Healthy Water Sauteing Revisited and a Vegan Enchilada Recipe

A really important part of the upcoming challenge that my daughter and I are about to do is limiting severely the fat in our diets. And one of the ways of doing that is to master the technique of "water" sauteing (or broth, or wine, or vegetable juice, or orange juice) that I mentioned a few weeks ago. A very kind chef in California even wrote me, http://www.theblissfulchef.com/, and let me know that she was going to post a video on YouTube on the subject. So here is her video where she does a fabulous job of demonstrating the technique!

I knew that I needed to take another crack at this intriguing technique and soon. Plus, I have been inspired by the sheer number of Mexican recipes in The Engine 2 Diet (I guess that's what happens when you live in Texas!). So, I thought I would combine the two concepts and prepare Vegan Enchiladas. Now, very unlike me, I did not follow a recipe. I simply familiarized myself with a few other vegan enchilada recipes and went for it. In fact, it's just the sort of thing that you could throw any vegetable into that you need to use up. So if you decide to give this a try yourself, just put in whatever vegetables you like!

Wendy's Kitchen Sink Vegan Enchiladas
serves a lot!

1 cup brown rice, cooked according to package directions, in 2 cups water OR 3 cups frozen brown rice, cooked
2 cans enchilada sauce
14 corn tortillas (I used the Ezekiel brand)
vegetable broth
1 very large white or yellow onion, peeled and chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
8 ounces sliced white mushrooms
2 tsp dried oregano
3/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 big bag of spinach, washed if necessary
2 15 ounce cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1 4 ounce can diced green chilies (mild or hot, depending on your taste)
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
a handful of cilantro, chopped
optional: 1 8 ounce bag of vegan shredded cheddar cheese (Daiya brand)

Prepare brown rice according to package directions. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Set a very large skillet on medium-high heat. Let the pan get pretty hot and pour in a few Tbsp of whatever sauteing liquid you are using. I used vegetable broth. The broth should immediately bubble up. Put your chopped onions into the pan and let cook, stirring often, until onion begins to turn translucent. Add chopped garlic and stir. After a few minutes, add mushrooms. Cook , stirring every so often, until mushrooms cook down in size and give off their liquid. Season with oregano, cumin, cayenne pepper and salt.

Add spinach to the onion mixture. Once spinach wilts, add rinsed and drained black beans, the can of diced green chilies, and the chopped tomato. Let cook over medium heat until brown rice is ready. Add brown rice and 1/2 can of enchilada sauce to the vegetable mixture. Take entire mixture off of the heat.

Now for the fun part! Pour 1/2 of a can of enchilada sauce onto the bottom of a 9 x 13" (or larger) casserole. Place corn tortillas over enchilada sauce so that the tortillas cover the bottom of the casserole. You will have to cut some tortillas in half to make this happen.

Place 1/2 of rice, veggie, bean mix over the tortillas and smooth out into an even layer. Layer another round of corn tortillas and then the remaining 1/2 of the rice, veggie, bean mix. Top it off with another round of corn tortillas. Pour an entire can of enchilada sauce over the top. Optional: Sprinkle the entire bag of vegan shredded cheddar cheese over the top. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 35 minutes.