 1/4 cup (well, I had 1 cup, but the kids needed milk in the morning). I like how it adds a bit of tang, as does the sour cream.

- Add salt and pepper if you'd like. I sometimes omit this, especially if I've used salted butter. The red potatoes taste great on their own. Also, you can toss in some roasted garlic (or garlic powder or salt, if you don't have any garlic to roast!) for a twist on the original version.

Bon Appétit!

Tomatillo Salsa Baked Fish

1 lb tilapia fillets
1 c tomatillo salsa
1 c shredded cheese
1/2 c crushed tortilla chips
salt and pepper
oil or non-stick spray

- Preheat oven to 450°. Wash and pat the fish dry. Line baking sheet with foil and spray with non-stick spray (or just use a non-stick sheet and oil it a bit). Season fish with salt and pepper.

- Lay fish on baking sheet and top each with about 1/4 cup salsa. Bake 12-15 minutes.

- Remove from oven and sprinkle each fillet with about 1/4 cup cheese and 1/8 cup chips and serve.

Substitutions: No tilapia on hand? Try basa or another similar fish. You can also replace the tomatillo salsa with regular salsa. Instead of the chips, you can use bread crumbs. I've said it before and I'll say it again-- any recipe (other than baked goods) that is completely inflexible has no place in my kitchen. :-)

The fish also makes great tacos for lunch the next day. Simply put some fish in a corn tortilla and add a dollop of sour cream-- fancy, easy, and delicious!

New Homeschooling post at Cheerfully Chaotic!

Once again, my feed is not updating for my main blog, so... here's my solution to noting the update. :-)

Well now, THAT's embarrassing!

My dear former roomie, Lauren, over at Magnify the Lord with Me, just linked to my cooking blog.

Which hasn't been updated in three weeks!

Scandalous!

I feel like I was just caught by our neighbor with my nursing tank half off... not that that happened to me... LAST WEEK.

THAT would be even more humiliating.

And the reason C is no longer allowed to open the wooden door before I say it's ok.

I guess it's time for me to get busy typin' up my recipes (or random food thoughts... or non-recipes that include no amounts but do include a plethora of ideas as to how to alter the recipe so that you are no longer making anything similar to what I started out teaching you to make).

In the meantime, make the bread! And the egg casserole! And the enchiladas. Oh... the enchiladas. Mmmmm.

Sausage and Egg Casserole

Or, alternatively, Bacon and Egg Casserole. Or Chorizo and Egg Casserole. Or Ham and Egg Casserole. Be adventurous! Be practical! That's really more the case for me. I cook with what I have and rarely, if ever, go to the store just because I need it to make something. The three exceptions to this are eggs, milk, and flour. A girl always needs those.

And cute shoes.

And a cute purse.

Or in my case, a cute diaper clutch that functions as both my diaper bag and purse.

Cute, huh?

But I digress. Back to cooking.

What you'll need:

- Up to 3 T butter (I use between 2 and 3 T)
- 4 c of some sort of bread.  After the holidays I buy unseasoned store-baked bread croutons for $0.25 for a HUGE package. It is about 10 cups, probably. I also have used bread crumbs from homemade bread that needs repurposing, or the toasted heels of bread my husband refuses to eat. You can also used seasoned croutons, but I don't ever buy those, or even make them. Maybe that will be my next experiment...
- 1 c (8 oz) shredded cheese. I use cheddar or cheddar/monterrey jack blend, but this is flexible.
- 2 c milk
- 8 eggs, beaten
- 1/2+ t dry mustard. I'm a big fan of dry mustard, so I throw in a bit more.
- 1 lb breakfast sausage, cooked and crumbled. This is where you can substitute cooked and crumbled bacon or chorizo, or cooked and chopped ham.

What to do:

Cook your meat and set it aside. I've found that the easiest way to do this is to cook the meat the night before and refrigerate it. Or, you can cook twice as much as you need for a different breakfast and then freeze the other half. Then, you just pull it out and your dish is nearly prepared!

Heat oven to 325º. Put butter in baking dish (I use a 9x13 pan, usually) and let it melt in oven as the oven heats up. Once it's melted, remove from oven and tilt to coat the dish. Add croutons (or other bread crumbs) and sprinkle the cheese over the top. Set this aside. Note: using a smaller dish will give you a "thicker" casserole. This is a personal-preference thing. I like it both ways because I'm wild and crazy like that.

