"Beef" and Kale Enchiladas 5/5 Spoons

Here is one of my own mad creations! It mostly comes from me wanting to use up the almost not okay to eat kale that was in our fridge and wanting to have some Mexican food. I think it was a great way to combine those two desires. I actually cut this recipe down a bit because one of my roommates is out of town and she likes my cooking more than the other roommate. (AKA - the big carnivore). This was not something pretty to take a picture of so enjoy this insane drawing I found!

(Thank you VelvetMinxx5)

“Beef” and Kale Enchilada Bake

2-3 T. vegetable oil
½ c. onion, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
½ green pepper, diced
1 c. (1/2 bunch) kale, chopped roughly
A few glugs of veggie broth or water (about ½ - ¾ c.)
Jackie’s Taco Seasoning (recipe below)
1 package MorningStar Farms veggie crumbles (or tofu, tempeh, seitan, etc.)
1 can small can hot enchilada sauce (or make your own! I do this sometimes, but definitely not today.)
1 8 - ounce package sharp cheddar cheese
6-8 small corn tortillas
Salt and pepper to taste

1 T. chili powder
1 t. cumin and oregano
¼ t. garlic powder, onion powder and cayenne pepper

Throw in a container and shake. You can double, triple, etc. this and save it for the next time you make tacos!

Set your oven to 375. Grease a 3 qt. casserole dish with cooking spray or oil. Open the can of enchilada sauce and put about 1/3 of the contents in the bottom. Spread the sauce around so it evenly coats the bottom of the pan.

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Toss in the onions, garlic, green pepper and kale. Cook until onions are translucent and the kale wilts down quite a bit (about 5-10 minutes). Add a few glugs of broth/water, the veggie crumbles and taco seasoning. Crank the heat up to med-high and let it simmer for about 5 minutes until the liquid has dissipated.

Lay 3-4 tortillas in the bottom of the pan and add ½ of “beef” mixture. Cover with ½ of cheese and top again with 3-4 tortillas. Add the rest of the “beef” mixture and cover with the rest of the enchilada sauce. Top with remaining cheese.

Place in top half of your oven for about 20 minutes or until cheese is bubbly. Place in lower half of your oven for 10 more minutes or until the cheese on top is crusty and crunchy.

Once again, something I love about this dish is that it is easily customizable. Throw in some corn, pinto beans, black beans, leftover potatoes and rice, etc. The sky is the limit. I topped mine with sour cream but it would be bitching with some avocado, cilantro, lime, blah blah. You know what goes good with Mexican food, don't ya?

I promise to write about the EPIC birthday layer cake I made (Vanilla and Chocolate with a Raspberry Filling topped with Vanilla Buttercream frosting anyone?) Until next time, take care!

Happy Chicken Tortilla Soup 5/5 Spoons

Q. Why is the chicken happy?

A. Because it's alive!

Okay, I've never claimed to be funny. But this soup is cruelty-free so the chickens must be happy!

(Look how happy!)

This recipe is adapted from Brown Eyed Baker which has been adapted from Max & Erma's recipe. I've decided to go the way of other bloggers and just like adapt recipes myself and keep track of all of my findings. I mean that's the way forming recipes of your own happens, right? So I wanted this recipe to be vegan and I think with just some tweaks it was super easy to do. And delicious of course. It almost tasted like a dip but in soup form. So here is my adapted recipe:

Feeds 4-5

2-3 T. olive oil
1/2 c. onion, diced
2-3 garlic cloves, diced small
2 Anaheim peppers, seeded and diced small *
2 1/2 T. cornstarch
1 qt. Imagine Organic No-Chicken Broth
1 c. vegetable broth
4 6-inch corn tortillas, cut into small pieces
1 lime, juiced
1 ear of corn kernels cut from the cob or about 1/2 - 1 c. frozen/canned corn
1 - 14 ounce can diced tomatoes
1 can drained and rinsed black beans
3/4 t. cumin
3/4 t. oregano
1/2 t. cayenne
1/2 t. red pepper flakes (I like it spicy, so cater to your own needs)
Salt and pepper to taste

* Anaheim peppers are not hot like jalapenos, so don't substitute habaneros, etc. The point of these peppers is to get the flavor and not the heat so if you need to substitute use a Poblano or a Peppadew

1. In a large saucepan or Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the minced onion, pepper, and garlic and cook slowly, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes, or until the minced onion begins to turn translucent.

