Sour Cream Enchiladas

Fresh, crispy, golden, melty, saucy, cheesy, spicy.  These are all words that come to mind (some less made up then others) when I think of Mexican cuisine.  Glorious Mexican cuisine!  I crave every incarnation of mexican ingredients – tacos, burritos, enchiladas, quesedillas, flautas, nachos etc. etc. etc.  I really love cooking it too….the ingredients are so adaptable.  You can throw in a little of this, little of that, pretty much whatever spices you have lying around, and it will turn out great.  The huge variety of flavours all work really well together.

This is a savoury and cheesy  enchilada recipe that would be amazing on the side of a fresh green salad.  Dunking the tortillas really adds a layer of flavour and sauciness, and who doesn’t want more flavour and sauciness in their life.

Bring some Enchilada sauce to a slow simmer…

Simmering Enchilada Sauce

Next, mix up the ingredients for the highly delicious vegetarian filling.

Filling!

Grab some corn tortillas, and lightly pan fry them until they are just golden brown.

Tortilla Toasting

Dunk the tortilla in the enchilada sauce.

Tortilla Dunking

Load it up with the filling mixture, some spicy rice, and beans.  Whatever you have in the pantry will work fine, but I usually go for black beans when making mexican.  (I’m aware those are kidney beans in the photo.)

Load 'em up

Place the rolled up enchiladas (folded part facing down) in a row in a baking dish, and top with lots and lots of cheese.  Pop the whole thing in the oven @ 375 degrees  for 15 – 20 minutes.

Roll them up and top with generous amounts of cheese 🙂

After some time in the oven it will look like this:

Post oven close-up

Serve with a dollop of guacamole and go for it.

Sour Cream Enchiladas

Sour Cream Enchiladas Recipe

12 whole Corn Tortillas
Canola Oil, For Frying
2-3 Cups Enchilada Sauce
2 cups Sour Cream
3 cups Sharp Cheddar Cheese, Grated
1 cup Sliced/chopped Green Onions
½ teaspoons Ground Cumin
¼ teaspoons Cayenne Pepper
1 Can Black Beans, rinsed
2 Cups Mexican Spiced Rice

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Mix together sour cream, green onions 1 1/2 cups grated cheddar, cumin, and cayenne pepper.

Heat canola oil in a skillet over medium heat. Heat enchilada sauce in a separate skillet or saucepan.

Using tongs, fry tortillas one at a time, for only about five to ten seconds per side (don’t allow to crisp.) Remove from oil, then dunk tortilla in enchilada sauce. Lay tortilla on a plate, then spoon a good two or three tablespoons of the sour cream mixture in the middle. Top with spiced rice and black beans.  Roll tortilla, then place face down in a baking dish. Repeat with remaining tortillas and sour cream mixture.

(If there’s any sour cream mixture left over, use it as a dip for tortilla chips!)

Cover the dish with the remaining cheese, then bake for 15 to 20 minutes until bubbly

From:  The Pioneer Woman

Roasted Tomato and Bean Soup with Back Bacon

I love this soup.  It’s tasty, hearty, and very healthy.  Roasting the veggies really brings out the natural sweetness and nice rich flavours.

It freezes nicely too, so make a big batch and put half into single serving Tupperware containers for a last minute lunch, or lazy dinner.

Soup Ingredients

Chop up the veggies and toss with olive oil and cumin.  Roast for about an hour and get ready for some intoxicating smells emerging from your oven!

Roasted Veggies

Remove carrots from the mix, throw everything into a soup pot, and purée.  I used my trusty Immersion blender, because it’s much less messy than transferring everything to a blender or food processor.  But really, whatever tools you have to mash things up will do the trick!

Veggies puréed = soup

Add, the rest of the ingredients to the pot and bring it to a boil.  That’s it!  Now you can eat!

Hearty, Chunky Tomato Soup

Roasted Tomato and Bean Soup with Back Bacon

2 lbs Plum Tomatoes, halved lengthwise
1/2 Large Onion, cut into chunks
2-3 Carrots, cut into chunks
4 Cloves of Garlic
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Tsp Ground Cumin
2 ½  Cups Broth (Beef, Chicken or Veggie will work fine)
1 Can Black Beans, drained and rinsed
3 Thick Slices Back Bacon, cooked and chopped
Salt & Pepper to taste

1.  Preheat oven to 375 Degrees.
2.  In roasting pan or big baking dish, toss together tomatoes, onion, carrot, garlic, oil and cumin.  Roast until veggies are starting to brown, stirring occasionally, about 1 hour.
3.  Remove carrots and set aside.  Place remaining veggies in a big soup pot, along with broth.  Use Immersion blender to purée mixture until smooth with some small chunks remaining.  Or transfer ingredients to blender or food processor to purée.
4.  Add carrots, beans, bacon, salt and pepper, and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer until heated through.

From:  The G.I. diet Cookbook