Vegetable Enchiladas

If it weren't for leftovers, I wouldn't eat nearly half as much as I do. Most days I pack my lunch/dinner for work and it's usually something I ate the day before. If I had to think of something new for dinner every day, I'd just end up at Chipotle ordering a burrito bowl.

Some people don't like leftovers. I don't understand these people. Actually, I take some of that back; I do understand a bit of it. It can get boring eating the same thing day after day. After Day 5 of something, I'm about ready to tear out my hair. Or order a burrito bowl. But some things just taste better "left over." Day 1 lasagna is good, but Day 2 lasagna is so much better. Most soups and stews taste better after the flavors have had a chance to meld. I think enchiladas taste better the next day, too.

These vegetable enchiladas from Martha Stewart are good, simple and quick. They have no meat, obvs, but adding some chicken would work, too. And if you don't eat them all the first night, just add a little broth to the pan, cover and reheat for about 15 minutes. Muy bunea.

Vegetable Enchiladas
marthastewart.com
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for baking dishes
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/4 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 can (14 1/2 ounces) reduced-sodium vegetable broth
Coarse salt and ground pepper
3 cups grated pepper Jack cheese (12 ounces)
1 can (15 ounces) black beans, rinsed and drained
1 box (10 ounces) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 box (10 ounces) frozen corn kernels, thawed
6 scallions, thinly sliced, white and green parts separated
16 corn tortillas (6-inch)

Directions
Make sauce: In a medium saucepan, heat oil over medium. Add 1 teaspoon cumin, flour, and tomato paste; cook, whisking, 1 minute. Whisk in broth and 3/4 cup water; bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, and cook until slightly thickened, 5 to 8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, and set aside.
Make filling: In a large bowl, combine 2 cups cheese, beans, spinach, corn, scallion whites, and remaining 1 teaspoon cumin; season with salt and pepper.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly oil two 8-inch square baking dishes; set aside. Stack tortillas, and wrap in damp paper towels; microwave on high for 1 minute. Or stack and wrap in aluminum foil, and heat in oven for 5 to 10 minutes. Top each tortilla with a heaping 1/3 cup of filling; roll up tightly and arrange, seam side down, in prepared baking dishes.
Dividing evenly, sprinkle enchiladas with remaining 1 cup cheese, and top with sauce. Bake, uncovered, until hot and bubbly, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool 5 minutes; serve garnished with scallion greens.

Happy birthday!

That's what Frosty always says when he 'come to life,' but he means 'Merry Christmas.' I haven't seen Frosty the Snowman in years. Working nights sucks for TV viewing. I'll either see that something has aired two days prior, or I'll see that it's airing that night and I didn't set my DVR. I'm debating downloading it to my iPod, but how old am I?

I'm finally decorating the place for Christmas. I don't have a tree because cat + tree = disaster. I just don't want to deal with coming home one night and finding the entire tree on the floor. It will happen. I bought a floor lamp once. It lasted for 12 minutes. Lesson learned.

I don't know where I got so many damn snowmen. Or so many decorations for that matter. I guess living on my own for 9 years, I've collected a lot of stuff, but when I pulled down the big, red plastic bin from the closest today, I couldn't believe that I'd collected so many Christmas decorations. There are eight different items of snowmen. Where did they all come from? I didn't even realize I liked snowmen that much until I rounded them all up.

I have a couple Christmas-decorating rituals. A) Make a peppermint martini and b) turn on Christmas music. This really is the best way to decorate.
Also, if I offend you, sorry, but I wait until December to decorate. I know there are people who decorate the day after Thanksgiving and (gasp!) even before, but I wait. Why? Because that's what we did growing up, so that's what I do now. It works for me.

So back to the martini and Christmas music. Since iTunes has entered my life, I have all my Christmas CDs under one playlist entitled Christmas! I put it on shuffle and it plays for a couple hours. My favorite CD actually is a couple years old, but I really enjoy it. It's Chris Isaak "Christmas." It's a lot of fun. Others include: Christ Botti, Diana Krall and Harry Connick, Jr. I highly recommend the Isaak CD.
Martini: Be warned: this will get you drunk. I always try to serve it to people because it's good and it will get that person flat out drunk, which is fun.
So I'm decorating and making cookie dough and not shopping. I'm a last-minute person.

Peppermint Martini
2 parts vodka
1 part (white) Creme de Menthe
1 part Peppermint Schnapps
mini candy cane

Pour ingredients first 3 ingredients into a shaker filled with ice. Shake vigorously. Strain into chilled martini glass. Add a candy cane in each glass for garnish.

No soup for you!

Even when I mean to write up a proper post, it doesn't work for me. I was going to take a picture of the Spicy Mulligatawny I made and realized I forget my camera. Ugh. So there's that. I will say that this soup is fantastic. It's so easy to make and it cooks up in no time. It's delicious, spicy, warm and full of flavor. I would even suggest doubling the recipe (this made enough for three servings. The original recipe says four, but that would be a small four) because you will gobble this up. Remember the Soup Nazi episode of Seinfeld? Mulligatawny was Kramer's favorite.

Also, I'm making a batch or oatmeal raisin cookie dough today. I've posted the recipe before, but since it's such a good, easy and universal recipe, I thought I'd link to it again. They're not called vanishing oatmeal raisin cookies for nothing. The only thing I'm doing differently is adding dried cranberries instead of raisins: Everyone seems to love the Craisin cookies.

So since I don't have a picture of the stew or the cookies, here's a leftover picture from Thanksgiving. I made lunch: turkey tenderloin stuffed with cornbread stuffing, roasted sweet potatoes with cinnamon and roasted asparagus with Parmesan.

Made of fail

I'm quite aware that I suck. There hasn't been a new post in almost a month. That's just not right. So I'll be back later tonight with a nice, spicy soup that I hope you'll enjoy. In the meantime, to anyone who is still reading, thanks for checking back in! I swear, I'll try and get better about updating.