Enchilada Day!

It's a cooking day today at our house.  That means I'm making a double batch of something good for dinner - usually lasagna or these enchiladas.  I'm using yams and making one batch with meat (for the carnivoires in the house) and one batch without.  It's acutally better as leftovers, and I freeze single portions for lunches.  Enjoy!

Black Bean & Yam Enchilada Casserole

Recipe by Sheila at musings of a mommy.blogspot.com
Adapted from a recipe from Vegetarian Times (December 2011)

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, diced
2-3 yams (or sweet potatoes), peeled & cubed
1 15oz can diced tomatoes with green chiles
1 jar salsa
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 15 oz can black beans, rinsed
1 cup frozen corn kernels
1 large (19 oz) or 2 small (10 oz) cans enchilada sauce (or more!)
Small corn tortillas (30 small ones)
Shredded cheese (I used 4 cups Monterey jack)
Sour cream, hot sauce, avocado, cilantro, and limes for serving

FILLING:
Heat olive oil in large saucepan/pot.  Add onion and sauté 5 minutes.  Add yams, tomatoes, salsa, garlic, and ½ cup water.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 30-40 minutes, until yams are soft.  Mash mixture with potato masher.  Add beans and corn and cook 5-10 minutes.

ASSEMBLE:
Spread sauce on the bottom of a baking pan. (I make two 8” or 9” square casseroles, adding ground beef to one of them.)  Top with tortillas (overlapping to cover completely), sauce, 1/3 of filling, cheese, sauce, tortillas, sauce, filling, etc.  End with tortillas, then sauce.  Cover.

BAKE:

15-20 minutes at 350 F.  Remove cover, sprinkle with cheese, and bake 5 minutes more to melt.  Let rest 10 minutes or more before serving.  Garnish with sour cream, hot sauce, avocado, cilantro, and lime wedges.

Great for potlucks and freezes well for leftovers.

summertime

Yesterday, the kids and I picked a bowl full of tomatoes, and then peeled and crushed them to make soup.  It was fun showing them how to put the tomoatoes into boiling water for a few minutes, then cooling them in a bowl of ice water, then peeling them.  They were fascinated that the peels came off so easily.  Then we mashed them and pushed them through a strainer to get out the seeds.  Messy work.  Kids love making a mess in the kitchen.  Then I made the best homemade tomato soup.  Guess what the secret is?  Sugar.  It tasted good, but very acidic, until Stuart suggested that I add a few teaspoons of sugar.  It worked!

Today we are off to the mall.  Sally wants to shop with a friend, and Sam needs new shoes.  I don't normally shop for shoes at the mall, but we have two hours to kill, and I don't want to spend them all at GameStop.  We may go to the pet store and look at the puppies.  Maybe.

I'm planning on writing up a long post about our fantastic trip to Disney World, but I am still too busy.  Busy in summer - loving it.