Kitchen Experiment: SUCESS! or Enchiladas

Basic Enchilada

*gluten free, *vegetarian/vegan

If you use this recipe I’d love to know how it worked and if you did any awesome variations.

Like,
Once I added cinnamon to the sauce to give it a Caribbean flavor because I was using black beans. Then I thought, “Hell, why not add pineapple?” But that was after it was already baking…

I use a layer of masa on the bottom because it holds together better than just tortillas. If you don’t have masa herena or don’t know what the heck it is you can use tortillas instead.

The cheese is a preference thing. Generally I use Sharp Cheddar or Monterey Jack. Go ahead and use whatever cheese or cheese-like thing you want. It’s your enchilada, damn it.

A note about spoons: when I was inventing this all the measuring spoons were MIA. So I used a regular small spoon from the silverware set. These are not heaping spoons they are leveled. I’m guessing they come out to be about ½ a teaspoon.

I cook like a ninja.

Sauce:

1 can diced tomato

½ cup water

1 jalapeno OR a blend of cayenne and chili powder (half and half equaling about 1 spoon)

2 spoons cumin

1 spoon oregano

Filling:

1 can beans

3 cloves garlic

1 cup-ish chopped carrot

4 mushrooms

Cheese

6 Corn tortillas

Masa (1/2 cup masa herana, ½ cup water)

¼ cup cilantro

Directions:

In a pan heat tomato, water and spices (it doesn’t need to boil or anything this just helps any dry herbs you might have to soften and release their flavor)

In a small baking dish make a layer out of all the masa; then layer beans, vegetables, cilantro, half the tomato sauce, tortilla, beans, vegetables, cheese, cilantro, tortilla, more cheese, the rest of the tomato sauce.

Bake for 30 min. at 350f

Enchiladas always taste better reheated so you can make this ahead!

Oh February!

After about two and a half years of working on miXtape, I’ve chosen to leave. February 17^th was my last show. The show has been challenging and I feel that it’s time for me to take a break. I don’t have any definite plans, but for the next few months I will be reconnecting with friends and just laying low.

You know, I’ve seen break downs of how the creative process works and one of the periods in it was rest. I think Americans ignore that step. No wonder so many people here are burned out. When I tell people I’m going to just hang out for a while they get an almost visceral reaction. I think under it all is a wish that they too could just hang out for a few months. But the bills and the merchant machine don’t allow it.

last hangout with the miXtape ball

Anyway, here’s the February break down:

Theater:

• Left miXtape February 17^th

Music:

• The Noisy Heart is still in recording. We keep thinking we’re almost done but what does that really mean?
• I’ve got another song in development

Fiber Art:

• I’m working on a rectangle and a sweater!

Business:

• I’m taking classes and researching bag patterns. A friend of mine loves making bags and we’ve been talking about doing an Etsy shop together. I have no idea what will happen with that.