Monday, July 21, 2008

Mini Fiesta

I made a small, no fuss Mexican meal to take to share with my mom for Sunday dinner. We’re fortunate to have fresh tortillas everyday here at our local grocers, so I decided to make bean enchiladas. I put some canned refried and whole black beans in a pot with fresh onions and garlic and seasonings, and let them simmer awhile. Then I rolled them up in white corn tortillas and put them in a 9 x 13 pan. I covered them in a homemade chipotle sauce and baked them about 10 minutes. (I made a veggie version of these about a year ago in this post.)




I also made Wild Rice with Green Chilies and Cilantro to have with the enchiladas.


I made a nice guacamole too. Since June 1st we’ve hit 100 degrees or more 30 times. It may seem odd to prepare spicy enchiladas this time of year (although we eat Mexican food year round here), but when served with a cool salad on top, they are quite refreshing.


Two beany enchiladas with rice and guac were very filling, but we saved room for dessert, FatFree Vegan’s Blueberry Oat Bars.



These bars are so yummy, perfect really, with plenty of blueberry filling.

It’s not easy to come up with a fully prepared portable dinner, but this one was quite nice – healthy, fairly low fat, and totally vegan and gluten free.

Speaking of gluten free, I would like to take this opportunity to remind my readers and inform new readers that although I am gluten intolerant, I do not have Celiac disease. I got chastised for eating birthday cake, so to those readers please know that I am not damaging my body by ingesting a bit of gluten. I am merely extremely weak when faced with vegan chocolate cake!

31 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a feast! I loooove Mexican food. Your momma is lucky. :)

I'll have to try that recipe from FFV. Yours look great!

Little Miss Sunshine said...

OH MY, I love the color of the bean enchiladas that you made - looks so appealing and yummy :0)

Oolala, that wild rice, green chilies and cilantro sounds too good to me true - Me and my mum are fans of cilantro, I might try to recreate that dish ... where did you get the recipe from?!

Oh man, those blueberry oat bars looks so damn good - they kind of looks like a blueberry version of the skinny figgy bars that she made ...yumm!! :0)

Ruby Red said...

Can I be your mommy for a day, so that you would feed me a yummy vegan Mexican meal? That's nearly an impossible thing to come by here in San Antonio! My family loves Mexican food too, so I wish they could experience your meal too to see how wonderful Mexican can be without cheese, meat, etc. Those fresh tortillas you bought sound amazing, too!

That oat bar looks freaking awesome. Perfect, you say? Wow, I want one really badly now!

Anonymous said...

What incredibly gorgeous food. Wow. Those blueberry oat bars are taunting me.

Susan Voisin said...

I'm so glad you liked the blueberry bars. Your photos of everything are making me hungry! I've been craving enchiladas, and yours with the salad on top look so refreshing.

Katy said...

Ooh, everything looks so tasty! Your mom is so lucky to have such a wonderful daughter like you to cook for her!

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

Oooh, your Mexican feast makes me want to stand up and shout, "¡Olé!" :0)

Crystal said...

Great idea on the wild rice dish - I should try that to spice up the traditional wild rice!

-Crystal

Jacqueline Meldrum said...

I am loving that meal, gorgeous! I am having chilli tonight on tortillas, with salad leaves and sour cream. Oh, you have made me hungry now!

Erin said...

How dare you eat cake! I kid. I have a friend with Celiac, so I know how important it can be.

The whole meal looks incredibly tasty. Anybody who doesn't want spicy enchiladas year round is just silly. I love putting lettuce and guac and other cooling things on top of Mexi food, it's such a nice contrast.

LK Sisters said...

The wild rice looks so tasty - different than a mexican rice! Yum.

Anonymous said...

I'm always enchanted by your Mexican dishes, but I love those enchiladas! And the blueberry square is no slouch in the delicious department, either :)

Amey said...

I always look forward to your blog, because I know there will be tasty, colorful, and nutritious food. The enchilada sauce that you made is so beautiful and vibrant. I like the idea of a simple bean enchilada, with other good stuff as side dishes. I have to agree with nearly everyone and say that the rice looks & sounds fabulous.

Also, those blueberry bars look amazing! I had forgotten about that recipe. Thanks for the reminder... I've got a lot of farmer's market blueberries in my freezer!

Sam said...

YUM! Everything looks super good! Stay cool!

urban vegan said...

You Tex-Mex always looks so lovely. I like how you cook locally.

Funny, I just posted and complained about 7 days of hot weather. It's nothing like your weather!

Anonymous said...

I love Sunday dinners, and yours is one of my total favoritos!! I am eating fresh tortillas almost daily since I'm here in the US- I love them so much. I make them myself when in France, but it's just not the same...

ChocolateCoveredVegan said...

It seems like everyone's been making those bars lately... but no one's saved any for me! Boo-- I'll just have to get off my lazy chocolate butt and make my own!

Katy said...

I nominated you for a Brillante Weblog award! Check out the details on my blog!

Sam said...

You've been nominated ;-) Check out my blog!

Katy said...

You're welcome! You deserve it. I love your blog and seeing what you cook for Chase, yourself, and your mom.

Anonymous said...

Hi! I just wanted to let you know I've nominated you for a Brillante Blog award. I really love your blog & food! Come on over if you want to play along!

Kumudha said...

Everything looks so colorful and delicious! I have to try blueberry bars sometime.

Anonymous said...

Those enchiladas look great! Also, i saw your comment on the HH tester blog...I have a salad dressing recipe on my blog you can try. it's pretty good and really easy to make.

http://dawnisaveganchick.blogspot.com/2008/06/rising-moon-organics-and-home-made.html

Kati said...

Oooh fresh tortillas everyday! That sounds amazing, but even that couldn't get me to move to Texas with all that heat. Stay cool Diann!

jessy said...

fresh tortillas sound awesome - they look awesome, too! and so does your rice - it's beautiful and really tasty looking! mmmmmmm!

your oat bars ARE perfect! they look sooooooo good! what a great idea of putting salad on top of enchiladas! a good way to cool off & get a serving of veggies in! w00t!

Anonymous said...

Marty has lately taken an active interest in making food and he even said he would make homemade tortillas!!! Not as convenient as having them fresh from the grocer but if I'm not the one making them hoorah!

Loving those blueberry oat bars.

Anonymous said...

Ooooh, that wild rice dish looks fantastic! And your blueberry-oat bars turned out better than mine (I realized mid-recipe that I didn't have a blender!)

Vegan_Noodle said...

Living in Texas definitely has its benefits, and fresh tortillas is one of them! Delicious looking dinner!

Meg Wolff said...

Fresh tortillas daily?? I'd think I'd died and gone to heaven!

bazu said...

Mmmmm. That's one thing I miss about living in CA- fresh hand-made tortillas! Great looking meal.

Unknown said...

I have a primary wheat allergery and Celiac disease. The day I read that I also had PMS and was beside myself that an intelligent woman would poisiin herself on her birthday. I understand weakness for food; mine is for salty and crunchy not for sweet and chocolate but its a weakness just the same. I understood, but was upset beyond my place. I apologize and thank you for not reacting to my comment as I did your news.

I'm glad you had a happy and healthy birthday :)