Being vegetarian forever and vegan-curious for a couple of years when I first saw that The Cider Press Café was opening in St. Petersburg I was inappropriately excited to go try out their food.  Everything on their menu is raw vegan, which may sound more healthy than tasty, but that’s only if you haven’t tried it yet.

After eating at a couple of raw vegan places during a trip to North Carolina I was hooked and wanted to try The Cider Press Café even more, seeing how it’s about a thousand miles closer to home. So, of course, I did.

I went the first time a few months ago and started with the Florida Roll – tamari infused watermelon ‘tuna’, mango, riced jicama, avocado; ginger, wasabi & tamari sauce. Sounds so strange, tasted so wonderful. This is the only one of their ‘starters’ I’ve tried but I want it again.  The problem with that is they have a few other items on their starter menu I really, really want to try too.  Cauliflower buffalo bites, coconut spring rolls…  everything either sound totally delicious or totally so far outside of anything I’ve tried that I HAVE TO try it.

I’ve tried a few of their main dishes (if you eat out with me you share with me) and my favorite two so far are the Garden Lasagna and The Three Amigos – spiced dehydrated corn tortillas (3), walnut-sweet potato picadillo, cabbage, guacamole, pico de gallo, poblano cream, pickled jalapeños, corn maque choux. Heavenly.

For the record, the deserts are the bomb as well.  I tried the pineapple sorbet and will definitely be having that again.  The person I was un-guiltily stealing food from had key lime ice cream and there is no way you could go wrong with that choice either. And yes, I’m like that. The people at the tables next to me are lucky I didn’t try their food too.

Final piece of advice – drink the Pearly Pear –   it’s an apple & pear cider and seriously, what else is there to say about that?

I haven’t done a vegan meatless Monday in a while, so I decided it’s time to get back to it.  I think the fact that Ben & Jerry’s now has 4 vegan ice creams INCLUDING CHUNKY MONKEY maybe got me motivated.  I am super excited to try those, but they aren’t yet in my area.  The guy at Whole Foods (I figured they were the best bet) said it could be about 2 months before it’s offered widespread and I may be able to find it.  Boo, but probably worth the wait!

Anyways, back to meatless Monday.  I couldn’t decide what to try and make today, but as it was 4:30 Sunday evening and I still had to figure it out and go grocery shopping, I voted for something quick and easy.  What’s quicker and easier than a casserole?  Decision made.

I thought squash sounded appropriate for January, and decided to add some beans to make it more of a main dish and less of a side dish. Being short on time I went with lentils as they don’t have to soak before cooking.  Plus, I really like lentils.

So lo and behold, spaghetti squash and lentil casserole was born.  And I have to say, is was pretty dang good and very comfort foody. Plus my two teenagers even liked it and you KNOW how teenagers are if you aren’t serving pizza.  My son even took a second helping and he’s one of those that would typically be going to try something, find out it’s vegan and change his mind.  My favorite thing to tell him is “You probably shouldn’t eat that apple (or whatever), it’s vegan”.

Here’s the ingredient list:

• 1 spaghetti squash
• 2 cups thin sliced zucchini
• 1 cup dry lentils
• 2 cups water
• 1 diced white onion
• 1 diced bell pepper
• 1 can diced tomatoes (I used the ones with basil, garlic and oregano)
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic (heaping, of course)
• 1 tsp. Italian seasoning
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper
• 6 servings instant mashed potatoes (it’s what I had)

Start by cooking the lentils in the water.  Just bring them to a boil and then simmer covered for about 40 minutes, until they are tender.

Cut the spaghetti squash in half, seed it, and put it in a dish with about an inch of water. Microwave until tender, 10 to 15 minutes and them scrape the flesh out into a large bowl.  As each thing (besides the mashed potatoes) is finished just throw it all into this bowl.

Preheat the oven to 350.

Pan fry the onions, peppers, garlic and zucchini.  I don’t use oil for this, the onions put off enough liquid to get the job done.  When the onions are translucent and the zucchini is a bit tender add this to the big bowl.

Cook the mashed potatoes according to the package directions.  I used Earth Balance butter(ish) and Rice Dream milk and they came out great.

Mix all ingredients except for the mashed potatoes in the bowl and then turn them out into a greased 3 quart casserole dish.

Spread the mashed potatoes over the top, and rough them up a bit so that they will get nice brown spots on them.

No need to cover, just put the casserole dish I the oven for half an hour and you are done.

