Vegetable Enchilada Casserole

One of my husband's favorite foods growing up was enchiladas. His mom would brown ground beef, make the red enchilada sauce, and everyone would build their own enchilada with corn tortillas, lettuce, tomato, black olives and sour cream. I have always wanted to recreate this dish for him...in a form that is healthier, but that he would love just as much. Finally, I found the right combination of flavors in a vegan enchilada that is our new favorite.

Vegetable Enchiladas

Filling Ingredients:

1 tsp olive oil
1/2 medium yellow onion, chopped

1 cup diced mushrooms
1 cup corn kernels (fresh or frozen)
1 cup diced zucchini

1/2 cup vegetable broth
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp cumin

12 oz textured vegetable protein (TVP) - I prefer Boca Crumbles

Filling Directions:

Heat the olive oil in a non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Add the onion and let it cook down and soften, while stirring occasionally. Then add the mushrooms, corn, and zucchini to the pan and sauté until the vegetables have started to soften. Next, add the vegetable broth, nutritional yeast, garlic powder, oregano, and cumin. Mix to combine well. Then add your TVP and let it all heat through. You also want the broth to cook down a bit until it is almost completely evaporated but not dried out.
Remove the veggie mix from the heat and reserve until you are ready to assemble your enchiladas.

Enchilada Sauce Ingredients:

2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp flour

2 tbsp chili powder
2 cups cold water

1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder

Enchilada Sauce Directions:

Heat the vegetable oil in a large non-stick pan over medium heat and add the flour, stir to combine into a paste and let it heat until the flour smells toasty. Add the red chili powder and stir to incorporate into the flour mixture (it makes a paste), but don't let it burn. Slowly pour the cold water into the pan with the flour mixture and stir constantly to avoid clumps. Then let it cook down until it thickens into a gravy-like consistently, stirring frequently. Finally, ad the cumin, oregano, salt and garlic powder and turn the heat to warm until ready to use.

Enchilada Ingredients:

12 corn tortillas
Filling
Enchilada sauce

Enchilada Directions:

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Spray a rectangle baking dish with cooking spray. Take four of the corn tortillas and dip them one at a time into the enchilada sauce. Layer these on the bottom of the  baking dish. Spread a third of the filling ingredients over the corn tortillas and repeat until all the tortillas and filling have been used. Pour any remaining sauce over the top. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes until it is heated through.

This is great as is, but I have also served it with vegan cheese sauce made with nutritional yeast, which is amazing as well.

For 8 servings. Nutritional information from caloriecount.about.com.

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 218 g

Amount Per Serving

Calories 218 Calories from Fat 58

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 6.4g 10%

Saturated Fat 1.1g 5%

Trans Fat 0.0g

Cholesterol 0mg 0%

Sodium 584mg 24%

Potassium 375mg 11%

Total Carbohydrates 31.3g 10%

Dietary Fiber 7.5g 30%

Sugars 1.9g

Protein 16.0g

Vitamin A 12% • Vitamin C 9% Calcium 10% • Iron 24%

Nutrition Grade A

* Based on a 2000 calorie diet