Vegetarian Enchilada Pie

This is my riff on a Utah standby Chicken Enchilada Pie, that my dear friend Nicole taught me how to make back in Ohio in 1995. The Chicken version layered tortillas with sour cream, cream of chicken soup, sauteed onions, cheese, and cooked chicken. My new version, adapted to vegetarian tastes and my progress at Weight Watchers (25 pounds down, yay!) is a different kind of yummy, and it has that quality I love about a good casserole: leftovers that last in the fridge, handy for lunching or snacks for me and other adults in the house for the days that follow.

I hear Nicole's in China now. She's lived around the world since our days in Ohio. She's such an excellent cook (and seamstress and business manager) I wonder what great things she's done since our daughters were small.

1.5 to 2 TB oil
1 medium summer squash
1 medium-small zucchini
1 red bell pepper
red or other onion, half a large
8-10 oz mushrooms
half a pound frozen corn kernels
2 1/2 cups shredded cheese
5-7 corn tortillas, which tend to be small.
28-ounce can of enchilada sauce, I like the green kind.

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350F, because that's how to cook any casserole.

2. dice up small the vegetables, medium-high heat the oil in the pan, then add the vegetables and saute. Here you can see the proportions.

Oh, I forgot to add the mushrooms and corn. I buy the pre-sliced mushrooms, and then chop them further from there. The corn really ought to be microwave cooked first, but I just threw it in the pan, slowing down and reducing the quality of the vegetables cooking. Oh well.

Now it's all mixed together. I really love the colors--this is why one of my Christmas side dishes for years was zucchini-bell.pepper-corn.

Now that's cooked; it's time to layer. Cover the bottom of the pan with 1/4 of the sauce, layer two tortillas, half of the vegetables, and another dose of sauce, and some (1/3 of) cheese.

Let's peek ahead with this layers diagram for the finished casserole. The fraction is how much of that item to put in that layer.

cheese (1/3)

sauce (1/4)

tortillas (1/3)

cheese (1/3)

sauce (1/4)

vegetables (1/2)

tortillas (1/3)

cheese (1/3)

sauce (1/4)

vegetables (1/2)

tortillas (1/3)

sauce (1/4)

\________pan________/

Here I'm in process covering those first tortillas with my first layer of veggies.

Sauce on the second layer, and repeat as before.

Cheese going on just before another layer of tortilla. If I'm going to use cheese, I use real cheese, not reduced-fat stuff. It doesn't take much (relative to what I used to do, perhaps) to give it that cheese-in-mix taste. I would have loved a Jack cheese here, but was happy to use the sharp cheddar that was in the house. I think it really adds to the nourishing deliciousness of the meal to use what I have.

And on that front, I wasn't stopped by the fact I only had five corn tortillas in the house. I tore the last one into pieces and spread it around for the top layer thus.

Last layer of sauce and cheese.

Cover and bake the standard 350F for 30 minutes. This pretty dish (from IKEA years ago) didn't have a lid, so I used foil.

And it's done! I suppose you could remove the foil at the end, if you want the cheese browned as well as bubbly, but for me this is good. Too often I burn the cheese at the end trying to do that. Feel free to send me an acetylene torch.

Was delish, and delish as leftovers for a couple days. Loved and appreciated by everyone over the age of 16--probably could have won the heart of the younger teen if it didn't fall into the inaccurately-named category "Mexican Food." Apparently my love of all things bean, cheese, and tortilla more than met her quota five years ago.

But never mine.

Summer Soups: Gazpacho

We bought a house this year and I am loving the produce of my small kitchen garden. Last week twice I made Gazpacho using my neighbor's fabulous recipe. This one needs a food processor.

Into the food processor:
2 cloves garlic
4 tsp parsley
2 tsp chives
2 stalks celery (cut into chunks)
1 red bell pepper (seeded and cut)
1 cucumber (peel, seed, chunked)
2 tomatoes (peeled and seeded)

pulse after each addition, or if you're me, just do it all at the end. Don't let it get too fine.

Transfer to a large bowl and add:
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp Worcestershire
1/4 tsp sriracha, which I prefer to tabasco
1/4 cup olive oil
2 TB red wine vinegar
2 TB lemon juice
4 cups vegetabel juice (V-8)

Serve. Gazpacho is a dish best served cold, or at room temp.

Yeah, I know it's a soup that's half V-8, but I love it, though I don't love V-8.

Only problem, this is obviously not a complete vegetarian meal. What do you serve with it? We had cheese on wheat rolls, (yum goat cheese) but couldn't there be a better match?

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I'm kind of on a soup kick. On other days I made gypsy soup (with leftover slices of roast pork on the side for the nonveges), and on another day I made vegetable soup with pistou (little hamburgers on the side for the nonveges). Looks like a jump on Fall menus, but using my garden produce and not turning on the oven was just right.

Spicy Sesame Noodles

Summer has hit with a vengeance. While June was mostly 70s, we are running the A/C all the time now. Here's what's for dinner tonight.

Spicy Sesame Noodles

Prep time--10 minutes
Cook time--10 minutes
Yield--4-6 servings

12 oz angel hair pasta
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup water
2 TBS soy sauce
2 TBS seasoned rice vinegar
1 TBS vegetable oil (I use less)
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
2-3 tsp grated ginger
2 tsp sesame oil
pinch (or two or three) cayenne pepper
3 green onions
carrot (I use about one cup of baby carrots--they're going to get processed)
handful cilantro
1 large cucumber, halved, seeded, and sliced

Cook pasta (you know what to do). While water is heating and noodles are cooking, mix together in a large bowl the peanut butter through the cayenne.
Place green onion, carrots, and cilantro in food processor until carrots are finely diced.
When pasta is done/drained, add it to the peanut butter sauce, along with the veggies. Toss to coat. If you have them, you can also add toasted sesame seeds.

This can be served warm or cold. I like to make it earlier in the day before my house starts to get warm. No, it isn't low fat. But it is quick and cool.

Dressed up Salmon Cakes over Field Greens

If your idea of vegetarian includes fish, click here for a great recipe. Stay tuned for tomorrow. I'm trying a summer Chilean Bean Stew with a Jicama-Orange Salad and Maple Cornbread.

Avocado Smoothies

The weather here is starting to have hints of warmness, so I've been celebrating by making fruit smoothies.

Avocado Smoothie
1 avocado
2 scoops vanilla ice cream (or yogurt)
enough milk so it will blend
~2-3 T sugar (to taste)

Blend until smooth. Serves 2.


strawberry banana variation:
Add 1/2 a banana and 2 handfuls of strawberries.