Bean, Cheese and Potato Enchiladas

On Thursday night, the roomie and I had a hard time deciding what to make for dinner. We forgot to take the bison out of the freezer to make burgers and the salmon had to be defrosted for 8-10 hours. All I wanted to do was come home, go to the gym and do homework (because I have assignments due every Thursday). While I was on the bus, I was texting the roomie some ideas for dinner. She kept texting back that we didn't have all the ingredients for certain recipes and here is where my blog comes in! You don't have to have EVERYTHING that a recipe calls for, EVER. That is how you can make each recipe your own!

We decided on enchiladas based off of a recipe in the newest Everyday Food magazine. When this is finally posted on the Martha Stewart website I will come back and put links in, promise! Anyways, the idea of enchiladas sounded great but the recipe didn't, at all. It called for cottage cheese, which neither the roomie or I like, and the rest of the ingredients were just bland and boring. I scoured the fridge and the pantry to find things that I could make enchiladas with and I came up with probably the best recipe for bean enchiladas, EVER.

Here were the ingredients for the ORIGINAL recipe:

2 cups low fat (1%) cottage cheese          

1 can (15.5oz) black beans, rinsed and drained

S&P          

16 corn tortillas          

non stick cooking spray         

cilantro

3 tbsp EVOO (extra virgin olive oil--for those non-rachel ray followers)

3 garlic gloves, chopped          

1 large white onion, diced small         

4 teaspoons chili powder

2 tbsp white vinegar          

1 can (15 oz) tomato puree         

 2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth

And here is what I used:

(I got a little ahead of myself and started mixing ingredients before I took the picture of the ingredients; I was in a hurry, sorry!)

Ingredients:

1 can (15.5oz) black beans, drained and rinsed

1 can of Campbell's Cream of Potato Soup

1 bell pepper, chopped (I chose yellow)

1 large white onion, diced

EVOO

3 garlic cloves, chopped (I just put mine in the garlic press)

S&P 

Hot Sauce

lime

cilantro

10 corn tortillas (because that's all I had left. A large 9x13 pan will hold probably 12-14 filled tortillas)

5 tsp chili powder

1 tsp cayenne pepper (or more to taste)

1 tsp adobo (or more to taste)

1 8.5oz can of Tomato Sauce

2 tbsp white vinegar

2 tbsp queso fresco, crumbled

1 cup monterey jack cheese

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper

chopped scallions (the green parts only)

This is what I did:

1. Preheat oven to 350. In a bowl, mix together black beans, bell pepper, cream of potato soup, and all but 1/2 cup of the onions. Season with pepper, a little adobo and chili powder

2. Place all tortillas in a stack and wrap in a damp paper towel. Heat in the microwave until soft (I did two 30 second intervals). Spray a 9x13 baking dish. Place 2-3 spoonfuls of the bean mixture into the tortillas, wrap and place seam side down in the dish. Repeat until all 12-14 tortillas are filled. Place in the oven and bake for 8 minutes. 

3. While the enchiladas are baking, in a medium saucepan, heat oil over med-high. Add garlic and onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 min. Add the chili powder and cook until fragrant, 1 minute. Stir in vinegar and tomato sauce. Add adobo, hot sauce, pepper, and cayenne pepper to taste. (Don't use a lot of adobo, it's pretty salty... and the cayenne pepper is based on how spicy you want it). Cook for 5 minutes. Add 2 tbsp of the queso fresco crumbles and lower heat. If you want a little more spice, throw in about 1/4 tsp of crushed red peppers. I tasted the sauce throughout and adjusted the heat as I needed. Making it the way I did gives it a smoky hot flavor (aka AMAZING...if I do say so myself)!

4. Remove enchiladas from oven, sprinkle with monterey jack cheese (I used a large handful) and place back in the oven until cheese is melted, about 5 min.

5. Place 2 enchiladas on a plate and top with sauce, onions (that were saved from earlier), cilantro, a slice of lime and chopped scallions. 

(I just liked this picture because the enchiladas reflect on the plate :) )

***If there was something I missed or the explanation is confusing, please, let me know. I cooked this dish in a hurry, 3 days ago, and of course didn't write it down. I'll try to remember to do better next time but I never measure or write anything! I know that's not good since I'm doing a blog to share recipes but it's something I have to learn!***

I plan on posting dinner from last night a little later. I took the roomie out to TurCuisine last night because I needed a break from cooking! 

Enjoy!