Quinoa Enchilidas

This recipe is for those who love quinoa, and also those who love Enchilidas! This dish is a healthier spin on the traditional Mexican dish we all love. My sister introduced me to the idea of quinoa casseroles with sweet potatoes. I don’t love sweet potatoes, but in this recipe I think they make all the difference. These Enchilidas are fun because it’s only a few ingredients, it’s filling, healthy, and tasty. My picky husband approved! (Win!)

To start, wash sweet potatoes under warm water and poke multiple times with a fork. Instead of wrapping individually with tin foil, place on a cookie sheet and cover the cookie sheet with tin foil. Aren’t sweet potatoes so beautiful…?

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Place two sweet potatoes in oven and cook for 45-60 minutes at 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Sweet potatoes are done when they can be easily pierced with a fork. I cooked three because I was making one for my 6 month old son, can you tell which one is for him 🙂 It was his first time trying sweet potatoes and he loved it!

While potatoes are in the oven rinse, cook two cups of quinoa on the stove top. Bring quinoa and 4 cups of water to a boil and then reduce heat to medium until all the water has diminished and the outer rings appear on the individual grains. Once cooked, remove from heat and add approximately one Tbs of coconut oil to give quinoa a softer texture.

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In an 8×8 casserole dish dip five corn tortillas in 8 ounces of your favorite enchilada sauce. I use frontera brand. Let sit while sweet potatoes continue baking to allow sauce to soften tortillas.

Once sweet potatoes are done, cut open long ways and mash insides with a fork, place insides in a separate bowl with cooked quinoa. Combine potatoes and quinoa together, mix well- you don’t want any sweet potato chunk. A this point you should have a even texture throughout….Kind of looks like cookie dough!

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Add a dash or two of salt to quinoa mixture. The great thing about combining quinoa with sweet potatoes is that it softens and sweetens the quinoa but, doesn’t add a strong sweet potato flavor.

In your 8×8 dish fill soaked tortillas with quinoa mix, corn, black beans, and onion. Once sufficiently loaded, roll tortillas closed and repeat with all five tortillas

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Once all have been stuffed and rolled then squeeze half a lime onto tortilla tops. At this point you’ll probably have some tortilla stuffing ingredient left over. Place left over beans, corn, onion, and quinoa mix on top of tortillas and pat down. We’re trying to get the most bang for our buck here, or yummy food per serving. Add remaining 8 ounces of enchilada sauce to top of dish and place in oven.

Cook enchiladas at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 40 minutes, just until dish is heated through. My sauce was spilling over… I do love sauce! image

Once your timer goes off your dish is now ready, hooray! Serve with favorite salsa, Perfect Guacamole or both! Enjoy!

 

Ingredients

  • 2 Sweet potatoes
  • 2 cups quinoa
  • 16 ounces enchilada sauce
  • 5 corn tortillas
  • 1 can black beans
  • 1 cup of corn
  • 1/2 cup chopped yellow onion
  • 1/2 lime
  • salt to taste

How To

Begin with baking sweet potatoes. I washed and poked with holes then placed on a tin foil covered cookie sheet. Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 45-60 minutes, until inside is soft. While sweet potatoes are baking begin cooking quinoa. Place 2 cups of quinoa and 4 cups of water into a pot and bring to a boil, once boiling reduce to medium heat and continue to cook until water is gone. Mix in coconut oil, remove from heat and set aside.

Place five corn tortillas in the 8×8 casserole dish you’re going to use later and cover with 8 ounces of enchilada sauce. Let soak while sweet potatoes are baking. Once sweet potatoes are ready cut in half long ways and place soft insides in a separate bowl with cooked quinoa. Mix and mash until completely mixed. You should have a soft even texture.

Now it’s time to stuff your tortillas, open tortilla and place quinoa mix, corn, beans, and onion inside then roll tortillas in a traditional enchilada fashion. Once you’ve completely stuffed and rolled all five tortillas squeeze half a lime onto dish.

With the remaining tortilla stuffing ingredients place on top of tortillas and pat down.  Pour remaining sauce on dish and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 40 minutes, just until dish is heater throughout. You beautiful enchiladas are now ready to be serve, serve with favorite salsa, Perfect Guacamole or both! Enjoy!

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cook time: 1 hour, 40 minutes 

Enjoyers: 5-6 

 

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Veggie & Bean Soup 

When it’s cold outside, there isn’t anything much better than a warm bowl of soup to get you through winter nights. Soup hasn’t been one of my favorite meals for long, I used to be disappointed whenever I ate it because I never felt full. This colorful dish is packed with protein and veggies, it’s healthy, harty, and delicious! There is something so satisfying about taking 8 plus fresh ingredients and making a beautiful dish from scratch, that also happens to be tasty; so get to it!


Ingredients

  • 32 ounces of vegetable broth
  • 1 can of black beans
  • 1 can of great northern beans
  • Half a yellow onion
  • 2 cups of kale
  • 1-2 zucchini
  • 1 large tomato
  • 1/2 cup of Parsley
  • 2 cloves of garlic minced
  • 1/2 Tbs oregano
  • 1/2 Tbs  basil
  • 1/2 Tbs of Braggs sea kelp delight (for nutrition)
  • Salt and pepper to taste

How To 

Chop, chop, chop all veggies and place in crock pot. Add in drained and rinse beans and spices. Now add vegetable broth and stir. Set crock pot to high for three hours or low for five. Stir occasionally to integrate spices evenly into soup. Yep, it’s that easy! Serve, sip and enjoy!

