Veggie Enchiladas

While I was working today, I suddenly smelled something that made me think of enchiladas. I'm not sure what it was, we weren't making enchiladas, but I knew at that moment I was going to make them for dinner tonight. I've tried a couple recipes for them in the past that were pretty good, but they were all too complicated and time consuming. I did some enchilada recipe research on my lunch break and decided I'd throw something together instead of just following a recipe word for word. I have to say, I was pretty pleased with them. A lot of times when I just "wing it" with recipes, they don't turn out the best. I put whatever veggies I had on hand in them, but I'm sure there are other combinations that would be just as good.


Veggie Enchiladas

2-10oz. cans red enchilada sauce
1-can vegetarian refried beans
1-package small flour tortillas
2 T. vegetable oil
1 small onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 small summer squash, seeded and diced
4 oz. baby bella or white mushrooms, diced (other vegetables can be substituted)
¾ cup frozen corn
½ tsp. cumin
½ tsp. chili powder
½ tsp oregano (Mexican if available)
1/8 tsp. chipotle powder
salt, to taste
2 cups cheddar style Daiya Shreds
1 can chopped chili peppers (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 glass baking dish, set aside. Heat oil in large pan until hot. Add onion, sprinkle with a little salt and cook until onions begin to soften. Add the squash, garlic and mushrooms and cook until just tender. Add in the frozen corn and spices and cook until corn is heated through. Taste mixture, add salt and more seasonings as needed. Heat the refried beans with approximately ¼ cup of enchilada sauce in a pan until hot.

Pour one can of enchilada sauce in the bottom of the glass baking dish. To assemble enchiladas, put a generous amount of beans down the middle of each tortilla, topped with some of the vegetable mixture, sprinkle with a little Daiya cheese and roll tightly. Lay enchiladas, seem side down, in baking dish. Pour remaining sauce over enchiladas, making sure to coat the tortillas thoroughly. Sprinkle enchiladas with any remaining cheese and chopped chili peppers. Bake for 25-30 minutes until cheese has melted and sauce is bubbling. Good with guacamole and soy sour cream.

Grown-up Mac & "Cheese"

The kale in my garden is getting pretty out of control, so I keep trying to think of ways to use it. The problem is, when I get hungry, I just want to fall back on easy, tried and true recipes. Tonight I decided to combine the two. This is my grown-up version of mac & cheese using Daiya vegan shreds. I think next time I make it I may add some garlic and/or onion granules to give it a little more flavor, but it is delicious as is.


Grown-Up Mac & "Cheese"

9 oz. elbo macaroni
1 bunch Kale, washed and roughly chopped
3 cups Daiya vegan shreds
3 T. Earth Balance Margarine
2 cups unsweetened So Delicious Coconut Milk Beverage, or other non-dairy beverage
1 T. Nutritional Yeast
1 T. flour
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/4 tsp. paprika
1/4 cup vegan parmesan cheese (optional)

Cook pasta according to package instructions, but about a minute or so before it's done, add washed kale and continue to cook until kale is wilted. Drain pasta and kale mixture. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. While the oven is warming, prepare cheese sauce. In a medium sized sauce pan, melt margarine. Add nutritional yeast, flour and black pepper. Cook, stirring constantly for a couple minutes. Whisk in non-dairy milk and continue to stir until heated, add vegan shreds, stir to combine. Pour sauce over cooked pasta, mix thoroughly and put in a greased 8x8 casserole dish. Top with breadcrumbs and sprinkle with paprika. Bake, uncovered, for 15 minutes, or until cheese starts to bubble and top begins to brown. Remove from oven and top with vegan parmesan cheese (optional).

Rain, rain, go away!

We've been getting a LOT of rain lately. I like rain, and so does the garden, but the mosquitos also really like it. Yesterday we got anywhere between 2 and 4" (I've been hearing varying amounts) of rain in about 30 minutes. Someone decided at some point in our house's history to, sort of, build a wall around our backyard, creating the perfect space to hold water. Here are some pictures.


My cucumbers, trying to keep their heads above the water.


Sweet corn.


This picture doesn't show it very well, but I'm up past my ankles in water.


A view of Lake Bolthouse.


But hey, at least our basement is dry :)

So I'm still not sure I understand how garlic works. You plant a single clove, wait several months, and you get a whole head of garlic. What happens to that original clove? Is it part of the head? Does it just disappear? Either way, I think it's pretty cool. This is part of my first garlic harvest.



After months of begging and nagging, I finally got my husband to help me till up a big part of our backyard. Then he so kindly and without much complaint, built a wooden frame around it. I'm excited because I'm trying for the first time to grow sweet corn. We have had TONS of rain and heat here in the last couple weeks, so everything in the garden is growing fast. This is my sweet corn.



I'm pretty sure we have a rabbit nest in our yard somewhere. We keep seeing these adorable little bunnies running around our yard. They are so cute it's really hard to get mad at them when they chew down my broccoli every time it recovers from the last chewing. So, today I spent my morning in our swampy, mosquito infested backyard, trying to rabbit-proof my garden. I think it will at least keep the rabbits out, but the squirrels are a whole different story.

This Year's Garden

Imagine tomatoes, corn, squash, cabbage, peppers and peanuts growing in the large empty bed. I'll post more pictures as it progresses.



My kale is outta control! This is White Russian kale, which is my new favorite variety because it's very tender and has a really nice flavor.



My garlic that I planted in the fall is almost ready for harvest. Also in this bed are snap peas, carrots, onions, chard and beets.