Say Something Stacey

Last week when Charles was out of town my mom, Colin, and I went over to one of my favorite places, Maria Maria in Tempe.  Since we are all vegetarians in this house now my mom ordered the Vegetarian Enchilads, they were nothing short of AWESOME so we decided we could totally do that at home.  On Saturday I cooked these up and they were even better!  Now once again I’m not big on the measuring so go with your gut, or maybe your mouth, add what you like take out what you don’t.  At the resturant these have mushrooms but since Charles is not a mushroom fan I skipped those.  Also I think this fall I’m going to add some black beans make this a bit more hearty and fall like but these are delicous and filling just as they are.

Here’s how you do it at home

Chop up

• one red onion
• hand full of fresh cilantro
• 2 anaheim chillies
• one red pepper
• handful of spinach
• 2 cloves of garlic

Mix them all up in a skillet with a splash of oil, I used canola oil and one lime worth of lime juice.  I also added a little salt and pepper.  I didn’t sauté because I wanted the crunch of the veggies but that’s a personal choice.

Another fabulous feature was this creamy enchilada sauce that was on it, to achieve that I picked up a can of red enchilada sauce (we use the Macyao’s brand but use what you like) and added sour cream over a medium heat little at a time make sure it was well mixed in.

The nice thing, is you can add as little or as much as you like to help cut down the heat, I made it still pretty warm because we like spicy, and Colin wasn’t eating the sauce.

Finally put them together, we used fresh corn tortillas, spoon in a little mixture and add some cheese then roll.  I did three to a plate and then covered with sauce and a little more cheese, then we put the plates in the oven for 5 minutes at 400 degrees.  Now you could totally make these in a pan, but I wanted pretty like at a restaurant so we did them in servings.  Which I will always do because it’s just really easy.  Basically this last step you just want to melt the cheese since everything is already warm

By the way, the sauce is not as pink as it looks in this picture, the light was making it weird.

All in all it took about half an hour and was one of the best things I’ve made in a while, it was yummy!

I also wanted to reach out to you guys, are there any vegetarian recipes you’d like to see?

Wednesday night I couldn’t sleep, so I was flipping around the tv and something strange happend, I stopped on Oprah.  Now I have nothing against Oprah I just don’t usually watch the show, I do enjoy her favorite things episodes but she shows some fun stuff.  Anyways I’m getting distracted, she was talking about the documentary Food, Inc.  Now after watching the episode I was amazed by what I learned, honestly it really fueled my growing desire to eat local, eat fresh, and not eat meat.  Then Thursday morning I streamed Food, Inc. on Netflix while doing some work and I was amazed.  I was actually in tears at one part when a mother was talking about her 2 and a half year old dying from E coli.  I decided right then that Colin is gong vegetarian with me.  I know there has been E coli incidents with produce as well due to the run off from the fucked up factory farms but that is where the local comes in.  I already buy 90% of my produce at the Phoenix Public Market or through Bountiful Baskets.  So I’m off to a good start there, the biggest change is my whole house is going vegetarian, so Charles, Colin, and my mom will all be meat free as well.  We’re still not going vegan although I might at some point but I’m going to make every effort to by local dairy products where I see the farm and I see where it comes from.

I know I’m a bit late, but if you haven’t seen it you should.  Everything I read says it will change the way you eat and I hope it does because the way it’s going is bad, not only for the animals or the consumers, but the planet and the workers.  So please watch the film and change the way you shop for food and the way you eat.  It’s not necessarily going to make you want to go vegetarian, it talks about great farms that are grass feeding the animals and are farming the right way, vegetarianism is just the best choice for us.

As I shared in this weeks Let’s Lose I will be working on adding some variety to my vegetarian dishes and sharing that here.  Also as a reminder I am a Lacto-Ovo Vegetarian so I eat dairy and eggs.  Basically my rule if the animal must die, I don’t eat it.  So cheesesthat use animal remnant I don’t eat but cheese that use vegetable remnant I do eat..  Also we drink almond milk instead of cows milk.  Anyways I haven’t made anything new this week but I wanted to share this new one from last week with you.  Remember a few weeks ago my mom and I had a girls night and I raved about that Quasadilla at Margaritaville?  Well we made one and it’s even more awesome at home

What you need – And remember I’m not big on measurements when I cook, I’ll do better when it’s necessary but for this one we made it up as we went so everything is to taste.

• wheat tortilla wrap (or you can use flour if you choose)
• cilantro
• portobella chopped up – or baby bellas work really well too
• cheese – I use colby jack because it’s usually around and I like it

Lay the tortilla flat on half of it add some cheese, the cilantro, and mushrooms then a bit more cheese and fold.  I put mine in a grill basket like for veggies and hubs throws it on the grill for a few minutes and it’s perfect.  You can thorough it straight on the grill it’s just easier to keep contained in a basket.  Remove and enjoy!

Here is one from last week and some homemade salsa too, but I’ll save that for another day.