Vegetable Enchiladas

A friend in our ward out here, Katie Blakesley, forwarded me this recipe from MarthaStewart.com. We tried it out for our dinner guests tonight and really enjoyed the way it tasted (and that means a lot coming from me because I'm not usually a fan of "red sauce" on enchiladas). Bonus: it can be frozen for up to two months if you store the sauce separately.

Ingredients (serves 8):

• 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for baking dishes
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 1 can (14 1/2 ounces) reduced-sodium vegetable broth
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 3 cups grated pepper Jack cheese (12 ounces)
• 1 can (15 ounces) black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 box (10 ounces) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
• 1 box (10 ounces) frozen corn kernels, thawed
• 6 scallions, thinly sliced, white and green parts separated
• 16 corn tortillas (6-inch)

Directions:

1. Make sauce: In a medium saucepan, heat oil over medium. Add 1 teaspoon cumin, flour, and tomato paste; cook, whisking, 1 minute. Whisk in broth and 3/4 cup water; bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, and cook until slightly thickened, 5 to 8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, and set aside.
   
   
2. Make filling: In a large bowl, combine 2 cups cheese, beans, spinach, corn, scallion whites, and remaining 1 teaspoon cumin; season with salt and pepper.
   
   
3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly oil two 8-inch square baking dishes; set aside. Stack tortillas, and wrap in damp paper towels; microwave on high for 1 minute. Or stack and wrap in aluminum foil, and heat in oven for 5 to 10 minutes. Top each tortilla with a heaping 1/3 cup of filling; roll up tightly and arrange, seam side down, in prepared baking dishes.
   
   
4. Dividing evenly, sprinkle enchiladas with remaining 1 cup cheese, and top with sauce. Bake, uncovered, until hot and bubbly, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool 5 minutes; serve garnished with scallion greens.

To freeze: Prepare enchiladas through step 3; top with cheese, and cover baking dishes with plastic wrap and then aluminum foil. Place sauce in an airtight container. Freeze enchiladas and sauce for up to 2 months.

To bake from frozen: Thaw sauce in refrigerator overnight (or microwave on high 2 minutes, stirring once halfway through). Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Remove foil and plastic wrap from baking dishes, and pour sauce over enchiladas; cover with foil. Bake 30 minutes; remove foil, and bake until bubbly, about 15 minutes more. Cool 5 minutes before serving.

Note: If you like your enchiladas spicier, add 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper to sauce.

Spaghetti Squash With Tomato Sauce

I finally had a chance to make this after watching Martha Stewart cook up some squash on her show. I pulled her version off the website, minus the turkey meatballs. The combination was great but I'm sure you could play around with the sauce.

Serves 4

For Spaghetti Squash:

• 2 spaghetti squashes (about 2 pounds each), halved lengthwise and seeds removed
• 1 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
• salt and freshly ground pepper

For Tomato Sauce:

• 2 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 2 Tbs. tomato paste
• 2 cans (28 ounces each) crushed tomatoes with basil
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• salt and freshly ground pepper

1. To prepare the spaghetti, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Drizzle cut sides of squashes with oil; season with salt and pepper. Place cut sides up on a baking sheet. Bake until soft to the touch, 1 to 1 1/4 hours.
2. To prepare the sauce, heat the oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and cook, stirring with a wooden spoon, for 1 minute. Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring, for an additional minute. Stir in the tomatoes and oregano; season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, and reduce to a simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 20 minutes. Keep warm over low heat.
3. When the squashes are cool enough to handle, scrape the flesh of each squash with a fork into strands, and place into a large bowl. Serve topped with meatballs and sauce, and sprinkled with cheese, if desired.

Note: I only bought one squash to feed Shane and I and halfed the rest of the recipe as well and we had plenty for dinner and then some.

Indian Spiced Chickpea and Fire Roasted Tomato Soup

Amazingly delicious soup courtesy of Missy Smalls. See her instructions below:

Serves 4 as a first course.

