Enchilada Chili Casserole.

For the filling, I made a pinto bean and sweet potato chili with zucchini and peppers. I let it thicken up before making this casserole. I layered corn tortillas with the filling, red chili sauce, enchilada sauce, Daiya cheddar and topped with more sauce, blobs of Vegenaise, more Daiya and olives.

Also made a side of mexican rice. Yummy!

Cheezy Enchilada Casserole & Lemon Loaf Cake

My love for casseroles will never die. Today I made an adapted version of Bob Barker's vegan enchilada casserole which you can find here. I forgot to top it with Fritos at the end, bah! But it's ok it was still amazing. I used black and pinto beans along with a package of veggie ground from Helen's Kitchen. I also added a lot of sauteed peppers and onions. And for the cheese, I used Pepper Jack Daiya vegan shreds.

So good with homemade guacamole.

And a dessert to celebrate the weekend: lemon scented vanilla cake with lemon icing. This cake recipe uses olive oil which I find makes cakes very very moist.

Vanilla Lemon Loaf Cake
1-1/2 cups flour
1 cup unrefined sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup almond milk
1/3 cup regular olive oil
1 TB grated lemon zest
1 TB cider vinegar
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a loaf pan with oil. Sift dry ingredients into a bowl. Add wet ingredients and mix until smooth. Pour into greased loaf pan and bake about 30-35 minutes or until toothpick test comes out clean. Let it cool for 5-10 minutes. Poke holes in cake with a wooden skewer. Make icing and pour over cake.
Lemon Icing
1/2 to 1 cup powdered sugar
2-4 TB lemon juice
Mix until smooth and thick, but pourable. You may add more sugar or lemon juice until you get the right consistency.

Quinoa Enchilada Casserole.

Made my old standby today which actually I haven't made in a while. Find the recipe here. This time I used spinach, chipotle pinto beans and El Pato jalapeno salsa/tomato sauce for the sauce. And if you're wondering what the orange topping is, it's Vegenaise mixed with a bit of salsa and lime juice.


Excuse the messy plate. This was my second helping topped with avocado.

Casserole Sunday.

I'm in serious need of comforting this weekend so I made my old standby. Yummy quinoa/pinto bean/broccoli slaw/tofurky sausage filling inside tortillas doused in chipotle tomato sauce and a Vegenaise drizzle. Recipe here. Change up the veggies like I did if you wish.


Served with steamed broccoli.

Potato & Kale Enchiladas

My friend Cynthia and her mom are wonderful cooks and today I got a recipe to make mole for enchiladas. The mole sauce is very simple to make with dried new mexico and pasilla chiles. Instead of baking the enchiladas in the oven, the tortillas are coated in the sauce, filled with cooked potatoes and kale and then pan fried in a little bit of oil to give a slightly crisp exterior. These are delicious!

Mole recipe from Cynthia's mom:

Ingredients:

Dried New Mexico chiles - about 5 or 6, remove seeds
Dried Pasilla - 1 or 2, remove seeds
1 garlic clove
small handful of cilantro
pinch of dried oregano
salt to taste

-Soak chiles in hot water until soft. (While these are soaking you can make your filling. I just boiled 2 large potatoes and mashed them with sauteed kale and onions and seasoned with salt and pepper.)
-After chiles are softened, blend all mole sauce ingredients together in the blender. (I added most of the water that they were soaking in to help them blend better into a nice thick sauce.)
-Pass mixture through a sieve into a pan.
-Simmer sauce with a little bit of oil for about 10 minutes.

To make enchiladas:

8 corn tortillas, softened in the microwave for about 20 seconds (or you can do this in a dry pan over heat)
olive oil

-Heat a little bit of olive oil in a pan. Dip one tortilla into the mole sauce and coat both sides. Place dipped tortilla on a plate and fill with about 2 TB of potato/kale mixture. Close up tortilla and place into the pan and brown on both sides. Do this with the remaining tortillas until you've used up the filling.


You can see the nice crust it forms from pan frying. Yummy!

Cooking out of the pantry: Enchilada Casserole and Sweet Corn Cake

So, day one of cooking from my pantry! I was lazy today to look for a new recipe so I reverted back to my old standby. This time I added tvp to the filling to bulk it up a bit. To go with the casserole, I made a side dish of mexican sweet corn cake which is a recipe from The Tropical Vegan Kitchen.

