Creamy Spinach-Mushroom Taquitos

Awhile back Laura posted her awesome spinach enchilada recipe. I made them, (loved them btw) but there are only two of us so I had a container of the filling leftover and I froze it. It freezes very well, and today I pulled it out and made some awesome taquitos with it.

These taquitos are vegan, but anyone who doesn't hate spinach will love them.

They would be awesome at any party or as a main dish, and if you have vegetarian friends you want to feed occasionally these are pretty much a guaranteed hit. The traditional accompaniment for taquitos is sour cream and guacamole. These don't really need sour cream as one of the fillings is a tofutti based cream cheese type thing. Guacamole would be awesome but honestly, just a simple hot sauce would do just fine. They are very flavorful and don't need much help.

The recipe calls for only 1 to 1+1/2 cups of enchilada filling. You can freeze any that is leftover, or make enchiladas the next night. Or if your making a lot of these for a party you can use the whole recipe.

Ingredients:

1-11/2 cups Lauras spinach enchilada filling

1 small tub of tofutti cream cheese (vegan) room temperature

1 t. chili powder

1/2 t. garlic salt

4T of chopped green chili

1/2 t. dehydrated onions

1 t dried parsley

1 doz corn tortillas

1/2 cup vegetable oil

Mix all ingredients except tortillas , oil, and enchilada filling.

soften the corn tortillas in the microwave by stacking them on a plate and smearing a little olive oil on each one. Cook in the microwave for about 1 minute just to soften.

take a tortilla, put a spoonful of tofutti mixture in the middle and kind of smear it over half of the tortillas, and then a very large spoonful of spinach mixture down the middle of the tofutti.

Roll up beginning on the tofutti side. Place seam down into large frying pan with heated oil. Let brown and turn and brown the other side. Drain on paper towels. Repeat till you have done as many as you want. You can generally cook 3 at a time.

Serve immediately or place into pan to stay warm in the oven. These are great with traditional beans and rice as a meal, or with guacamole as party fare.

"Beef" Enchiladas

Here's a recipe utilizing Meatless Veggie Crumbles. These turned out rather well; my husband went back for seconds. I used Toffuti cream cheese instead of any of the vegan shredded varieties, because I hoped it would melt better. It didn't. But these were still very tasty.

You'll need:
1/2 of a small white onion - chopped
1 green bell pepper - chopped (I charred mine in a grill pan first, but that isn't a necessary step)
1 clove garlic - minced
1 tspn oregano (optional)
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 12 oz package of Boca Meatless Veggie Crumbles (or whatever brand is available)
1 package of Taco Seasoning mix
1/2 cup water
1 small (4.5 oz) can of chopped green chilis
1 large can of red enchilada sauce (1 lb 3oz)
Toffuti cream cheese
Corn tortillas (12 to 16)

Put olive oil in a fry pan; add the onion and bell. Sprinkle salt and pepper on it. When the onion starts to brown around the edges, add the garlic. Stir around a few times, now add the veggie crumbles, the taco seasoning mix, the oregano (if you are using it), 1/2 cup of water and the green chilis. Stir around a bit and take the pan off of the heat.

Here's what my finished filling looked like:

In a 13 x 9 pan, spread a little of the enchilada sauce (so your enchiladas don't stick). I used the sauce right out of the can - I didn't heat it up.
Make your tortillas pliable by heating them up in the microwave - smear some olive oil on both sides of a tortilla, stack up 4 or 5 on a plate and microwave for 30 seconds.
On a small salad plate, put a spoonful of the sauce, place the warmed tortilla on it, add more sauce (about a spoonful) to the tortilla, then put your cream cheese on it. I made a row of the cheese about 1/4 to 1/2 inch wide down the middle of the tortilla. Add your "meat" mixture down the middle, and roll it up. Place enchilada seam side down in the pan.
Continue until you've used up all the meat mixture, or if you only want one pan of enchiladas, you could save the remaining mixture to top off nachos later in the week.
Cover the enchiladas with the remaining sauce and then cover the pan VERY TIGHTLY with foil. Pinch the foil all around so no steam escapes.
Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Creamy Spinach Enchiladas

First up, in my development of "Tofutti Mad Skillz" are Spinach Enchiladas. I think they turned out very yummy; the Tofutti acted just like sour cream throughout the mixing and cooking process. I have to say I was surprised. These are a bit of work, but well worth it if you are craving Tex-Mex. I would even serve these to company.