Ingredients:
1/4 c extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 cans chickpeas, drained
1 small onion, coarsely chopped
2 t ground cumin
1/2 t ground cardamom
1/2 t turmeric
salt and pepper
2 c chickeno or vegetable stock
1 (28-oz) can fire roasted tomatoes*
1 cup plain yogurt
Warm pita, any flavor or variety, toasted

*Note about the tomatoes: On the show, Rachael Ray used crushed fire roasted tomatoes, but at my store they only sell diced fire roasted tomatoes (which are actually a new addition to the tomato aisle, thank goodness). I just popped them in the food processor for a couple seconds once I was done with the chickpeas and it comes out splendidly.

1. Heat a medium pot with the extra-virgin olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic and cook 2 to 3 minutes.
2. Grind the chickpeas and onion in food processor. Add to pot and cook 5 minutes to sweeten onion.
3. Season the chickpeas with cumin, cardamom, turmeric, salt and pepper. Stir in stock, then tomatoes.
4. Simmer soup 5-10 minutes to combine flavors. Serve with a dollop of yogurt and warm pita for dipping.

Poppyseed Dressing

I had this at an enrichment activity once and couldn't get it out of my head. Delicious on salad, especially with fruit mixed in (and for you meat-eaters you can add chopped chicken, too).

• 1/4 c. red onions
• 1/2 c. sugar (or honey)
  
• 1/3 c. vinegar
• 1 c. canola oil
• 1 tsp. Dijon mustard
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 Tbs. poppyseed
  

Smooth ingredients together in blender. Store in glass jar if you don't want to use right away.

Great tossed with spinach leaves, fruit (mandarin oranges, apples, strawberries) and nuts (almonds, pecans). Throw in some chicken for you meat-eaters and you have a full-blown meal.

Aunt Suzie's Cheese Toasts

Per Megan's request, I'm posting a favorite family appetizer recipe today. It's short and simple and oh so delicious.

1/2 c. mayonnaise
4 green onions chopped top to bottom
1/4 c. Parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp. beaumond seasoning
1/2 c. mozzarella
1 c. extra sharp cheddar cheese
1-2 baguettes, thinly sliced

Mix all ingredients together. Spread onto baguette slices (a little bit can go a long way if you have a lot of people to feed).

Broil in oven, watching carefully for cheese to bubble (they are easy to burn). Remove, cool for a minute and serve.

Apple Cinnamon Yams

Okay, I got this fantastic yam recipe from my dear mission companion, Whitney Worthen. It's a family favorite she made for us missionaries when we all gathered together for Thanksgiving back at the Institute building on the island of Tenerife in 2004.

(Note: This recipe is so good even non-yam-lovers can't keep their hands out of it. En serio.)

Here goes:

• 4 large cooked yams (2 medium cans)
• 2 large apples (peeled, cored, halved and thinly sliced)
• ½ c firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 4 TB butter
• ½ c chopped pecans

Place ½ yams in dish; layer ½ apples on top. Mix sugar, cinnamon, nuts and ½ tsp. salt in a bowl. Sprinkle ½ of mixture over apple layer. Repeat with remaining yams, apples and mix. Drizzle melted butter over the top. Cover and bake 40 minutes at 325 degrees. Uncover and bake about 10 minutes more with mini marshmallows on top (until slightly brown).

Disfrute!

Whole Wheat Banana Bread

This is a moist, hardy bread that you won't feel guilty for eating.

1/3 cup vegetable oil (or substitute oil for same amount of unsweetened applesauce)
1/2 cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 cup mashed bananas
1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup hot water
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).

In a large bowl, beat oil and honey together. Add eggs, and mix well. Stir in bananas and vanilla. Stir in flour and salt. Add baking soda to hot water, stir to mix, and then add to batter. Blend in chopped nuts. Spread batter into a greased 9x5 inch loaf pan.

Bake for 55 to 60 minutes. Cool on wire rack for 1/2 hour before slicing.