Eggplant Enchiladas with Homemade Enchilada Sauce

Sometimes I make substitutions in recipes and assume they will be delicious. Other times, I dread that the final product will turn out horribly, and that I will be wasting a huge amount of food that no one will eat. That was my worry while making this recipe. As someone who doesn't like zucchini, I am constantly looking at zucchini recipes, trying to decide if I can sub in something else without ruining the dish. When I saw a recipe for veggie enchiladas, I decided I had to try it, but with one of the main ingredients being zucchini, I had to sub it out. I decided to try eggplant instead, changing the cooking method a bit, since eggplant needs to cook a bit longer, and I have to say, it worked out wonderfully. My husband, who loves his typical chicken and beef enchiladas from the Mexican restaurant up the street, said that these were some of the best enchiladas he has ever had. Thumbs up all around.

Eggplant Enchiladas

Ingredients
For the sauce:
1 tsp vegetable oil
1/2 onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 Tbsp chili powder
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp sugar
2 cups tomato sauce
1/2 to 3/4 cup water

For the filling:
3 Tbsp olive oil, divided
1 large eggplant, cut into bite sized cubes
1/2 onion, sliced
1/2 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 jalapeño pepper, seeded and diced
1 can(15 oz) black beans
1/2 cup prepared enchilada sauce
1/2 cup shredded cheese

For assembly: 6-8 8 inch tortillas
1/2 cup shredded cheese
1/2 cup enchilada sauce
2-3 Tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped fine

For the sauce:
1: Heat oil in sauce pan over medium heat until shimmering.
2: Add onion and cook about 5 minutes, until softened.
3: Add garlic, sugar, and spices, and cook about 30 seconds.
4: Add tomato sauce and water, bring to a simmer, and allow to cook about 5 minutes.

For the enchiladas
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Heat 2 Tbsp oil in large skillet over medium heat until very hot. Add eggplant and cook until slightly brown, about 3 minutes. Set aside.
2. After removing eggplant from the skillet, heat remaining tablespoon of oil over medium heat until shimmering. Add onion and red pepper and cook until slightly softened, about 5-7 minutes.
3. Add garlic and jalapeño and cook about 30 seconds.
4. Add eggplant, black beans, and 1/2 cup enchilada sauce. Cook about 3-5 minutes until warmed through. Mix in 1/2 cup shredded cheese
5. To assemble, add about 1/3-1/2 cup filling to center of tortilla. Roll tightly and place in 9" x 13" baking dish, seam side down. Repeat with remaining filling and tortillas.
6. Pour 1/2 cup enchilada sauce over rolled enchiladas. Sprinkle cheese and cilantro over the top. Cover with foil and bake 5-10 minutes, until cheese is melted. Uncover and bake an additional 3-5 minutes.

Source: Adapted from Annie's Eats.

Homemade Flour Tortillas

Last week, I tried to make homemade tortillas. They turned out ok, and tasted pretty good, so I posted the recipe, and just assumed my problem was in rolling the dough, but when I tried the recipe again, I still had the same issues. I could not get the tortillas to stay thin and soft so, although they tasted good, they weren't really usable as tortillas.
This new recipe has completely changed that. Though it is not a low fat recipe like the other one, they are not horrible for you, and no worse nutrition wise than store bought tortillas. These tortillas turned out soft and pliable, and were delicious to use for everything from chocolate quesadillas to bean burritos, and so easy to make. These are so easy, in fact, that I actually made them while I was home sick, because I was hungry and low on food. Everyone should try making these; you will not be disappointed.

Flour Tortillas

Makes 12 8 inch tortillas

Ingredients
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, slightly softened
3/4 to 1 cup warm water

1: Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in mixer bowl. Cut in butter using a pastry cutter or 2 forks, until mixture is crumbly.
2: Using mixer with dough hook*, slowly add water while mixing until dough becomes a cohesive ball.
3: Kneed for about 30 more seconds until dough is tacky, but not sticky. If dough is too sticky, add flour, 1 tablespoon at a time.
4: Transfer dough to lightly floured surface and divide into 12 equal pieces. Cover with a clean damp kitchen towel and let rest for about 10 minutes.
5: Heat a large, heavy bottomed skillet over medium heat. Working with one dough piece at a time, roll the dough into an 8 inch circle.
6: Carefully transfer the rolled dough to the heated skillet and heat for about 20 seconds on each side, until bubbles form and tortilla is lightly browned. Do not overcook.
7: Repeat with remaining dough pieces. Store finished tortillas in airtight container in fridge for about a week, or freeze for longer.


*This recipe can easily be done without a mixer and dough hook. Start slowly adding water while mixing by hand, then kneed until it becomes a smooth, cohesive ball.