I have to admit, I used a lot of pans and it took a bit more time cooking from scratch and cutting all the veggies, but this was totally worth it and is going to be a part of our regular cold weather meals.

Last Saturday I went to the Tampa Bay Vegfest in Cotanchobee Fort Brooke Park on Riverwalk. It’s their 6th annual festival, but the first I’ve been to. I think last year I had a run at the same time. My loss, it was a lot of fun. Actually, my partner in crime went last year and said this year was much bigger.  I guess that means I better go next year because it’ll likely only be bigger and better.

So, what do you even do at a Vegfest?  Well, I think it depends of the fest.  I went to one in San Diego in like ’89 and it was a total hippy fest.  Reggae music, a haze over the crowd that was not tobacco smoke, a lot of girls in skirts that had not bought a razor maybe ever (I had never heard of women not shaving at the time and was a bit mystified.  Still not my thing but to each their own and all). This was not that.

Fast forward 26 years (writing that makes me feel old, but lets go with wise, shall we?) and vegetarian is pretty much main stream.  My 16 year old daughter is vegetarian (my sons are not), she has friends that are vegetarian that went to the festival, and my son (22) has dated like 3 vegetarians.  Apparently, it’s a thing now.

The Tampa Bay VegFest had all ages from kids, to high school and college age to  retirement age people. I have to admit that last one surprised me.

Anyways, what was there to do?

Well, there were lots of vendor booths. Some where selling things like t-shirts (the Hail Seitan, Go Vegan t-shirt was one of my favorites), soaps, jewellery, snacks, pretty much a bit of everything. There were also some great vegan samples. My very favorite was Treeline nut-cheese (that sounds so bad, I know). It was a spread for crackers that all by itself made a case for the deliciousness of vegan food. I had to take a picture that was too bad to share but enough that I could go buy it. There was also a coconut ice cream sandwich that was amazing, which surprised me because I have bought the same brand of vanilla ice cream in the past and didn’t love it.  I’m going to have to try it again.

It was a lovely 90 degree fall day so even wearing a tank top I was happy to hear they had speakers and movies playing at the history center. We only made it to listen to one speaker, but wow was she great.  We got to listen to Jo-Anne McArthur speak about animals she had met during her photojournalist adventures. Adventures sound like great things but in this case not so much. She has traveled the globe to bring us the faces and stories of animals whose lives have been hidden. She has photographed minks and foxes being raised for fur in horrific conditions, factory farm victims, a bear whose life of suffering cumulated in having his paws removed for soup (but was rescued), all sorts of things.  But it’s all tempered with visits to a farm sanctuary full of happy, healthy animals and other sanctuaries which if nothing else allows you a glimpse into lives of people who dedicate themselves to good instead of evil. Sometimes it’s nice to be reminded that these places do exist.

There was also a food truck circle (yay, food!), bands and a cooking demonstration. I attended the Thai Tacos and Caribbean Rice and Beans demo. The demos were done by the people at thefoodpharmacy.com. Check out their web site, they have all kinds of recipes and videos on how to cook vegan recipes.  Their theme seems to be good, healthy food now instead of drugs and doctor visits later. Radical, right?

Then there was the mandatory circle of animal rescue groups with dogs, rabbits, guinea pigs, even a great big real pig.  I’m a sucker for this section and the partner in crime even put an application for a great dog there.  Should hear back some time this week. A photographer and a blogger and we were so into the dog we forgot to take a picture of her.  FAIL.

All in all a great time. If you’re on Facebook follow them here so that next year you’ll have all the info you need to attend. Bring your compassion and a huge appetite.

Earlier this month I wrote that my ulcerative colitis had flared up leaving me doing a whole lot of not much.  I’ve been feeling a LOT better and I kind of thought I was in remission the last day or two. Today wasn’t the best but colitis is always a roller coaster, never a straight line. I’m OK with that, I still see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I haven’t been eating totally vegan, that lasted a full week.  I have not strayed much though.  One thing about colitis is when I have a flare up I get obsessed with what I can and cannot eat, just because I know I can’t eat whatever I want. As soon as I start to feel better I want to eat everything I wasn’t able to before.  Happily salads and fruit are the biggest draws. Unhappily a bowl or two of ice cream was slipped in too. Is what it is.

Two things I can eat unless I’m really sick are rice and bananas.  That’s just great but after a while it does get a wee bit boring.  Maybe it’s because of all that obsessing over food and rice but last week I started to really crave rice pudding. Like, CRAVE.

