Vegetarian Enchiladas

I made this for the first time last summer, and my family agreed that the corn sauce was amazing, but the filling was underwhelming at best. So I just made it again with several alterations. First I used kale instead of spinach. I also added black beans. I had intended to use one can, but I forgot to buy canned beans, so I cooked up 3/4 cup of dry beans and added those right after the mushrooms were cooked and added 2 cloves of minced garlic and one minced habanero at the same time. Then I mixed in 1Tbs of hot chili powder, 1tsp cumin and 1/4 tsp of freshly ground cayenne pepper. Then I mixed in the kale, which takes a little longer to cook than spinach. I turned off the heat and added the onion, salt and pepper, and as an afterthought, the juice of one small lime.

I did the corn sauce almost exactly, except I doubled the garlic and added the cayenne after it was strained. I remembered reading others didn't strain the corn, and thought I might do it this time, but the mixture in my food processor was a thick paste, and I knew it wouldn't work. Don't think that this sauce will passively strain, you need to work at it to push it through the strainer, but the result is a lovely thick, sweet sauce! I just don't think it would be the same without straining. You will get a little bit of an arm workout, but do it!

I assembled this recipe like a casserole instead of individual enchiladas, and increased the number of servings to 8. I used just enough of the corn sauce to coat the bottom of the pan, then topped it with 6 corn tortillas, which I had quartered. I topped the tortillas with all of the filling, then the cheese, the remaining 6 quartered tortillas and all of the sauce, and cooked it exactly as recommended.

The first night I ate this, it was SO good, I forgot all about the pumpkin seed pesto that I made, which again I mostly followed the recipe, except I added a habanero to increase the heat.

With the above alterations the calorie count is 377 per serving, and it was AMAZING! The kale really compliments the sweetness of the corn and the spices. I'm also glad I ended up using dried beans because they added excellent flavor and texture that you just don't get from canned beans. I plan on making this again and again! The kale adds to the labor, but IMO well worth it, along with straining the roasted corn sauce. I used a very good cheddar cheese mixed with a small amount of cojita I had left over, and it was the perfect amount of cheesiness. It feels decadent, while still being extremely healthy and low calorie!