Pantry staples used:
quinoa
1 can black beans
tvp
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
dried herbs/spices: cumin, oregano, new mexico chili powder
6 whole wheat flour tortillas
masa harina
cornmeal
sugar
canola oil

Other vegetables/fruits and fridge items etc:
1 red bell pepper
2 cloves garlic
1/2 onion
10 oz. frozen corn
Vegenaise
Earth Balance margarine

Ingredients I needed to purchase: none


Mmm, casserole!


Mexican sweet corn cake. This was really delicious and sweet.

Sunday Casserole & Oat Bran Muffins

I like to make a casserole on Sundays; something that I throw in a baking dish and pop in the oven while I go about my household duties. If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know that this casserole of quinoa bean burritos is my old standby. Instead of serving them as a burrito, I just cut into the casserole and served up little squares of layered tortilla, quinoa, spinach, red peppers, corn and beans. The topping is Daiya cheese with a vegenaise/lemon juice/chili powder drizzle. The drizzle made the Daiya get all melty and cheezy.


Just out of the oven. Look at that topping!


Mmm.

Later in the day I made oat bran muffins with a recipe I found in The Vegan Family Cookbook. I haven't had a proper bran muffin since before I went vegan and what I remember was that they were dark brown, sweet, sticky and full of raisins. While good and wholesome, these muffins were not that. So I'm asking my fellow vegans, can you point me to a recipe for a bran muffin that I described? I need to go through my cookbooks...

Casserole-ing It.

Hot from the oven, bubbling away...a casserole is a one pan meal that you can dish out on a plate, grab a fork and happily eat in front of the tv. This is what casseroles mean to me. There is something so comforting about them. Not only is it easy and quick to get on the table, but it's economical. It always makes a lot. You can eat it all week if you want. I made my favorite standby: quinoa veggie bean burritos, enchilada style today. I've made this dozens of times and it always gives me the same result. Like warm hugs, this dish will make you feel comforted and cozy inside.


My plate of yumminess with added avocado. In case you're wondering what the orange blobs are on the top photo, it's Vegenaise!

VeganMoFo: Quinoa Black Bean & Chorizo Enchiladas

Gotta make do with what you have! I still had 1/2 a tube of soy chorizo that I needed to use so I made some quinoa, heated up a can of black beans that I sauteed with onions and garlic first, then added the chorizo to it. Corn tortillas and tomato sauce completed my enchiladas. The topping looks like cheese but it's actually vegan mayo that was mixed with lemon juice, chili powder and a bit of tomato sauce. It really gives the enchiladas more flavor (not to mention fat!).


I was so eager to show you the insides so I cut into them too soon. They fell apart. But you can see what's in there. I ate this bit and it was delicious!

My Old Standby: Quinoa Bean Burritos

You know, I've made these burritos quite a lot in the past few months! I've posted about them here and here and I know I've made them plenty other times without bothering to post. I'd like to call it my old standby. It makes a lot and keeps well for meals throughout the week, or in this case, weekend. I've posted the recipe here. Feel free to change up the beans or veggies. I used red and green bell peppers, zucchini and spinach today because that's what I had in the fridge. I also switched the beans to kidney instead of black. I like to make them "enchilada" style by covering them in a chipotle tomato sauce with vegenaise drizzle. They would also be great with melted vegan cheese on top along with guacamole and dairy free sour cream.

For info about quinoa: http://www.quinoa-recipes.com/Quinoa_Pages/What_Is_Quinoa.html

Jamie Oliver's "Pukkolla" Muesli + Enchilada Style Burritos Again!

No need to cook this delicious breakfast! I got this muesli recipe from Jamie Oliver's cookbook "The Naked Chef Takes Off" and I adapted it to be vegan by subbing rice milk for the cow's milk. It only required stirring up the dry ingredients (oats, bran, dried fruit, nuts) the night before, portioning out a bowl, adding grated apple, rice milk and storing in the fridge. Next day I added more rice milk, some banana, cinnamon and I had myself a nutritious breakfast. Try it, you'll like it. Today it worked very well for me because after a long dog walk in the sun, I wanted a cool breakfast, not a hot one. The recipe happens to be posted online here. (I didn't have dates so I used both dark and sultana raisins in mine!)


