Creamy Cheesy Enchiladas

This is an enchilada for when what you really want is 80+% nice creamy cheese sauce, 20-% enchilada. You could of course adapt this to have a more hearty filling (that's what Michelle would do - there would probably be more vegetables involved and it would be awesome), but Linda and I wanted something warm and cheesy. 

My mom, her best friend and her friend's daughter, whom we've known for about 20 years, came over for dinner and to check out our apartment, which is still kind of new to us since we moved in mid-July. I got home from work at about 5:15 and they were coming to eat at 6:30, so I wanted to make a dinner without much prep. Butternut squash soup, rice and these enchiladas soup fit the bill.

For more traditional-ish or different enchiladas, try:

Vegetarian Enchiladas with Mole Sauce
Enchiladas with Mango Sauce
Pumpkin Enchiladas with Green Tomato Sauce
Pumpkin Enchiladas

And for normal enchiladas, make your own enchilada sauce.


Creamy Cheesy Enchiladas
Adapted from the Pioneer Woman

2-1/2 cups Cooked, Shredded Chicken

2 cups chicken broth

3 Tablespoons canola oil

12 whole corn tortillas

1 whole onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, diced

3 whole 4 oz cans whole green chilies, diced (I didn't include these this time - apparently canned chilies are a seasonal food at TJ's - have to make way for all the pumpkin..)

1 whole jalapeno, seeded and finely diced (Didn't include this either because my mom is very sensitive to spice - the rest of use just used hot sauce)

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon cumin

1/2 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons flour (I used gluten free flour for Linda and it worked fine)

1 cup sour cream

2-1/2 cups monterey jack cheese, grated

salt and pepper, to taste

hot sauce (optional)
cilantro, chopped

Vegetarian Enchiladas with Mole Sauce

Our first meal when we arrived in the States was Mexican. My cousin picked us up from the airport and whisked us to the best Mexican place I've ever been to (Cafe Con Chocolate). Nick got the pork torta and I got the mole enchiladas. Eating there was pure happiness. They also have (of course) spiced Mexican hot chocolate that is to die for. Did I convince anyone to visit us yet?
I've been making enchiladas a lot lately because my little sister goes crazy for them. The recipe for the mole sauce is from My New Roots and the enchilada recipe is one I've been making forever. The mole sauce recipe makes a lot. I recommend using it right on a roasted sweet potato or any roasted veggies really.

Mole Sauce:
coconut oil
1 medium onion
3 cloves garlic
1- 15 oz can whole, organic tomatoes
2 fresh tomatoes, chopped
1 tsp. ground cumin
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. dried thyme
¼ tsp. ground chipotle
pinch of cayenne, if desired
2 dates
2 Tbsp. raw cacao powder
1 Tbsp. tahini
4 Tbsp. water, divided
1½ Tbsp. lime juice

Directions:
1. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, add oil and onions and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook another couple minutes. Add all spices and cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring frequently.
2. Add tomatoes into the pot and cook for 5 minutes.
3. Carefully transfer the tomato mixture to a blender. Then add the pitted dates, cacao powder, tahini, lime juice and a couple tablespoons of the water. Blend on high, adding water to thin as needed, until desired consistency is reached. Season to taste.

Enchiladas:
10-12 large whole wheat tortillas
1 small red onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 green bell peppers, diced
1 small zucchini, diced
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
2 handfuls fresh baby spinach
1 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese
1/2 cup mole sauce
lots more cheddar cheese, for the topping

Saute all the veggies over medium heat in a large saucepan until cooked through. Then add the yogurt and beans and stir into the veggies. Add the cheese and mix gently until melted. Add mole sauce and season with salt and pepper.
To assemble: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Add a couple scoops mole sauce onto the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Add about 1/4 cup veggie mixture into each shell and roll into a burrito. Stack enchiladas to fill the pan. Pour plenty of mole sauce over the enchiladas and top with plenty of cheese. Bake in the oven 20-25 minutes until the cheese on top is nicely golden brown.
Serve with hot sauce, fresh cilantro, plain yogurt, and guacamole.

Enchiladas with Mango Sauce

So I was paging through some recipes I've collected in a junk drawer since moving to Ohio, and stumbled upon this enchiladas recipe in a Better Homes and Gardens "prizewinning recipes" cookbook. I found a whole bunch of cookbooks at a garage sale last summer -- some lady was giving them away. Her loss!

Poor Mark didn't know what enchiladas were until I made them today. I could only best describe them as tacos you bake, but it's not really an accurate description. Regardless, he's a believer now. The mango sauce really brought all of the chewy goodness together. (Sorry I got a little lazy with photos -- we ate them too quickly!)

