Back from vacation!

I'm still alive!  We are back from our vacation and I have so much to post!  We ended up staying on vacation a day longer, then we came home to broken sprinklers, our water heater was leaking and a heat wave.  Doing laundry was slow going do to the heat, it was too hot to run the dryer during the day, luckily the heat has passed.  Then Keaton and I drove to get our Cleo dog, from my in-laws down south, so we stayed the night down there.  Then it has been stocking up on food and getting Keaton prepared for school starting this Monday.  Whew! 

Anyways, I have so much to post that I'm going to have to do it in parts.  I don't have time to start today but I will tell you it was so beautiful up in the Giant Redwoods and there is so much vegan food up in Northern California I don't know why it's not like that everywhere else.

                                                  Rhododenron Trail in Redwoods State Park

Until I post about the wonderful food and scenery from our vacation here is a meal I made from Viva Vegan.

Potato-Chickpea Enchiladas with
Green Tomatillo Sauce
and Pine Nut Crema
served with
Cilantro Rice

(This was a hit with us and I added some kale to it)

Alfajores with Dulce De Leche Filling
(I also smothered some chocolate along with the Dulce De Leche on some of them and
I used arrowroot because I didn't have cornstarch and they still turned out although they had a underlying taste because of it. Next time I will use cornstarch)   

Enjoy your Saturday!

WHITE BEAN & SPINACH ENCHILADAS and CILANTRO LIME BROWN RICE

These are great enchiladas to make for spring or any time if you like. These were a hit at Easter one year, everyone said how much they loved them and there were none left to take home. So here's to Karina at Gluten Free Goddess http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/2007/03/enchiladas-griegos-for-two.html for very tasty encho's. My version is down below eliminating the dairy and tweaking it a bit. Do to the cannelini beans these are more on the creamy side. I do add a few tablespoons of tofutti sometimes if I want it even more creamy. Also I have used the original recipes sauce and it is really good but the green sauce makes it a bit lighter.

Next CILANTRO LIME RICE! When I saw this recipe in VegNews months ago I knew I had to make it. The result? Ahhhhhhhhhhhh Gooooooooooooood! We all loved it! This went so well with the enchiladas I made. I am already planning to make this for my in-laws and for many future guests.

Recipe for Enchiladas

Preheat oven to 375
Makes 10 Enchiladas

1 lg can green enchilada sauce
10 corn tortillas
1 med yellow or white onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 16 oz. package frozen chopped spinach, thawed
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 15oz cans cannelini beans
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp sage

dash of nutmeg

1/4 c. cilantro(optional)

1/4 c. tofutti cream cheese (optional)

sea salt & ground pepper to taste

Heat a T. olive oil in large skillet over med. heat and add onion, garlic and red bell pepper. Cook until the onions are on the soft side. Next add the spinach, stir a bit until most liquid is gone. Thoroughly stir in the seasonings then add the beans. Take off heat and mix in the cilantro and tofutti if you choose to.

Coat the bottom of a large casserole dish with sauce. Next heat up half the sauce in a med saucepan, just until warm. Take a corn tortilla, dip into the warm sauce just to coat, then fill with mixture. Repeat until all the filling is used. Pour the rest of the sauce(you probably won't use all of the sauce but use however much you like) over the enchiladas and cover with foil. Bake until cooked through about 30-35 min. Take out and let it sit for about 10min. or so.