Holy Mole`! An Enchilada Dinner

I know I just fixed a Fiesta dinner a few weeks ago, but that was when my son had 103 fever and tonsillitis and didn't get to eat any of the food. So he asked me to fix enchiladas with mole sauce. He LOVES mole. I've only tasted it a couple of times.

I began my grocery shopping with a trip to the farmers market on Saturday morning. I got squash, Brussels sprouts, tomatoes, peppers, cauliflower, onions, broccoli (finally!), and the world's biggest zucchini! The zucchini was 50 cents and it's bigger than the butternut squash!




I found a recipe in my Whole Foods Market cookbook for Easy Mole Sauce. Easy, yes; quick, no. I just added a couple of ingredients to the recipe - sesame seeds, garlic, carrots, mexican oregano, and cilantro. I made the sauce on Saturday. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to end up with, but here it is:

I really struggled with the preparation of the enchiladas and would welcome any suggestions. The filling is delicious. I roasted the butternut squash and an onion and some garlic. Then I mashed it and added in a can of black beans, chili powder, cumin, cayenne, cilantro, salt and pepper.

Then I warmed the corn tortillas and filled and rolled them. Now something is really wrong with me because for some reason I decided to trim the ends of the rolled up enchiladas. They just looked more uniform and there was none of that extra, empty tortilla just laying there. Anyway, the dilemma was how to keep the enchiladas moist since I did not have a sauce to top the enchiladas with. I planned on covering it with foil before baking so they would steam, but I was really worried they would dry out. Here they are ready to bake.

They held up fine during baking, but they cracked as soon as I plated them. A red sauce topping would compete with the mole. Do you think a mild salsa verde sauce would be okay next time?

I also made Arroz Rojo. It is basically 4 cups prepared brown rice with tomato sauce, vegetable broth, carrots, onion, green chiles, green onions, cilantro, mexican spices, and peas, but I forgot to put the peas in!

For our other side dishes I made a guacamole salad and broccoli with almonds, raisins, and garlic vinaigrette.

See how the tortilla is already cracked? :(

But Chase is happy and that's all that matters to me. He said the mole sauce was the best he had ever had. (He's so good to me!) I told him the sauce was just 40 calories per 1/4 cup, so he asked for a measuring cup so he could limit himself to one cup. He only ate half of that - it's pretty rich. I liked the mole too. It's different. The flavor is complex and not too spicy.

For dessert I made Vegan Diva's Peanuttiest Blondies. They are awesome! I'm not one for following recipes exactly because I always feel the need to add my own touch to it, but I did follow this one. EXCEPT I ran out of peanut butter and HAD to use a couple of tablespoons of Better Than Butter, but you couldn't tell the difference. How did I do, Diva?