Ole!

Ever have a time where you were just craving a certain food so much that you could almost taste it?? Well, that happened to me this week. I don't know why, but I was craving enchiladas like it was nobody's business. Then I thought, this should be easy enough considering I live in a state where Mexican is a food group. But then it hit me, all the Mexican I like has meat in it. Oh no, what's a girl to do!?! But then there was a glimmer a hope, a light at the end of tunnel, a a-ha moment (you get the idea). I can make my own enchiladas and put whatever I want in them. That's my favorite thing about cooking. I can take an idea and turn it into whatever I want. So after a very short thinking session, I decided Black Bean Enchiladas were the way to go.

Of course, I had no clue how I was going to make this happen, so I did what any smart, self-sufficient, independent thinking, woman with a computer would do... I googled it and found what I was looking for. A fantastic recipe for Black Bean Enchiladas which were quite tasty, although after making them you would have thought a black bean & tomato sauce bomb had gone off in my kitchen. For this reason, I don't recommend making these for a weekday dinner as it was time consuming as well as messy. I would make them during the weekend and either freeze them or keep them in the fridge to cook the next day (what I did).

Of course, you can't have enchiladas by themselves. That's just insane. So I decided on some Mexican Rice, but I thought why not switch out the rice with some quinoa??? I mean it's yummy, is considered a complete protein, and is gluten-free. Also, it's a new food for me to try so I decided to go for it. So since revamping a recipe is one of my favorite things about cooking, I took a Mexican rice recipe I had and did a little substitution. So here it is...

Mexican Quinoa

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon cumin, toasted and ground
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 cup quinoa, rinsed
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1/4 cup tomato puree (Feel free to use any type of tomato product you want. Diced, raw, etc. If you do, add in 1/2 cup as there isn't as much liquid in those.)
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
salt and pepper to taste
1 handful cilantro, chopped
1 cup frozen corn (This time I used peas, or you could sub any veggie you want or leave them out all together)

1.Heat the oil in a pan over medium heat.
2.Add the cumin and chili powder and saute until fragrant about a minute.
3.Add the quinoa, broth, tomato, oregano, salt and pepper and bring to a boil.
4.Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer until the the quinoa is tender and liquid has been absorbed, about 15 minutes.
5.Remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes. (Note: I let mine sit for about 15 just to make sure all the liquid was well absorbed
6.Serve garnished with cilantro.

This went great with my enchiladas. Top it with some Cholula (mmmm....Cholula. Sorry I had a moment) and it's like you just busted a pinata filled with awesomeness.