So I looked up the recipe, but all of them I could find had a full cup of sugar in them.  Sugar is not on my short list of foods I can tolerate, so after much thought I came up with the (now) obvious – substituting the sugar with bananas.  I wasn’t sure how it would work but it is awesome!  Nothing in it is off limits and it tastes good enough to have everyday for breakfast (and maybe lunch) without having to force myself to eat.  Win and win.

So long story short, you don’t have to be sick to make this and love it – and you don’t have to feel a bit guilty about eating it because it’s pretty much health food.  Yay.  🙂

Rice Pudding:

• 3/4 cup brown rice
• 1 box coconut milk (1 quart)
• 1 1/2 over ripe banana, smashed with a fork
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp ginger
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Throw it all in a crock pot on high for 4-5 hours.  And done.  How easy is that?  I like it cold with cinnamon sprinkled on top.

The first time I made this I used a full cup of rice and cooked it the full 5 hours, it was good but I wanted to try and make it not as thick. So the next time I used 3/4 cups rice and only cooked it 4 hours.  Looks perfect!

I’d love to have you try this and let me know what you think.  Do you have any suggestions for healthy, real food sugar substitutes?

As I mentioned yesterday due to health reasons I’ve decided to try and eat vegan and unprocessed for the remainder of July.

My go to meal this last week has been simple – throw a cup of rice, 2 cups water, and a bag of southwest frozen vegetables in the rice cooker, wrap some in a small tortilla with a little salsa, and ta-da, dinner is served. Easy to make and easy on the stomach, it’s even OK without the salsa though it’s dry.

My goal for this week was to find easy meals so good that I’d crave them.  And I found some!

First I wanted to try making cashew cream sauce as I’ve seen it used as a base for mac and cheese, nachos, and even whipped cream.  The base recipe is this easy:

Cashew Cream Sauce:

• raw cashews
• water

Rinse the cashews, soak them overnight, rinse them again.  Put them in a food processor, cover with water to about an inch over the cashews, and blend very, very well.

Done!

Since it’s a base for so many things and freezable I made too much and froze some in mason jars to be used later.  After all, easy as it is to make it’s even easier to pull it out of the freezer to defrost.

I’m hoping to try an alfredo sauce with it, I’ll let you know how it works out.

I found a recipe with great reviews to use cashews as a base for a nacho dip, so I made some of that too, modified slightly (I really over bought the cashews…).

Nacho Dip:

• 2 1/2 cups water
• 2 cups raw cashews
• 2 juiced lemons
• 3/4 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder (heaping)
• 1 teaspoon onion powder (heaping)
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 cup nutritional yeast

Basically you throw everything in the food processors and blend until it’s liquified.  I stopped at this point and stored the liquid half in the fridge and half in the freezer.  I’m guessing if cashew cream freezes well so will this.  We shall see!

At this point it is the consistency of water almost. I still dipped a chip in it and this stuff is amazing tasting!  The end product is definitely more than the parts.

To finish it up it should be heated up for about 20 minutes, stirring frequently. As I said I didn’t get this far and I’m already addicted to the taste. If I can have this for my burritos and such vegan just got a whole lot easier!

My other big win came from The Simple Veganista, mashed chickpea salad.  The name does not do it justice at all. I made it and thought well, it’s healthy looking.  Then I tried it on a cracker and wow, delicious.  I had the 13 year old try it, win.

I made a couple modifications as raw veggies are out at the moment.

Chickpea Salad:

• 1 can garbanzo beans, drained
• 1/2 cup carrots
• 1/4 cup scallions
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/4 cup cashew cream (I just happened to have some in the fridge so…)
• 2 tablespoons mustard
• juice of 1 lemon
• pinch of paprika

Ground up the carrots, scallions, and garlic pretty small in food processor

Pan fried them to soften

Throw everything but the cashew cream in food processor and pulse.  Leave the garbanzos chunky, not smooth like hummus.

Stir in the cashew cream (hummus or vegan mayo was suggested in original recipe)

Eat with crackers or on a sandwich. It’s really, really good on crackers!

I had some plain on spelt bread. It would be great with lettuce, tomato and onion. Also, it would have made a better picture that way!

Bread Maker Spelt Bread:

• 1 1/4 cup rice mik
• 2 Tbls. agave
• 2 Tbls. coconut oil
• 1 tsp. salt
• 4 cups spelt flour
• 2 tsp. ground flax seed
• 2 1/2 tsp. yeast

Warm the milk slightly, add all ingredients in order to bread machine, and set on basic.

