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Sunday, March 3, 2013

Vegan Enchiladas Are Delicious

I have made these enchiladas a couple times now and I swear that they are better every time I make them. I made them again last night and they were so good, I think it is finally time to write a blog about them. These enchiladas are surprisingly easy to make and honestly delicious: another vegan recipe that meat eaters will enjoy and appreciate. This time, I got most of my ingredients at Trader Joe's and it turned out being quite an inexpensive dinner, as well.

Ingredients:
Enchilada Sauce
Organic Wheat Tortillas
1 can black olives
1 can black beans
2 zucchini
1/2 onion
Daiya Vegan Cheese, Jack Style Wedge
1 block extra firm tofu

First, I rinsed the zucchini and cut the zucchini and half onion into slices. I drained a can of black olives and added them to the food processor with the zucchini and onions. I pulsed these ingredients until they were coarsely diced. Then, I added the drained black beans and pulsed again until the ingredients were well mixed, but not pureed.




After noisily pulsing, I transferred the mixture from the food processor to a large mixing bowl. I drained a block of organic extra firm tofu and cut it into cubes. The cubes were added to the mixing bowl and mashed up with a mixing spoon. I tried to have the tofu mix evenly with the olives, onions, beans, and zucchini. On previous enchilada nights, I added the tofu to the food processor, but it had became too pureed and the texture was not right. Mashing the tofu and stirring it in created a much nicer texture and made the final product much more pleasing. 



Next, I added enchilada sauce and equal parts water to the mixture and stirred well. I used half my bottle of enchilada sauce here, so I added water to the bottle until it was full again for the sauce that gets poured on top of the tortillas. I scooped generous amounts of the filling onto each tortilla, evenly spread it out, and rolled the tortilla up. I only had 6 tortillas (I should have bought two bags!), so I was trying to use as much of the filling as possible, but adding plentiful amounts of filling also made this dish better than previous times I had made it. 



One of my husbands friends had broken my full-sized pyrex dish this week, so I had to really cram the enchiladas into a smaller pyrex dish. Luckily, tt ended up not mattering much. I poured as much of the 50:50 enchilada sauce/water mixture into the dish as would fit, and topped the tortillas with cubed Daiya jack-style cheese wedge. I had used the shredded Daiya before, but this is what I had this time, and it was so, so much better.  



I cooked the enchiladas at 350F for about 30 minutes and then we enjoyed them with some TJ's hot sauce. I usually serve them with green chile sauce, but we are sadly out of green chiles. The green chile sauce does make them better, but they were able to shine on their own this time without being overshadowed by the green chile. I had previously thought of enchiladas solely as a vehicle for green chile, but I was able to enjoy the enchiladas as enchiladas this weekend. 


These enchiladas are quick, easy, cheap, delicious, and full of healthy choices for you and the environment. I hope you enjoy them as much as we did!