Prep time: 2o minutes 

Cook time 3-5 hours 

Enjoyers: approximately 6 

Garlic Potato & Chipotle Black Bean Tacos

If I had to pick only one genre of food to eat for the rest of my life it’d probably be…Mexican. My husband and I have spent many days in Mexico working at a church our home church in California is affiliated with. One of the highlights of our trip, other than serving the people, would be the food! Is there anything better than an authentic street taco? Sadly, I’m sensitive to gluten and dairy (I know, lucky me). My food problems can keep me from enjoying some of my favorite, so I’m happy when I can create a Mexican inspired dish that doesn’t make me sick.

Chipotle and garlic don’t normally go hand in hand in my mind, but in these tacos they compliment each other perfectly. These tacos are healthy, juicy, and muy rico!

Start by washing, skinning, and chopping three russet potatoes and place in a separate bowl. I try to chop potatoes into smaller bite size pieces. Once in a bowl, top with salt to taste and three cloves of minced garlic. (After this step, I let the bowl sit on the counter for one hour because I wasn’t ready to bake. Consequently, some pieces turned brown. This was okay because it was just a product of the potatoes being exposed to oxygen).

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Place potatoes on a cookie sheet covered with path net paper and bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for about an hour. Check occasionally to assure potatoes don’t get overcooked.

While your beautiful garlic potatoes are going from ivory to golden brown, take a break until your timer reads 15-20 minutes left.

Now that your potatoes are nearing their end in the oven, turn your attention to the stove. Place a large skillet over medium heat and dump bag of spinach. Turn spinach with a utensil until spinach becomes soft. Once soft, empty one can of drained black beans into pan and mix together. Once warmed pour 8 ounces of your favorite chipotle sauce over the beans and spinach and mix together. Keep skillet over low heat for about ten minutes to let the flavors marinate!

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Your yummy juicy, crunchy tacos are now ready to be served. On a corn tortilla fill with potatoes and top with chipotle mixture. Tacos are tasty as is or topped with Perfect Guacamole. Go eat and enjoy!

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Ingredients

  • 3 Russet potatoes chopped into bite size cubes
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • salt to taste
  • 1 can black beans
  • 1 bag of spinach
  • Favorite Chipotle sauce (I use Frontera)
  • Corn tortillas

How To

Wash and peel potatoes then chop into cubes. Place all potato cubes into bowl, add minced garlic, salt and stir together. Place potatoes on top of parchment paper on a cookie sheet and bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for about an hour. Check potatoes occasionally to make sure they reach desired level of crispness. Depending on size of cubes might need more or less than an hour.

In a skillet, heat spinach and drained beans over medium heat. Once spinach softens add chipotle sauce and let simmer for approximatly ten minutes. Your tacos are now ready to eat. Place cooked potatoes in warm tortilla and top with chipotle mix. Serve with Perfect Guacamole! Enjoy!

Prep: 15 minutes

Cook: 1 hour, 20 minutes 

Enjoyers: 4

Slower Cooker Spaghetti Sauce

I have to admit, I used to be a canned pasta sauce person. It’s easy and relatively cheap. It wasn’t until I started trying to eat less sugar and oil that I started making my own. I’ve definitely had a few trial and errors. Shout out to my husband for roughing it through too sweet and then too spicy pasta….but we are now in the clear! image Once you taste this slower cooked sauce you’ll become a believer as well. It’s easy and only takes few minutes of prep. And after an hour of warming in the crock pot your house will smell like an Italian restaurant. Look at that…pasta perfection! image

Ingredients

  • 1 24 oz of canned strained tomatoes
  • 1 Tbs coconut sugar (or more if you like your sauce sweet. I prefer the dominant spices to be salt and garlic)
  • 1 Tbs oregano
  • 1 Tbs basil
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 Tbs salt
  • 3-5 cloves of garlic minced (depending on your love for garlic)
  • 1/4 Tbs sea kelp delight (for nutrition)
  • (A splash of red wine if you’re so inclined)

How to

Place canned strained tomato sauce and all spices in crock pot. Stir and cover. Turn crock pot to low and let cook for two hours, stirring occasionally. You’re yummy spaghetti sauce is now ready to top your favorite noodles. Just remove bay leaves and serve. Enjoy!

Prep time: 5 minutes 

Cook time: 2 hours 

Enjoyers: 4 

Warm Quinoa and Veggies

Quinoa is one of my all time favorite foods. I love it, I mean, I really love it!  Quinoa is fast, filling, and super yummy! Quinoa is also a complete protein, meaning it contains all 20 amino acids found in animal meats. Since I don’t eat a lot of meat, quinoa helps me get adequate protein in my diet. This recipe is simple, it’s basically a bowl of a few of my favorite foods. I’ve sent my husband to work with this dish countless times. It’s still great after being reheated.

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Ingredients

2 cups of rinsed uncooked quinoa (any color)

1 Tbsp coconut oil

1 cup broccoli cut

1 cup zucchini cut

1 cup greens (spinach, kale or both)

1-2 clove’s of garlic

Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions 

In a large sauce pan cook quinoa according to package directions. Once cooked add coconut oil to warm quinoa and stir until oil is completely melted. The coconut oil gives the quinoa a soft texture, I almost never serve quinoa without it.

Once quinoa is cooked and has been graced with coconut oil, mix in all chopped veggies and garlic. Let sit over low heat stirring frequently for 5-10 minutes until veggies are softened. Your beautiful quinoa is ready to be served. Add salt, pepper, and enjoy!

Prep time: 25 minutes 

Serves: 4