My bread fell somewhere in the final bake cycle, as it always does. It’s still soft, nutty and delicious!

I haven’t posted for (vegan) Meatless Monday in a while, it’s about time to get back into the habit! Here’s a super-easy recipe for vegan chili relleno.  I was going to make a more intricate filling, but I was running late, Trader Joe’s black refried beans were already flavored with jalepenos, and replacing the cheese in the typical chili relleno with whole beans and stuff doesn’t sound like the right consistency anyways.  Though I may do it anyways the next time.

Here’s how I put them together:

Ingredients:

• 8 pablano peppers
• 1 can Trader Joe’s refried black beans with jalapenos  (refried beans mixed with a can of green chilis would be good too!)

That’s it.  Not much of a recipe, huh?

Part 1, which I did the day before but of course you could do it all in one day if you are less lazy and/or don’t tend to forget to go back to something after it’s cleaned up and hidden in a paper bag:

1. Place pobalano chiles on a cookie pan covered with tin foil.  I didn’t grease the pan at all, but I would the next time because they stuck a little.
2. Move the oven rack up if needed so it’s 6-8 inches below the broiler.
3. Broil the peppers until blackened, about 10-15 minutes each side, then place in a paper bag to finish.
4. After the peppers have cooled enough peel off the outer skin.  I found this to be a bit of a challenge, mine were only about 2/3 peeled but I didn’t even notice in the end.

Ya, they don’t look that great blackened but the kitchen does start to smell pretty dang good.

Part 2:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Slice an opening from almost the top to almost the bottom of each pepper and clean out the seeds from the middle.  I pushed them a little inside out and rinsed the seeds out in the sink.

Fill center with about 2 tsp of the refried beans, close the pepper and place on pan.

Bake peppers for about 25 minutes

Serve alone or with a sauce.  I personally always chose to use a sauce or dip when it’s an option!

OK, so maybe you are wondering what the heck happened to that top chilli.  What happened was…  I tried to recreate a ‘fried coating’ type thing.  It actually tasted pretty good but looked ugly enough to be a fail anyways.  If you are curious and can maybe tell me how to improve the look here is what I did:

3 Tbls water (and a splash) mixed with a about 2.5 Tbls ground flax, whipped to dip the chiles in first, then 1 cup spelt flour with pepper, cumin, and garlic powder mixed in to dip the chiles in second.  This was much more experiment than recipe, I just sprinkled the spices in.

I used a tomatillo sauce I found on the food network, mostly because I didn’t know what it was really and figured it was past time to find out. It was really good and I’d definitely make it again.  My son liked it on the rellenos, but next time I’ll make a red sauce for them, probably with chilpote peppers in adobo sauce.  I’m going to try a sauce like that next week to go with vegan tamales if I can pull it off.

That said, the tomatillo sauce is pretty dang good.  It was strangely sweet and I’m determined to find something that it would fit better with.  I did use it as a chip dip too but it’s such an interesting taste it need to be the star of some other show.

Ingredients:

1 pound tomatillos, husked and rinsed
3 cloves garlic, unpeeled
1 Anaheim chile, seeded
1 white onion, quartered
1/2 jalapeno chile, seeded
2 tablespoons oil
1 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Juice from 1/2 lime

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Toss the vegetables with the oil, salt and pepper. Roast the vegetables until the tomatillos turn a dark-green color and the onions golden brown, about 30 minutes.

Let the vegetables cool, peel the garlic and blend everything together with the lime juice in a Ninja or food processor.

Have you ever tried a tomatillo sauce? Did you like it and what did you serve it with?

I’m a fan of smoothies, they’re like having dessert for breakfast with none of the the nutritional downfalls.  I’ve always used yogurt in them though, the few smoothies I’ve had made with ice just didn’t have the flavor I like.  Of course since I decided that I haven’t tried all that many different recipes using ice so it’s not exactly a fair assessment.
Anyways, I decided to forgo the yogurt AND the ice and see if I could find a vegan recipe that I like.  This simple recipe is so good I may not go back to using yogurt in my smoothies!  🙂

Strawberry Banana Green Smoothie

• 1 c vanilla almond milk
• 1 c packed kale
• 1 cup frozen sliced strawberries
• 1 frozen banana

I just put them in the Ninja in the order listed and blended.  I did break the banana in half so it would fit. Easy, delicious and vegan, what else could I ask for?  It is unfortunate that they look kind of brown… but even my youngest son was singing it’s praise, definitely try this one.

