Spicy Enchiladas or (How to kill my husband)

One of the major differences between hubbie and I is are tolerance for spicy heat. I can handle way more than he can, so I have to constantly remind my hand to back away from the chilies.

The enchilada sauce came from http://www.cuisineathome.com/. The recipe calls for 8 dried chilies, and since I only had smoked chipotle peppers, I thought I could get away with it. Alas, 8 of one, is a heck of a lot spicier than 8 of another. I even had tears running down my eyes, pity my poor husband if he even stepped in the same room.

Anywho, one way to cut the sauce, is to mix it with crushed tomatoes, til you get the spicyness to your liking. This way, you could make a hot and mild version, and the leftovers freeze well.

The split

The easy "split" part of this recipe is the filling. I started by making a bean based filled. To add creamyness I threw in some cottage cheese, which really added a lot of low fat richness. Once this filling was done, I had my "veggie" version. For hubbie's meat version, he blended his mix with some previously browned ground beef from yesterday's dinner. You could also use precooked rotisserie chicken, which hubbie thinks he may try at a later date. Tada!

Enchilada Sauce

• 1/4 cup of vegetable oil
• 2 cups of chopped onions
• 6 smashed garlic cloves
• 1 28oz can of diced tomatoes
• 2-8 dried smoked chipotle peppers, shredded and deseeded (start with 2 if you like it mild)
• 2 cups of veggie stock
• 1 tsp sugar
• salt to taste

1. Heat up oil is a sauce pan and then add onions, garlic and peppers. Cook until onions are soft, around 4 minutes
2. Add tomatoes and cook for 2 minutes more
3. Add stock, sugar and salt. Bring to boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 15 mins.
4. Allow sauce to cool, then using an immersion blender, puree until smooth.

Enchilada Filling

• 1 tbsp of vegetable oil
• 1 can of beans, drained and rinsed(pinto, black, kidney, mexican...whatever you have in the pantry)
• 1 clove of garlic minced
• 1/2 tbsp of cumin and oregano
• 2 cups of chopped baby spinach
• 1 cup of corn niblets (frozen or canned)
• 1 cup of no fat cottage cheese
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat up oil in a large skillet. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add beans, cumin and oregano. Cook for 5 minutes
2. Add corn and spinach and cook until spinach has wilted
3. Mash mixture using a potato masher
4. Add cottage cheese, mix until blended

Festive coloured filling, ole!

Assembly

• Enchilada sauce
• Enchilada filling
• Cheese for topping. We had some nice 2 year old Balderson cheddar that gave it a nice bite, though you can use regular cheddar or monteray jack.
• 8-12 tortillas
  
  

The assembly of these little guys was pretty easy. We used the small tortillas, although we did have some larger whole wheat ones, that I just cut in half. Place about 2 tbsp of your mixture inside your little tortilla and roll them up.

Place your little rolled up babies seam down inside your ceramic dish, already precoated with enchilada sauce. Once all your little guys are rolled up, top them up with more sauce. Add some cheese and bake them in an oven at 400 deg for 15-20 minutes, until they are nice and golden brown.

Dirty Texmex Rice

While your enchiladas are baking away, making this rice is a breeze, ESPCIALLY if you have a rice cooker. With all this hype about slow cookers, i'm surprised people don't love this guy as much. I've had this one since first year university.. soo... say 11 years? (ouch, that dates me) I still use it constantly and it never fails me.

This recipe is so easy, I can't even bother writting it up recipe style. All I did was throw in a cup of texmex basmati rice, 1 tsp of tumeric, 1 bay leaf and one roasted garlic clove. Turn it on and 10 minutes later, you have some tasty lovely fluffy rice!

Serve your enchiladas with some dirty tex mex rice, and a little ramekin filled with guacamole and sour cream.