These enchiladas are unique for having no cheese or beans but with lots of vegetables. The nutritional yeast is optional but definitely worth finding at your local, healthy grocery store. If you make them there is enough here to make 2 trays so that you can freeze one for another night. Why wash the dishes and do all that cutting again if you don’t have to? A food processor will make the job go quickly too. MEAL EXTENSIONS at the bottom gives some ideas for making other entrees with this recipe.
Ingredients:
1 onion -- diced very fine
2 lb(s) ground beef
12 oz(s) mushrooms -- diced
1 bunch kale -- diced as fine as possible
6 zucchini(s) -- medium to small sized, diced
3 tbsp cumin
1 1/2 tsp salt
4 garlic clove(s)
2 cup(s) shredded carrot -- or use juicing fiber, or red bell pepper
1 cup(s) nutritional yeast
28 oz(s) enchilada sauce -- or smooth salsa
24 corn tortillas
Directions
Do Ahead: Dice onions, kale, mushrooms and zucchini; store onion separately and others together. Shred carrots.
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Get out both 13x9 pans, one to bake and one for the freezer.
2. With medium/low heat saute onions for a few minutes in olive oil in a large skillet before adding meat to center of skillet; top with mushrooms. Cover and cook until almost all pink no longer shows. (Use two skillets if you don’t have a really large one.)
3. Add vegetables: kale, zuchini and then cumin and salt. Mix to combine with spatula.
4. Add shredded carrots (or carrot juicing fiber) and nutritional yeast, cover pan half way, add a little water if needed and simmer 20 min stirring a few times.
5. Dredge softened tortillas in flat bowl filled with enchilada sauce, fill with 1/2 c. meat mixture using slotted spoon, roll and place in 13x9 pans. Pour any extra sauce over top of enchiladas. Cover with foil and heat one of the pans through, approx. 10 min. (Cheese can be sprinkled over all or part if desired!).
6. Place saved enchiladas in large freezer bag and close with rubber band, twist tie or freezer tape. I save bags used to hold two loaves of bread at one time for this purpose, but Walmart also sells oversized ziplock bags which can fit all 8x8 and some 13x9 pans. When cooking turn oven to 350 degrees and cook for 1 hour or defrost ahead of time and cook until heated through.
MEAL EXTENSIONS: Wrap half of the filling in tortillas to make enchiladas, but save the other half to make soup instead for variety. Simply add broth, corn, rice or noodles if desired, salt and pepper to taste. Or eat the enchilada filling over brown rice or cooked spaghetti squash seasoned with olive oil, salt and pepper.
OTL 2013