I made several and froze enough in mason jars to bring with me for breakfast the rest of the week.  That way I know I’ll have a quick and healthy breakfast every day this week!

I’ve been in the mood for salads lately so that’s just what I’m doing for lunches this week.  I cut up, washed and spun a head of green leaf and I’ll bring that with some cucumbers, tomatoes and radishes every day. I just pulled the first radishes of the season form the garden this morning, I”m going to throw the leaves in the salads too.  Waste not want not and all.

I’ve recently seen that you can fry or roast radishes, I may try that soon just for fun.  Anyone every try cooked radishes?

I haven’t been writing, running, or doing much at all the last couple weeks, I guess I took a mini vacation from all the little things.  It would have been very cool except for the part where I am now kind of behind on everything.  Oh well, now I have plenty to write about in the coming weeks!

I have a super simple (this does seem to be my thing) vegan recipe to share for Meatless Monday, this one is just as good as it is easy!

3 Ingredient Buffalo Burgers:

• 1 cup dry lentils, cooked according to package and strained
• 1 1/2 cups oatmeal, run through the food processor (after measuring)
• 1/2 cup Red Hot hot sauce
• oil to fry in

Toppings:

• Sliced onion, tomato and pickles
• Lettuce torn into bun sized pieces (I used red leaf)

Mix the first 3 ingredients, make into patties and cook in the frying pan with a bit of oil. I used a 1/3 measuring cup and scraped off the top to measure them into patties, then squished them down a bit with a fork.  This worked perfect since I served them on dinner rolls from the bakery.

Serve on buns or rolls with toppings of your choice.

We didn’t use any condiments and they were really good.  My kids even asked for seconds which is a minor miracle since they saw that I made them with beans, they both originally asked if they could just have rolls for dinner.  Yes, they are THOSE kids that automatically equate healthy with oh-my-god-gross.  Lucky me!

A few months back I was wandering about the grocery store and picked up a little jar of red curry paste.  I’m a pretty frugal person and I don’t make a habit of picking up random seemingly useless things and buying them but it  sounded interesting.  That jar has sat and taunted me ever since, because I haven’t had a clue of what to do with it.  But it did make my spice cabinet look that much more international.

Anyways, to get to the point I decided to try and make Thai food for dinner because I think that’s what you do with red curry paste.  Now I have to admit up front I’ve only ever ate Thai food twice in my life and both times it was in the same restaurant.  But it was good and it was spicy, so although that doesn’t make me an expert it did make me a fan.

To get back to the point AGAIN I made a Thai-ish dinner which involved Japanese Buckwheat Noodles (they happened to be in the cabinet) and probably is as anti-authentic as it gets, but it was good so who cares?

I have no name for this, let’s just call it Thai-ish Japanese noodles:

Sauce:

I very slightly modified the sauce from this post on Tasty Yummys.

• 13.5 oz. can coconut milk
• 3 Tbsp. red curry paste
• 1 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 1/3 c. chunky peanut butter

The stir fry:

• 1 Tbsp. oil
• 1 large white onion, cut into strips
• 3 peppers, cut into strips
• 1 clove garlic, very finely diced
• Baby bok choy, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1 little can water chestnuts (they too where taunting me)
• Snow peas (they came in a full strawberry basket, not sure of the weight)
• 12 oz. box Japanese Buckwheat Noodles, cooked according to package

Since I again picked up some unnamed pepper at the market here’s a  picture of the veggies before chopping them up.  The peppers smelled and tasted like bells, 2 regular bells would be about the same thing.

1. Heat up the oil at medium high heat in wok (a really big frying pan would probably work, but any excuse to use the wok!
2. Add onions, garlic and peppers and stir often for 4-5 minutes
3. Add snow peas and water chestnuts, cook an additional 3-4 minutes
4. Add bok choy and stir until wilted
5. Turn off heat and stir in the noodles and sauce

Serve with soy sauce

This was pretty good with soy sauce.  I had really expected it to be spicier, I thought the red curry paste had a major kick but it really didn’t.  I’ll have to aim for a super-spicy Thai dinner another time!

I also made a very simple fruit salad to have both as breakfast and as a snack for the week.

• 1 cantaloupe, cubed
• 1 honeydew, cubed
• 1 very small watermelon, cubed
• 1 large bag of red grapes
• Sweetened coconut

Mixed in a large bowl and sprinkled with the sweetened coconut when served.  I think I’ll slice a banana into it too next time I have a bowl, it makes it feel more breakfast-y!

