Enchiladas for the Soul

It’s been an interesting few weeks. It all started with a tooth ache, which I thought was related to my head cold. Sometimes, when I have a cold all of my teeth hurt so I didn’t think much of it - until the cold was gone and at the tooth still hurt. 

I headed off to the dentist (who I’ve known forever and totally trust) only to find out she thought I needed a root canal. So I made an appointment with a specialist, dragged my sweaty palmed self there only to be told that the teeth were cracked and a root canal wouldn’t fix the problem. 

So back to the dentist, another referral and another week later and I am minus the offending teeth and starting the restoration journey - did I mention I hate going to the dentist - I do. I mean think about it, we can put a man on the moon, transplant organs from one body to another but we’re still practicing dentistry by putting sharp, shiny objects in people’s mouth - seems archaic. 

My diet this past week has generally consisted of applesauce, yogurt, scrambled eggs and pureed soups - because that’s what was on the list of items for the days following surgery. By Saturday I was totally ready for some real food - spicy real food. So I dragged out an old recipe, which I hadn’t made in forever and cooked up a batch of butternut squash enchiladas with a spicy peanut sauce. 

I’ll start by saying there is far more than meets the eye in these enchiladas, yes there is butternut squash but also, carrots, onions, jicama, apple and mushrooms all rolled in corn tortillas and topped with a spicy sauce made from veggie broth, peanut butter, chili powder, oregano and other spices. 

To be honest I’m not sure where I originally found this recipe but I’ve had it bookmarked for more than 10 years, across 3 computers - it’s a favorite. 

Ingredients:

Filling: 

1 tsp vegetable oil 

1/2 c diced carrots 

1 1/4 c sliced mushrooms 

1/2 c diced onions 

3/4 c diced jicama 

3/4 c diced Granny Smith apple 

1 pkg frozen butternut squash - thawed (12 ozs) 

1 T vinegar 

1/4 c chopped cilantro 

Spicy Peanut Sauce 

14.5 ozs veggie broth 

1/2 tsp cumin 

1 clove garlic, minced 

1 T flour 

3 T chili powder 

1/2 tsp dried oregano leaves 

1 T minced onion 

1/4 c reduced fat peanut butter 

12 corn tortillas 

1/2 c grated vegan cheddar cheese

Instructions:

Filling:

Heat oil in skillet and saute carrots, mushrooms, onions, jicama, and apple until tender. Add squash, vinegar and 2 T cilantro. Mix well and set aside

Peanut Sauce:

In a medium saucepan combine broth, cumin, garlic, flour, chili powder, oregano and onion. Bring to boil and cook 2 minutes. Reduce heat to low, add peanut butter and stir until smooth. Set aside.

To assemble enchiladas:

Preheat oven to 350. Soften tortillas by wrapping in a damp paper towel and heat in microwave 1.5 mins. Place 1/4 c of squash mixture down the center of each tortilla. Roll up and place seam side down in a 9x13 greased pan. Pour peanut sauce over tortillas and cover with shredded cheese. Cover with foil and bake for 20 to 25 mins until is cheese is melted. Garnish with remaining cilantro.

These would make a delicious Cinco de Mayo feast!

Some Days the Dragon Wins

It’s been a crazy couple of weeks filled with opportunity. My sweetie's company did a sizable layoff and unfortunately he was part of that - it kind of puts a kink in the family machine. When a door closes a window opens. Dan has spent a large part of his career as an Independent Consultant so waking up on that side of the fence is not new - it’s familiar and even though he’s not where he thought he would be - he’s ok; we’re ok. Yes there are some annoying things like rearranging health insurance, signing new contracts and paying estimated quarterly taxes but none of those things are tragic. 

We’ve been doing a fair amount of curry lately and while I love it I was up for a change. Looking in the fridge and finding some tempeh reminded me that there was a recipe I wanted to try that had a maple glazed tempeh. I started with a list of impressive ingredients and then narrowed it down to what I had in the fridge, which you see below. 

Ingredients

8 ounces tempeh

1 1/2 Tbsp maple syrup

1 tsp olive oil or virgin coconut oil

2 tsp soy sauce

4 cups shredded carrots

1 small onion, diced

1 Tbsp curry powder

1/4 tsp turmeric powder (for added turmeric power, optional)

1/8 tsp black pepper

2 Tbsp hummus

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1 handful of raisins

1/2 cup parsley - finely chopped 

A few shakes of cayenne - because Dan said it wasn’t spicy enough 

Salt and pepper to taste

Cube the tempeh and steam it for 10 minutes to eliminate the bitter taste. Then heat a skillet over high heat and add the olive oil.When oil is hot, add the tempeh, soy sauce and maple syrup. Flip the tempeh around a bit to allow it to absorb the liquid. Cook for about 5 minutes. When tempeh is browned and edges blackened a bit, and all liquid absorbed, turn off heat. Sprinkle some chopped walnut pieces and some black pepper over top the tempeh and set pan aside to keep warm in skillet.

In a large mixing bowl, add the carrots, hummus, lemon juice, spices, parsley, maple syrup, raisins and onion. Toss very well for a few minutes to marinate the carrots with the dressing. For a creamier salad, add another spoonful of hummus. To thin things out and make the salad zestier, add another splash of lemon juice or a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar. Finally, add salt and pepper to the carrot salad to taste.

Pour the carrot salad in a large serving bowl and top with the tempeh. Serve right away or place in the fridge to serve in a few hours or up to a day later. The carrots will soften the longer they set in the fridge.

We paired it with a fresh fruit salad and some steamed broccoli and cauliflower - it was indeed good.