I enjoyed my breakfast on the patio in the backyard. Was wonderful...


Buster relaxing after a long walk.



I was craving a burrito and lately when it comes to burritos, I've been turning to this "enchilada style" quinoa/bean/veg burrito every time! I do change up the veg or beans depending what's on hand. Today I had spinach and pinto beans. These always come out good. I'm much happier to use quinoa instead of rice as it has a better nutritional content. It's got protein, fiber, iron AND calcium! The topping I used today was tomato sauce flavored with chipotle chili powder and a vegenaise/lime juice drizzle on top. I really like the creaminess of it which reminds me of sour cream. Recipe for burritos here. Feel free to change up the veggies or use a different style of bean.


Here's the filling of quinoa, pintos, spinach and tomatoes. I used canned tomatoes that I accidentally forgot to drain the juice from so this was a little more wet than normal. But still very good.


Oh yeah.

Veggie Enchiladas with Smoky Chipotle Sauce + Coconut Cardamom Carrot Rice Pudding

I like cooking on the weekends as I get to spend more time with my food instead of plopping everything in a pot to be done with it. Today I wanted to make enchiladas and use up all the wonderful produce I got yesterday. These are chock full of red potatoes, cauliflower, red and green peppers, onions and zucchini and covered in a smoky chipotle enchilada sauce. Recipe at end of post.


A boatload of veggies!


Here they are cooked and ready to fill tortillas.


Out of the oven in all it's sauciness.


On my plate, halfway devoured.


Smoky Chipotle Enchilada Sauce

1/2 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 TB chili powder
1-2 tsp chipotle chili powder
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp cumin
1 14 oz. can crushed roasted tomatoes
3/4 cup water
1 tsp brown sugar
salt and pepper to taste

Saute onion and garlic in some oil until onions get soft. Add spices and stir. Add tomatoes and water. Bring to a boil then lower heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Enchilada Filling

1/2 yellow onion, chopped
1/2 red onion, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
2 zucchini, chopped into small pieces
1 cup frozen corn
1 1/2 cup cauliflower, chopped
4-5 small red potatoes, chopped into small cubes
3/4 cup water
corn tortillas

1. Heat olive oil in a large pan on high heat and add the onion, red and green peppers and zucchini. Saute for about 5 minutes or until vegetables get soft. Add frozen corn and continue to cook. Onions will start to brown. Remove all vegetables from pan and set aside.

2. In the same pan, add a little olive oil on medium high heat and add in the cauliflower and potatoes. Saute for a few minutes and then add 3/4 cup water. Cover and let cook for about 15 minutes or until potatoes are soft. Stir occassionally to keep them from sticking to the pot. Season with salt and pepper.

3. Add first batch of vegetables to the cauliflower and potatoes. Stir to combine and season with additional salt and pepper to taste.

4. Put a layer of sauce on the bottom of a baking dish. Steam tortillas and roll up enchiladas with about 2 heaping TB of filling. Place seam side down in baking dish and cover with sauce. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees F for 25 minutes. Uncover and bake additional 5 minutes.


Dessert was Vegan Planet's Coconut Cardamom Rice Pudding with grated carrot added to it. It is so delicious both warm or cold.

Another way to use Boca Chik'n Patties.

I do like Boca Chik'n patties that you can find in your grocer's freezer. They're so easy to just heat up and make a sandwich. Well today instead of making chik'n sandwiches, I used them to make enchiladas.


First I pan fry the patties until they are browned on both sides.


I then chop up the patties into cubes and add them to sauteed peppers, onions, mushrooms and spinach and a little enchilada sauce.


All rolled up and ready to be sauced! (Enchilada sauce recipe at the end of this post.)


30 minutes later, we have bubbly enchiladas out of the oven.


Served with a lightly dressed salad on top. Mmm...! I learned to eat them this way from the eat'n veg'n blog.

Easy Enchilada Sauce

1 small onion, chopped finely
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 14 oz. can stewed tomatoes, blended in a blender until smooth
1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
1 cup water
2 TB chili powder
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp ground cumin
salt and pepper to taste

Saute onion and garlic in a little oil. Add the chili powder, oregano, cumin. Stir to coat onions. Add blended stewed tomatoes, tomato sauce and water. Bring to a boil then lower heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.