Ok, some vegan should marry me for this.
This may be my most successful pantry-challenge yet. I am really making a concerted effort to eat the food I have, instead of continuing my pattern of manic proliferation of foodstuffs, just because I'm bored.
Tonight, I invented Enchiladas.
O. M. Jeezy.
They're good.
Here goes:
I opened a can of no-salt-added beans and threw them in a pot for a couple of minutes, just to get hot and let some of the seasonings in. I threw in some onion powder, equal parts cumin and coriander (thanks, Dusti), some white pepper and a touch of garlic powder.
Once those were good and hot, I tossed them aside (I'm fickle that way).
Then, because I have no dishwasher in my adorable new apartment, I rinsed the pot for the next round. The next round, by the way, was all of the vegetables I thought looked go-together-y from my fridge, freezer and pantry. I ended up with some garlic, a red onion (side note: woooooooooooo! that red onion had been in the pantry for a hot minute! when i was chopping it, i was crying as if i was watching sense and
sensibility!), the kernels from an ear of corn, some three pepper blend (bt-dubs, I really can't say enough about Trader Joes' frozen three pepper blend. It changes my life with each recipe.), and most of a package of baby bella mushrooms. Isn't that pretty?
I threw a tablespoon or two of olive oil in the pot and cooked the veggies, 1/2 batch at a time, until they got good and roast-y. In case you don't understand the terminology of good and roast-
y, feast your eyes:
Meanwhile, I made the sauce, thusly: I threw 2 or 3 tablespoons of no salt added tomato paste in a bowl and added spices until it tasted normal-y. I wanted oregano, but I'm out, so I used marjoram and just a bit of Italian seasoning. Of course, I added a bunch of chili powder, and also a touch of this other thing that I thought was chili powder, but was probably red curry powder. A touch of onion powder, some healthy dashed of aromatic bitters, 1/8 teaspoon coarse sea salt, some cracked pepper and a fair amount of cumin. Then I threw in 2 or 3 tablespoons of olive oil and enough water to make it the right consistency. (I like mine thick, but you can thin yours with more water just as easily.)
My veggies were done right about then, so I turned off the burner, turned on the oven, and started assembling.
I mixed the veggies together and put them on soft-taco sized whole wheat tortillas. These tortillas are the heavyweights in this meal, as far as salt content goes, so I filled them pretty full,
trying to help the good food --> salt ratio a little.
I lined them up in a 9x13 casserole dish (they ended up pretty big!), topped them with the sauce and baked them at 350 until I was done washing the dishes and having some orange juice, about 15 minutes.
Then I ate one up. I served it with some nonfat Greek yogurt in lieu of sour cream, but sour cream would be alright, too. I recommend something. I found that the yogurt was the final ingredient that brought the dish together and made it taste like more than just a lot of unsalted, cumin-y food. The onions had really sweetened up, as well, and they were delectable.
I have this new habit of counting sodium amounts in my head, the way hardcore dieters count calories. It's interesting; I think it is coincidentally teaching me portion control. By my calculations, each of the enchiladas had about 235-250 mg of sodium, or around 10% of your recommended daily intake. If you're a single girl, like me, who also happens to have freezer paper because you used it to stamp your own wrapping paper this Christmas, you might want to consider freezing the rest for quick meals to take with you.
Make.
Eat.
Enjoy.
Go in peace.
