Please excuse my long absence from my blog. The month of September has sped by with way too much of my time spent on two of my volunteer passions: mock trial and green buildings.
- As the attorney coach for the York Preparatory Academy mock trial team, I accompanied our team of talented high school students to compete in the inaugural “Southern Showdown” at Empire Atlanta. No, they didn’t make the championship round, but they held their own in competition!
- As Chair of this year’s Green Gala Committee, our team of 25 volunteers helped USGBC North Carolina host its successful Green Gala and 8th Annual Sustainable Business Awards at the Ritz-Carlton, Charlotte last Friday. We raised over $19,000 for our chapter’s mission-based outreach and college scholarship program.
Now, back to my third passion – Cooking!
It’s been a joy cooking with our creative son Nick. Nick is developing a great palate and has been an inspiration to get me to try some new meatless products in my quest to satisfy his carnivore taste buds.
Nick and I developed a killer recipe for Chorizo Enchiladas using Tofurky Chorizo Style earlier this week. This was my first time using this product, and we thought it had a great texture and consistency that made it a dead ringer for real pork chorizo.
The Tofurky Chorizo is pretty spicy, so I used a mild salsa. But if your taste buds run hotter than mine, choose a salsa with whatever degree of heat you think your family will enjoy. Just make sure it’s a thick and chunky kind of salsa with some body to it, and not a thin and runny type.
The recipe is super easy, and during the baking time, you can whip up some home made Guacamole. If you’re looking for another side dish and your vegetable bin is a bit low, perhaps you have some Cascadian Farm Organic Frozen Sweet Corn in the freezer. Although I always prefer fresh organic produce, there are times when I really appreciate the convenience of being able to serve frozen organic veggies when I haven’t had time to go to the farmers market. Just sauté some garlic in a little olive oil in a large skillet, and add the frozen organic sweet corn along with few tablespoons of organic vegetable stock. In the last minute or two of cooking add sliced scallions, minced flat leaf parsley, and chopped cherry tomatoes for a colorful (and flavorful) accompaniment.
You’ll notice that there are two different pictures. Nick did his own thing by adding an extra jar of Newman’s Own Salsa Con Queso to top his enchiladas. I decided that my waistline didn’t need the extra calories, so I opted to top my baking dish of enchiladas with a mild salsa and a modest sprinkling of Cabot cheddar cheese. Either way is delicious!
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 2 large garlic cloves, pressed
- 1 12-ounce package Tofurky Chorizo Style
- 1 24-ounce jar of thick and chunky salsa (or 2 16-ounce jars, if you want plenty of salsa)
- 10 whole wheat flour tortillas
- 1 15-ounce can of organic refried black beans (Harris Teeter’s brand is great)
- 2-3 cups shredded cheddar or Monterey Jack (Cabot is our favorite brand)
- Sour cream
- Guacamole
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Heat a large skillet and add the olive oil. Saute the onion until it is translucent, and then turn down the heat and add the garlic. Don’t let the garlic burn! Add the Tofurky Chorizo Style and sauté for 3-4 minutes. Set aside.
- Create an assembly area with your flour tortillas, the refried black beans, the chorizo mixture, and the shredded cheese. Lightly oil two medium Pyrex pans or one large one, and spread a layer of salsa on the bottom.
- Put a flour tortilla on a plate, spread it with a couple of tablespoons of refried beans, add about ¼-1/3 cup of the onion and chorizo mixture, a sprinkling of cheese, and roll it up. Place it seam side down on top of the salsa in the baking dish.
- Cover the enchiladas with the remaining salsa and a sprinkling of cheese (or get decadent, like Nick did, and use half salsa and half salsa con queso).
- Bake for 20-25 minutes. Serve with sour cream and guacamole.
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