Adapted from the Better Homes and Gardens Prizewinning Recipes 2007 Cookbook:

Enchiladas

Ingredients:
• 8(ish) 6- to 7-inch flour tortillas (original recipe called for 12 tortillas)
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 medium jalapeño or serrano chile pepper, seeded and finely chopped
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil or cooking oil
• 1 cup + 1/3 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup mole or enchilada sauce (perhaps you can try making Laura's homemade enchilada sauce)
• 1 15-oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained (original recipe called for two cans)
• 8 oz. cheddar cheese, shredded (1 to 2 cups)
• 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 recipe mango salsa (see below)

Enchilada Sauce

I make enchiladas pretty often (like these pumpkin ones or these butternut squash ones but usually just cheese and onion), and I used to make them with normal salsa. Then I started using bottled enchilada sauce. Now I've graduated to homemade! It's so easy that it's something you might as well just make yourself and doctor to your own taste. Also, it keeps well in the freezer. 

The enchiladas I made this time are pretty much exactly like the pumpkin ones I posted about, except I mixed the pumpkin with cream cheese in a saucepan first to make a creamier (if a bit less healthy) filling. I had it for lunch with leftover paella!

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HOMEMADE ENCHILADA SAUCE
From Tide & Thyme

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 Tbsp chili powder
1 Tbsp ground cumin
1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 cup chicken stock or water
1 tsp kosher salt

Rajas con crema (on butternut squash enchiladas)

As I understand it, rajas con crema is a Mexican condiment - like if you aren't feeling salsa, put rajas con crema on it. They are roasted poblano peppers in cream sauce.

I bought a couple poblano peppers at Schramm's, and I had stuffed them last time I'd bought these peppers, so this time I made rajas con crema. So far I've had it on brown rice with chicken and baked on top of butternut squash enchiladas.

These enchiladas are just like the pumpkin enchiladas I posted about before (because that's pretty much always how I made enchiladas) except sub in butternut squash and spread some rajas con crema on top before baking. They had some nice spice because I had roasted the squash with cayenne pepper for the butternut squash mac and cheese, but the poblano peppers I used weren't that hot.

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RAJAS CON CREMA

From Simply Recipes

6 poblano chiles

1 tbsp butter 

1/2 onion, sliced

pinch salt

1/2 cup Mexican crema (probably not that authentic but I made mine from this recipe)

1/2 cup milk (I didn't add this)

1/2 cup grated Monterey Jack cheese

Pumpkin Enchiladas with Green Tomato Sauce

As it is approaching the end of the farming season (and since we pulled out all the tomato plants at the farm), there is a bounty of green tomatoes.

Flashback to Summer- gorgeous ripe heirloom tomatoes from the farm!

I decided to make a green tomato soup, which was tasty but not as good as GREEN ENCHILADA SAUCE. Think green salsa made with tomatillos. Tangy and delicous.

Green Enchilada Sauce

1 small onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, smashed and diced
5 medium sized green tomatoes, diced
1 small bunch of fresh cilantro, chopped
1 tsp cumin
3 jalapenos, seeded and diced

Pumpkin Enchiladas (& other pumpkin ideas)

About a week ago, after Michelle's roasted pumpkin soup post, I roasted a pumpkin (not a sugar one, just one of the ones we had outside for decoration) and got a big jar plus some of pumpkin puree out of it. As a result, it's been pumpkin crazy around here. 

At Michelle's apartment I think it's probably pumpkin world for a solid two months at least, and now I'm officially on board.


Pumpkin Palooza 2012:

• Pumpkin chocolate chip muffins & cookies* 
• Pumpkin french toast* (just added a couple tbsp of puree into batter & pumpkin pie spices)
• Pumpkin Black Bean Soup*
• Pumpkin chocolate chip pancakes
• Pumpkin with zucchini & swiss chard over orzo (veggies mixed together in a stir-fry)
• Pumpkin quesadillas (pumpkin puree spread on before adding cheese)
• Pumpkin chili
• Pumpkin enchiladas (see recipe below)
• Pumpkin bread (didn't use quite as much butter & sugar and added cream cheese layer)

*I made these with plain old canned puree before the pumpkin roasting happened...

My nice big jar of pumpkin puree after using a little of it.

Pumpkin pancakes - chocolate chips are hidden on the other side

Zucchini, swiss chard & pumpkin over orzo

Pumpkin chili before being mixed up and cooked in the crock pot for a few hours

Tired little pumpkin under the computer desk with a half-completed haircut