Recipe Thursday - Vegan Enchiladas

Now, before you stop reading at "vegan", there are no soy products or fake cheese, or anything like that in these enchiladas. If I hadn't mentioned vegan you wouldn't even realize something was missing--I mean it! This was the first thing I made for Mark after his diet change that he didn't say, "it's good but it needs some meat" or "this would make a good side." It's also the first thing we decided we could make for friends. I've taken this to a lot of summer bbq's this year so Mark would have something to eat and have gotten a lot of requests for the recipe. Okay, now I've built it up too much--but really, it's yummy! Let's get down to the recipe:

Black Bean & Roasted Sweet Potato Enchiladas

Two large sweet potatoes
T olive oil
Clove of garlic (minced)
small chili (I've used mild and medium but hot would be good too--I like to use red for color)
2 cups (or can of black beans--if you use a can be sure to rinse well--I like to use a can & 1/2 when I haven't had time to make my own)
Small can of diced tomatoes (I think it's 14.5 oz) or whole plum tomatoes chopped & drained (I've also used a big can and added more beans)
T Chili Powder
salt/pepper
Salsa
Tortillas (I use whole wheat)

Preheat Oven to 400
Peel & dice the sweet potatoes and put in a single layer on a lightly oiled baking sheet
Roast for 20-30 minutes (shake or turn over once) set aside to cool
(you can do this the day before too)

Lower oven to 350

Heat olive oil in large pan over medium heat
Cook the chili and garlic until fragrant (30 seconds or so) don't let them brown
Add in the beans, tomatoes and chili powder and cook for about 5 minutes
Add in the sweet potatoes and lower heat. Let flavors blend for 10 minutes or so.
Remove from heat.

Lightly oil a baking dish
Spoon a thin layer of salsa on the bottom of the dish (I like to use green salsa)
Place a few spoonfuls of the mixture in a tortilla, fold the ends in and roll up (place in dish)
Continue until dish is filled.

If you have leftover filling, spoon it over the enchiladas
Spoon more salsa on top
Sprinkle with chopped red onion

Cover and bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes (sometimes I remove the cover to crisp it up a bit for the last 10 minutes or so).

These are also wonderful with jack cheese (just add a bit to each tortilla and sprinkle on top). I made two pans for a party (one with cheese and one without). They both emptied out but the cheese went first of course!

This recipe was adapted from Vegan Planet which I HIGHLY recommend. We've liked almost everything I've made from this book.