The easiest way (that I know of) to cut a cantaloupe or honeydew:

First cut it in half and scrape out the seeds with a spoon, then cut each half into strips. Cut the melon into bite size pieces without taking it off of or cutting through the skin and then peal off the skin with a small knife. I’m not sure I’m explaining it very well, so here’s a picture before the last step.  🙂

Both of these recipes make quite a bit for my little 3 person household, but I like to eat leftovers for breakfast and lunches all week. I package the extra in meal size portions to bring to work so I don’t have to think much about it for the rest of the week.

Yay to thinking less early in the morning!

Yes, I’m doing my Meatless Monday post on Tuesday.  I was ill all weekend and had made the food and all but wasn’t up to actually typing it all out.  Pathetic, I know but lying doesn’t make it different. Plus I figure it’s a little like spaghetti Tuesday on a Wednesday, and what’s better than that new tradition?

Second, we have a Spartan Race winner!  Seth, email me at kindazennish@gmail.com and I’ll send you your code, congrats!

Anyways, I’m only posting dinner this week, see above for why. BUT.  It is excellent, you can have it for breakfast, lunch and dinner and still be happy. Plus a recipe for salsa which you don’t really need for the enchiladas but you must make it anyways and eat it on everything you have for the next week.

I would never in a million years thought I’d have enchiladas without cheese and not miss the cheese, but that’s what happened.

Salsa:

• 8 medium sized tomatoes, diced (I usually use 15 romas, but these were on sale so…)
• Juice of 2 limes
• 1 bunch cilantro, cut up a bit (not to be overly technical but…)
• 1 red onion, diced
• 7 cloves of garlic, finely diced (or to taste)
• 1/2 Tbsp. salt
• 1/2 Tbsp. pepper

Just throw it all together in a big bowl, stir it up and eat with chips or over pretty much anything. I hand dice the tomatoes just because I threw them in the ninja once and it wasn’t pretty.  Still tasted good though!  This is one of those things that tastes better the next day if there’s any left.  It makes quite a  bit.

Tip:

If you have kids have them roll the limes as much as they will between their hands while you do the other stuff. Squishy limes = more juice.

For the enchiladas:

Corn tortillas & black olives,

Thin sliced lettuce, chopped tomatoes, and jalapeno slices for optional garnish/topping

Enchilada sauce:

• 2 15 oz. cans tomato sauce
• 4 cups water
• 5 Tbsp flour
• 3 Tbsp chili powder
• 1 tsp granulated garlic
• 2 tsp dry oregano
• 2 tsp cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp cayenne red pepper
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp onion powder

Enchilada filling:

• 2 cans black beans, drained
• 1 can re-fried beans
• 3 cups sliced spinach (remember it shrinks when you cook it)
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro
• 1 fine diced white onion
• 2 fine diced frying peppers ( I didn’t think that was the real name but it was on the sign and I Googled it and yep, that’s them)

Just mix it all up in a decent sized bowl and put it in the fridge till you’re ready to roll. Ready to roll?

I always put a ladle full of enchilada sauce on the bottom of the pan. Why? Because that’s just the way it’s done! I had made the sauce and filling in the morning an rolled them up right before cooking so I had to heat up some sauce to dip the corn tortillas in.  I like to use a pasta bowl because they’re low and wide, perfect for dipping tortillas in.

Tips:

• You have to dip the corn tortillas in warm sauce so they don’t tear when you roll them.
• The enchilada sauce will taste too tomato-y until after it’s baked.  After it’s baked you’ll be hooked and will never buy canned sauce again, except maybe on those lazy days.
• Take out all the tortillas you’ll need, put them above the bowl of enchilada sauce.  Put a plate to roll them on to the right, touching.  Finally, put the pan you are going to bake them in to the right of that, touching. If everything is out and as close together as possible it’ll minimize the unavoidable mess.  Once you have dipped your fingers in the sauce you won’t want to reach back in the tortilla bag or anywhere else till you’re done.  (That’s where my kids come in).  🙂
• You need less filling per enchilada than you think. Always.

Cover the pans with foil and cook in a pre-heated oven at 325 for an hour.

Ta-da!

Top with a big spoonful of salsa and serve a little salad on the side to mix in and – Dinner.

I made a double batch of sauce and had about half left, I made two pans of enchiladas and had a bowl of filling left that I intend to use for nachos which shall rock.

I’ve never actually had a recipe for enchiladas, I always make them different but this one’s a keeper.  Do you have an awesome vegetarian (vegan or not) enchilada recipe? Do share here or share the link!