Dinner Time

Confession, I make a lot of mediocre meals. Perhaps I have some kind of bad karma when it comes to picking recipes. Maybe my palate has become too accustomed to the complex flavors in meals made with animal products? I'm not sure but either way, about 1/3 of the new recipes I experiment with, turns out bland (the other 2/3 are often bursting with flavor though!). That being said, tex-mex and mexican food is my go-to for quick, meat free meals. For some reason, I just find the blend of spices, peppers, beans and bold flavors so easy to work with. They are forgiving of mistakes and so simple.
Enchiladas are one of my favorite dishes. Way back when, I was pretty limited on what I would and would not eat. I discovered enchiladas while working at a women's shelter...my shift mates convinced me to order El Faro with them late one night and it was instant love (followed by a horrendous stomach ache, but well worth it). I had finally explored the world outside of tacos! At the time, my love was just for the chicken enchilada. Cheese seemed to overwhelming and beef was never that appealing to me. It was a few years later, when I began to explore the veggie world, that I learned to substitute beans and veggies for chicken (and later lentils, I will write about that sometime soon). Have to say, I definitely prefer a load of green, red and yellow peppers to bland, chemical filled chicken.
Most mexican/tex-mex meals are simple and do not need a "recipe" but I often find myself mentally exhausted and locating an easy recipe is much less effort. Recently, I made Black Bean Veggie Enchiladas based on a recipe I located on Taste of Home (recipe here: http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Black-Bean-Veggie-Enchiladas) and they were delicious!
I made a couple changes, I'm a huge fan of using what you have rather than running to the market for 1 or 2 things. First, I added more onion. I had a bag of smaller yellow onions but also had a tupperware with about 1/4 cup of diced onion left over from a vegan shepard's pie recipe...might as well use it up! Second, I skipped the mushrooms. I only had canned on hand, and just wasn't feeling it. Third, I used a red bell pepper because it was what I had on hand. Forth, I added jalapeno because I had some seeded and frozen. Last, I made my own taco seasoning...because it is just too simple not to! ( http://allrecipes.com/recipe/taco-seasoning-i/ ) In total, it made 8 smaller enchiladas. I did one pan with shredded cheese (for the fiancee) and one without. It was a little spicy (in a good way) but I broke down and topped mine with a little sour cream (my downfall) to cut the heat. I didn't think to take a picture...but you know what enchiladas look like. I'm also kicking myself for not having a price/serving break down....difficult to do since I already had everything in the kitchen. I will recommend, if you have time, using dried black beans and re-hydrating them yourself. Save some major $ doing it this way. A former grad school pal discusses canned vs. dried beans here: http://simplylivingsimplylovingthesimplelife.blogspot.com/2012/11/things-i-would-never-buy.html