Combine the milk, eggs, and dry mustard; mix well. Pour the egg mixture over the cheese and sprinkle with the sausage (or your meat-of-choice). Bake at 325º for 40-50 minutes, or until just set. Let it stand at room temperature for 5-10 minutes to allow the eggs to firm up a bit more.

Bon Appétit! 

Chicken Enchiladas with Sour Cream Sauce

Here's the deal: these are the best chicken enchiladas I've ever had. I also have no real recipe for them. I vary it every single time, and every single time it's delicious. My amounts are pure "guesstimation" each time. Be brave! Go forth and conquer the enchiladas! Viva la Guesstimation!

The nice thing about this dish is that it can easily be modified to make more or less. It really will just depend on how many tortillas you have, because you can be as generous or as stingy as you want with your other ingredients. Also, I've been known to eat a tortilla (or three) while I'm making this. Don't judge. You might do the same thing someday.

Chicken Enchiladas with Sour Cream Sauce
Note: This dish can be made gluten-free (GF) easily
 

- Chicken

- Tortillas (I prefer handmade flour but also make this with corn to be GF)

- Chicken broth (I use Pacific Natural Foods Organic Free Range Chicken Broth because it's GF and tastes GREAT. Note, however, that the box looks like a Tazo Chai Tea Concentrate box. And yes, I've accidentally made enchiladas with a splash of chai tea, and tried to make chai tea with broth. Thanks for reminding me.) 

- Flour (when I make this gluten-free, I use Bob's Red Mill All-Purpose GF Flour)

- Butter

- Sour cream (I use Daisy Light, because that's what we always buy)

- Cream cheese, if desired

- Grated cheese (Cheddar or Monterrey Jack taste great)

Cook some chicken (I told you... no real amount. I use whatever I have on-hand for this-- the last time I made enchiladas I used some extra chicken from the Perfect Roasted Chickens I'd made the night before. This is a GREAT way to use up leftover chicken.) and shred it. For 20 enchiladas, though, if I was making chicken specifically for this, I'd probably cook 3-4 breasts, depending on their size. You can boil chicken, broil chicken, roast chicken, bake chicken, grill chicken, or buy rotisserie chicken for this. It will taste great no matter what.
 

Melt butter (for 20, I used one 1/2 cup stick) in a large pan for the roux.

Add flour (for 20, I used about 1/2 cup) to the butter and stir until it thickens and browns. Inhale. Mmm... I love that smell!

Add chicken broth to the roux (I used around one 32 oz box of chicken broth for the 20 enchiladas).

Stir, stir, stir away! Let it thicken, and then add some sour cream. I had around 12 oz in my refrigerator, so I added... 12 oz. If I have the full 16 oz container, I'll usually add it all. Instead, I threw in 4 oz of cream cheese that was going to go south (as in, all the way to Mexico) if I didn't find some use for it in the next two weeks or so. Get the sauce all nice and bubbly.

Remove the pan from heat so the sauce won't be so ridiculously unbearable to touch when it comes time to assemble the enchiladas.

Grease your pan(s). I spray Pam in 2 9x13 pans, but you can use any size pan you want. I sometimes have to shove the last few enchiladas in my pan, but it really depends on the size of your tortillas, the type of tortillas (flour or corn), and how much filling you put in each enchilada.

Dip one tortilla at a time in the sauce-- it will be HOT. I let mine cool a tiny bit, but you need it to be hot enough to soften the tortillas a bit so they don't tear (corn tortillas tend to tear anyway. You can alleviate this some by softening your tortillas in the microwave for a few seconds. Drinking a margarita or two will also help. It's a moral support thing.).

Add chicken and grated cheese to the left side of each tortilla and then roll it from left to right.  I use around 1/8-1/4 cup of filling usually... again, there's no rules here. Be wild! Go loca! Place the filled tortilla seam-side-down in your pan.

I can easily fit 8 Central Market homemade tortillas across and then 2 to fill in the bottom.

Continue this process with all of your tortillas.

Pour any leftover sauce on top.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes, or until bubbly. Enjoy! 

Bon Appétit doesn't seem quite appropriate with a Mexican dish, but seeing as how I speak French and not Spanish, it's what you get. Deal with it. Plus, this dish is more Tex-Mex, and this is how I roll in Texas.

Bon Appétit!