2. Whisk the cornstarch into the broth, then add the broth mixture to the pot, along with the minced tortillas, lime juice, corn, diced tomatoes, black beans, cumin, cayenne pepper, oregano, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Increase the heat to medium and stir occasionally. The soup should not take too long to come together and heat through (about 10 minutes). Garnish with diced avocado, tortilla chips, green onions, extra lime juice, etc.

(Photo courtesy of Brown Eyed Baker)

From start to finish, this soup took 30 minutes. Honestly. From the first cut of my onion to ladling soup into my bowl, 30 minutes. So this is something that you can easily throw together especially since it is so versatile. Think of anything you love in your favorite Mexican food, salsa, guacamole, mole, etc. and you can toss it in this pot!

And I have some huge news to share, I have a job! And one that like, I really want! I will be working production with Upton's Naturals which is a Chicago based 100% vegan company that makes delicious seitan and seitan products. I will get the industrial kitchen experience I've been wanting and get to work for and with cool people who are committed to a cruelty-free lifestyle as much as I am. I've toyed with the idea of going vegan for a long time now but realize how hard it is to do while living with omnivores who basically pay for my groceries. This is one step towards living a truly vegan lifestyle and there are only more steps to come!

Up next, I will probably be reviewing my roommate's epic layer birthday cake that I will be making next week. Until then, enjoy the beginning of March my loves!

Enchilada Bake 5/5 Spoons

Hey everyone! So it's been almost two weeks since I've written here and I have missed it so. We are moved into our new place and unpacked and everything is pretty wonderful where we are. I love being near restaurants, the train and like a block away from a post office. So to make my transition back into the blog, I will review a regular recipe that comes up my menu repertoire. A wonderful recipe that my whole apartment loves. I am talking Enchilada Bake......

So I was browsing through Mercy for Animal's Vegetarian Starter Kit (and that is the link to order one) at The Chicago Diner one day and found this recipe and it popped me right in the face. I love Mexican food and all the components seem to work so well together (diced green chiles, pinto beans, etc.), so I made sure to try it. YUM. So good. The wonderful combination of melty cheese, beans, green chilies and enchilada sauce just blows me away every time I have it. It is ridiculously easy to make and gives you plenty of food for leftovers. And who doesn't love food with Fritos crumbled on top? Seriously.

(This is a weird sad bastard picture of someone's enchilada casserole... sorry. I'll take my own picture next time!

Here are my notes:

-- I use flour tortillas instead of corn. I love corn tortillas but I know a lot of people don't like the texture of them (my roommates included).
-- Sometimes I make my own enchilada sauce (recipe here) but mostly I just buy the canned stuff, I ain't picky.
-- This is a vegan recipe but I use regular cheddar cheese but I imagine the Daiya Cheddar would work some serious magic here.
-- I always forget, but I mean to buy two cans of diced green chilies every time I make this. It can definitely use two cans, especially if you love the flavor and not necessarily the spiciness of chilies.
-- And when this is about done, I usually broil the top on high for about 2 minutes because I really like a crunchy crust on top.

I give this recipe:

5/5 Spoons!

I'm going to be making more new food this week and it will be amazing. See you again soon!

Pineapple Enchiladas 1/5 Spoons

(Thanks to Chicago Lynn of allrecipes.com for the picture)

OK, I know this sounds totally disgusting but I'm all about "gross" mixtures of food. (Everything bagels with chocolate chip cream cheese comes to mind.) I love pineapple, I love cheese and I love Mexican food in general. These were just not good. I liked the sweetness of the pineapple but with the enchilada sauce it kinda tasted barf-y in my mouth. I ate like 4 bites because I hate to waste food but I just couldn't finish it.

I love to make complicated, detailed meals but I thought I'd give myself "a night off" and make something easy and I was disappointed. I'll just go back to making asparagus risotto (which admittedly is not that hard to make) and black pepper tofu (I'll talk about these recipes in other posts, they are PHENOMENAL.) I don't think I could really change anything in this to make it better, it is just not that thrilling.

I give this recipe:

1/5 spoons!

I know the exclamation point is unwarranted but hey, it's my blog bitches.

PS - If you have suggestions of recipes to try and for me to rate, I'd love to hear from you. You can leave me a comment here or e-mail me at jaclynkaters@gmail.com. Obviously it has to be vegetarian or vegan and I'll make anything within reason (I want to eat it or my roommates will, it doesn't have raisins and doesn't have like gelatin in it, etc.) Keep me cooking guys!

New post tomorrow loveys! Thanks for reading!