Recipe adapted from Annie's Eats

Homemade liquid laundry detergent

Lately I've been really in to making things from scratch, so when I found out you could make your own laundry soap, I figured I would have to give it a go. I didn't want to have to buy any special equipment to make it, so I decided I would make a small enough batch that I could fit it in my empty detergent bottle from the store. This recipe makes about a gallon of detergent, so make sure you bottle has a capacity of more than 1 gallon(mine was 1.3 gallons). Overall, the process took me about 15 minutes, and should save a significant amount of money. I read many different recipes to come up with my ratios, and they were all about the same, though I did use this one as a starting point.

Liquid Laundry Detergent

Ingredients
1/6 bar Fels Naptha
1/4 cup Washing Soda(not baking soda)
1/4 cup Borax

1. Grate Fels Naptha into a sauce pan with 3 cups hot water. Heat and stir until grated soap is completely melted.
2. Add Washing Soda and Borax and stir until completely dissolved.
3. Using a funnel, pour soap mixture into empty detergent bottle. Add 13 cups hot water to the bottle.
4. Shake well, then let cool and thicken for about 24 hours.


Use 1/3 to 1/2 cup detergent per load. Shake bottle often(if possible, before each use).


Cost Breakdown
Fels Naptha: $0.99 per bar, or $0.17 per batch.
Washing Soda: $2.50 per box, or about $0.10 per batch
Borax:$3.00 per box, or about $0.07 per batch
Overall, a batch cost about $0.34, and should yield 32 to 48 loads, which makes it about a penny a load(a huge savings to store bought detergent, even if you buy it on sale with coupons)!

*Note: I used my regular sauce pan to make this, and just rinsed it VERY well afterwards, but I did buy a separate grater for grating the soap, since I find it so difficult to get the grater completely clean.

Mexican Pizza

This week, my husband told me I wasn't allowed to go grocery shopping until we cleared out some food from the pantry and freezer. To some, this would be an annoyance, but to me, it was a challenge. After finding a can of refried beans and a bag of pizza dough, I knew exactly what I wanted, Mexican Pizza! I found a similar recipe here, but decided to change it up a bit to fit the ingredients I had.

Overall, I think the pizza turned out great. It had just enough spice, and was plenty filling without the addition of meat. The whole meal was pretty easy to put together, and was ready in under an hour, with even less active time(most of the time was for the oven and stone to preheat).

Ingredients

Pizza dough*
1 cup refried beans
1 small can diced tomatoes with green chilis(Rotel)
2 green onions (chopped)
1/4 large yellow onion(sliced)
1 cup shredded cheese

1: Preheat oven and pizza stone to 500 degrees.
2: Drain tomatoes and reserve the liquid.
3: In a small bowl, mix refried beans and about 1/4 cup of liquid from tomatoes. Heat in microwave about 25 seconds.
4: Roll out pizza dough to about a 12 inch circle(this may be different depending on your dough). Brush the perimeter with olive oil.
5: Spread bean mixture onto shaped crust.
6: Sprinkle tomatoes and yellow onion slices.
7: Sprinkle cheese evenly across the pizza. Top with green onions.
8: Move to preheated stone and bake 10-15 minutes, until cheese is melted and crust is golden brown. Let cool 10 minutes before serving.

*I use Annie's Eats' pizza dough recipe, which can be found here.

Recipe adapted from Annie's Eats.

Homemade low fat tortillas

I love quesadillas. They are delicious and so easy, especially with my handy quesadilla maker. After yet another delicious quesadilla, I decided that I had to try my hand at making homemade tortillas. I had heard they were not too hard, but were much tastier than the kinds you can buy at the store.

After finding a recipe here , I decided to give it a go. Overall, I found the recipe delicious, but I had alot of trouble rolling the tortillas out thin enough, so they ended up being more like a gordita shell from Taco Bell(thicker and breadier than a normal tortilla, but still delicious). I tweeked the recipe a bit for my second attempt, and had a bit better luck(recipe below). I think I will try making these again, but let the dough rest even longer before rolling it out, and really work to roll them thin.



Homeade Low Fat Tortillas

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp olive oil
3/4 cup warm water

1: In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt and baking powder. Stir until combined.

2: Mix warm water and oil together. Slowly add water/oil mixture to the flour mixture until the dough comes together into one piece. Add extra water, 1 tsp at a time, as needed.

3: Knead the dough for about a minute. Shape dough into a ball and let rest, covered with a damp towel for about 10 minutes.

4: Divide the dough into 12 pieces and shape each into a ball. Let rest for another 30-60 minutes, covered.

5: On a lightly floured surface, roll each piece of dough into a 6 inch circle about the thickness of a piece of poster board. Stack the tortillas, dusted with flour, until they are all rolled out.

6: Heat a heavy bottomed skillet over medium heat. Cook tortillas, one at a time, in the hot skillet until blistered and slightly golden on each side. Stack and cover finished tortillas with a dry towel to keep warm until all are cooked.

Enjoy warm, or store tortillas, covered with plastic wrap or in a bag, in the refrigerator.


Source
Recipe adapted from Budget Bytes