For the Spinach Stuffing: (sauce ingredient list below)

2 Tbls. Olive Oil

1/2 cup onion - finely chopped

1 tsp. dried oregano

1 tsp. salt

2 cups fresh mushrooms - small chop

16 oz of spinach (vat o'spinach, seriously)

2 garlic cloves - minced

2 Tbls. fresh cilantro - rather finely chopped

Here's what that cast of characters looks like:

Here are the steps:

1). In a large pot (perhaps a soup pot) heat up oil till shimmering

2). Add onions, salt and oregano

3).Cover and let sizzle for a few minutes.

4). Add mushrooms

Here's what it will look like:

5). Cover and let simmer for about 5 minutes.

6). Add the spinach - I put in about 7 handfuls to start.

7). Cover and let wilt.

8). Add a few handfuls every 2 to 3 minutes and let it wilt down. Continue until you've added all the spinach (yes, yes....it will all fit. And you'll be amazed at how tiny all that spinach became).

Here's a final pic of the filling mixture: (well, not quite....I let it wilt a bit more after this)

9). Throw in the garlic and the cilantro. Give it a good stir, take pot off the heat and set aside.

Now for the sauce - you will need:

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup flour

2 cups of Green Enchilada sauce (I used Old El Paso Mild Green Chili sauce)

*if you can't find the Green Chili Sauce, just buy plain Green Enchilada sauce and a 4 ounce can of chopped green chilis. In a 2 cup measuring cup, pour the green chilis first, then make up the difference with your canned enchilada sauce).

1 12 ounce tub of Toffuti

Here's the steps:

1). Heat the olive oil till shimmering, add the flour and whip with a wisk until all the lumps are gone. I take it off the heat if it's bubbling too much.

2). Add the 2 cups of Enchilada Sauce and the Tofutti.

3). Whip It!! Whip It Good!!

Here's a pic:

Once it is a smooth consistency, take it off the heat and set aside.

Time to assemble your enchiladas! You will need 12 corn tortillas and a 13 x 9 pan.

Here's the steps:

1). You need to heat up the tortillas so they are pliable. You can microwave them, but I didn't have much luck with that. They cracked when rolled up. So I did mine the old fashioned way - dipped them in hot oil for a few minutes. Just heat the oil in a small pan, with tongs dip them in for about 10 seconds on each side, stack them up on a plate.

2) If you have any leftover enchilada sauce in the can, pour it into the bottom of your 13 x 9 pan so the enchiladas don't stick.

3). Lay your tortillas on your "work" plate, and put a heaping forkful of your spinach filling in it, roll it up and place in the pan.

I just can't stop with the pics:

4). Once you have them all assembled and in the pan (I got 13 total), then cover them with the cream sauce mixture.

5). Bake at 375 for 20 minutes.

Delicious, bubbling goodness:

The one thing I might do differently: halve the sauce recipe. But if you like it saucy, then use the full recipe....you could also scoop up any leftover sauce on your plate with tortilla chips.

If you want to reduce the oil, you could make an enchilada casserole, just layer the tortillas, filling, sauce......do this 2 times and end up with sauce on top.

The Great Taco Experiment

I might have become a vegetarian long ago if it weren't for tacos. My favorite food, and occasionally, my reason for living. Not Taco Bell tacos, or Old El Paso tacos, real tacos. Crispy shells I fried myself, perfectly seasoned meat, crisp lettuce, and my own authentic salsa or in a pinch, El Pato. Well, the vegetarian thing happened anyway, so now I must find or create a suitable taco.

I've embarked on a taco filled journey, laden with all kinds of different fillings and seasonings, toppings and sauces. Could life get any better?

My first experiment (which was not all that original) , is black bean tacos. And they are very yummy.

Black Bean Tacos (serves 4)

Filling:

1 can black beans, drained

1 can green chilies chopped

1 clove garlic chopped

Mix and heat ingredients in a small saucepan, set aside.

Taco Shells

8 fresh corn tortillas

1 cup vegetable oil

Heat the oil on medium high until hot in a small saute pan. Using tongs slide the tortilla into the hot oil. Wait for the tortilla to show bubbling and then using the tongs lift one side up, while simultaenously holding the other side down. (I know it sounds tricky but you'll get the hang of it.) When the bottom side is partially cooked enough to hold its shape use the tongs to flip it over to the uncooked side. Keep the tongs in the center to make the taco shell hold its shape. Finish cooking both sides in this manner till light brown and crispy. Do 8 shells in this manner.

Toppings:

One cup finely shredded lettuce

one tomato diced

one cup shredded cheese

Your favorite salsa

chopped green onions

Some cilantro leaves

Tofutti sour cream

Assemble the tacos by filling about half full with the bean mixture, then a spoon of salsa, cheese, lettuce, tomato and onions and finally garnishing with cilantro leaves and sour cream.

This recipe can easily be made vegan by melting a strip of Tofutti mozzerella cheese on top of the beans before adding the rest of the toppings.

Yay! Tacos!