Friday, May 4, 2012

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Hasta Luego, Keene!

Officially 1 day away from graduation day. Holy un-realness. Today starts the long avoided reality of leaving college life for good with the Honors Commencement ceremony. No Summa for me but Magna, which I am quite proud of in the field of Nutrition. Why do they have to make a major that is so much needed in this country so hard?! Either way I survived, and will be ever more grateful as I walk away from Keene State. So many mems, so little time.

Graduation also happens to fall on one of the "holidays" we "celebrate" a.k.a make an excuse to get excessively intoxicated. Ask anyone what the significance of St. Patrick's Day or Cinco de Mayo truly is, and I'm sure a majority of the answers would be the discovery of whiskey and tequila. Cinco de Mayo is a major holiday in the book of Emily, since not only will I be graduating college on this day, but it also marks the milestone of getting my driver's license those long 6 years ago. Exciting, I know! I'll have a non-tequila containing beverage in my honor.

With all the extra time on my hands, I have been productively enhancing my food knowledge by watching countless hours of Food Network shows. I can tell you they LOVE Cinco de Mayo! Guacomole, margaritas, tacos, margaritas, and of course margaritas! Catching the mexican food bug (no, not from drinking the water) I was inspired to make my own mexican dish. Voila! My mexican food baby was born, into an equally delicious counterpart to my Mexican Lasagna. Behold, Two Bean Enchiladas!



Two Bean Enchiladas
serves 4-5
Filling:
1 cup Fat-free Refried Beans
1 cup Canned Pinto Beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup Frozen corn, thawed
1/2 cup white onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 T lime juice
2 T Taco seasoning (low-sodium or salt-free)
2 tsp Hot sauce


Sauce:
1/2 T Canola Oil
1/2 T Flour
1 1/2 cup water
2 tsp Apple cider vinegar
1 T Taco seasoning


10 Whole Wheat Tortillas
1/2 cup Shredded cheddar cheese


Start by combining the ingredients for the filling in a medium-sized bowl. Taste and adjust seasonings to your liking. I tend to like things on the spicy side, so I add plenty of hot sauce. Set aside.

Once your filling is complete, preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and spray a 13x9 baking dish with cooking spray. Set aside.


Next, heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add your oil and flour, and whisk into a paste. Add the water, vinegar, and seasoning, and bring to a bowl. Continue to cook until the sauce thickens, whisking often. It should be the consistency of a tomato soup. Once thickened, remove from heat.


Ready for assembly! Be sure to have all the components close to one another, or else it could get messy. I had my baking dish in the middle of the filling and sauce which seemed to work rather nicely, Now regularly, you are supposed to dip each tortilla in the sauce, and then fill them, but I reduced my sauce too much so I wasn't going to have enough for each tortilla. Next time I make this, I will see if I have enough, but I thought the end product this time was rather delicious anyway. So my way, fill each tortilla was a little less than 1/4 cup of the filling, roll, and place in the baking dish seam side down. Repeat, for all tortillas, then cover with the sauce, making sure to give everyone a nice bath. Top with the shredded cheddar and cover the dish with aluminum foil. Bake for 20 minutes, remove foil, and bake another 5 minutes or until the cheesy is melted.
Ready for the Oven!

Serve alongside a nice green salad or other veggie and dinner is served! Sombrero optional.

This dish tends to be a bit high on sodium, so if that's a concern for you here are some tips:
-Look for low-sodium or salt free canned beans
-Use low-sodium taco seasoning or make your own, like me! Here a link to the recipe I used:
Salt-Free Taco Seasoning
-Make your own whole wheat tortillas like the one's here:
Whole Wheat Tortillas (new and improved recipe to follow!)
-Use frozen rather than canned corn

Two bean, or not to bean, that is the question. The answer is these deliciously, meat-free enchiladas. Enjoy!


Any plans for Cinco de Mayo?








1 comment:

  1. Ole and thanks for sharing I needed a good new recipe like that.

    ReplyDelete

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