Kid approved potato enchiladas

I just got a request on facebook from one of the most awesome preschool moms for my beloved enchilada recipe, so I thought I would take this opportunity to type out the basic recipe, and some changes I make from time to time. Kids really love this one. The sweet lil' boy in question says it is his all-time favorite meal. :3

These proportions make a lot, but I have a hard time scaling down, and the ingredients are pretty cheap, so it might not be a bad idea to make this one Sunday and freeze the second pan. This will fill a standard 9 x 13, as well as a slightly larger (by an inch or two) metal pan. We have two of these metal baking pans at the preschool. I use the one that is larger and deeper to make a big one for the kids and then a backup second pan for the adults (and the kids too, if they are loving it and demanding seconds and thirds and fourths).

Note: we use these gigantic bulk cans of diced tomatoes and I'm not sure how much I actually use because I just scoop it out of the can until it looks like enough. I'd guess about 2 of those 28 oz cans should do it.

Here's how I make it at the preschool!

Sauce:

1-2 TB olive oil to saute onions
1 large yellow onion
5-7 cloves garlic
at least two 28 oz cans diced tomatoes
1 TB chili powder
1 TB paprika
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt

Filling:

3 lbs potatoes, quartered
1 sweet potato, quartered (opt)
1 carrot, sliced into thin rounds (opt)
2 cloves garlic, pressed through a garlic press or finely minced
2-4 TB coconut oil (olive oil or butter works too)
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp cumin
3 TB coconut milk

12 large burrito sized wheat tortillas
8 oz cheese, grated (we use raw white cheddar which is pretty yummy) 

Getting this all together takes about 1 hour and 45 minutes at a leisurely pace and can be done in about 1 hour and a half if you really hurry. Basically I make the filling and sauce at the same time so I can assemble the enchiladas and pop them into the oven by noon (we shoot for 12:30 lunch time and I get in at 11am) but if you're not in a hurry you can make this however you'd like!

First I chop the onion and garlic and start the water boiling for potatoes. I like to cut the potatoes into quarters so it takes less time. Preheat oven to 350.

Then I start sauteing the onion in a largeish sauce pan for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, and this is usually when I chop my potatoes (and carrots and sweet potatoes). As soon as they are done I toss them into the water and poke them periodically until they are cooked but still firm.

Add the garlic to the onion and stir for about 30 seconds, add the spices and stir well for 30 more seconds and add the tomatoes. Sometimes I add 1/2 cup coconut milk to make a creamier sauce. Now this should simmer for 20-30 minutes while you grate the cheese and prepare any additional filling items. When it's ready, puree with an immersion blender, or toss in the blender to puree it.

Once the potatoes are ready, drain and roughly smash them, leaving some potato chunks, and stir in the chili powder, turmeric, cumin, coconut oil, and coconut milk until well mixed. I will often sprinkle a thin layer of black beans on top after I spread the potatoes onto the tortillas in the pan, or just make some unfried beans as a filling, in addition to or instead of the potatoes.

Line your pans with parchment paper and a few ladles of sauce. Spread the sauce evenly and place one layer of tortillas on top of the sauce. Spread the filling over the tortillas, sprinkle with 1/2 cup cheese, and cover with another layer of tortillas. Ladle more sauce on top to cover and sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top (sometimes I do this halfway through cooking time so the cheese doesn't brown too much) and bake in the over for 25 minutes.

Earl Grey Arnold Picard (or Jean-Luc Palmer)

One thing I really love is tinctures and infusions. It just seems so delightfully like culinary alchemy and makes me feel like a mad scientist, brewing up potions. Especially when you upcycle cool old bottles and other neat containers to keep them in! Note to self: add more nice tinctures and tonic recipes. For now, here are some guidelines to making one of the easier tincture/infusions.

Use basic tea guidelines: about 1 teaspoon or tea bag for each 8 oz (cup) of vodka or gin.

Steep for about 1 1/2 - 2 hours. Here, less is more. If you steep it for longer, it gets disgustingly bitter and no one needs that shit.

For one bottle of vodka:
1 teaspoon (or bag) Earl Grey
1 cup of vodka

1 teaspoon green tea
1 cup of vodka

1/2 teaspoon hibiscus flower
1/2 teaspoon rose petals
1/2 teaspoon green tea

Steep for 1 1/2ish hours. Remove tea bags/steeping device.

Arnold Picard (or Jean-Luc Palmer)

1 lemon

2 TB simple syrup 

2 oz earl grey vodka

6 oz club soda (or even just water)

Stir lemon juice and simple syrup together, add vodka. Top with club soda.

Pensive Pork Chili

It's been a rough week. For the past couple years I had been doing much better, feeling much happier and more generally content with my life. But it's getting to that very dreary, very cold and dead part of winter that I absolutely abhor. A few weeks ago, I bought myself some tiny cacti in a sad attempt to bring something green into the home and it's definitely helped.

I also made some glitter jars that have been most helpful and spirit uplifting using mainly the clear Elmer's glue or glitter glue instructions from Preschool Inspirations 6 ways to make a calm down jar  and it's been a lovely, sparkly distraction. But I'm pretty broke after Christmas, haven't gotten my W-2's yet which is beginning to annoy me because I'd like to get a head start on that since I have 3 different jobs I need to deal with, and everything just seems kind of sucky.

So I'll do what I always do when mildly depressed: make something exciting! Yesterday I made some delicious congee, as well as my favorite white pork chili.

2 TB olive oil
1 lb pork chops cut into 1 inch cubes
1 medium onion, diced
1 bell pepper, diced
1 poblano pepper, diced
5 cloves garlic
2 cups chicken stock
1 TB flour slurry to thicken, if desired
2 cans of cannelini beans
salt and pepper to taste

spice blend:
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp chipotle powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp garlic
1/4 tsp thyme


Toss the pork chunks in 1/2 of the spice blend. Heat 1 TB oil in a large pan and brown those well spiced pork chunks for several minutes, or until--ya know--browned. Remove to an alternate container and save until later.

Saute the onions for 2 minutes in remaining oil, or until translucent. Add the peppers for a several more minutes, until softened. Finally add the garlic and remaining spices and stir well for rougly 45 seconds. Add the pork and give it another stir, then the beans and stock.

Bring to a boil and then turn down the heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes, or until pork is cooked through. If it is not thick enough for you, whisk in the flour slurry as well.

Serve with rice, or tortilla chips or whatever. Garnish with cilantro, avocado and lime, if you feel like it and have it lying around. 



NOTE: I like to play around and add things to my base recipes. For instance, I tossed in a few handfuls of spinach at the end this time and I really liked it. But I really fucking like spinach, so there's that.

Body stuff I like to make

This is just a list of body care things I like to make. I need to slowly accumulate instructions for these:

Shower ball decongesters and pick me ups: ones for hangover, headaches, relaxation
Toilet deoderizers

Toothpaste
Deoderant

Whipped body butter

Face "lotion"
foot lotion, hand cream
eczema lotion

Lip balm
-eos lip balm guide
-lip gloss with crayon

Eyeliner
Blush

Solid perfume and essential oil blends

Easy, healthy, delicious tomato bisque

For a long time I associated tomato soup with what I was familiar with from my childhood (mainly at friends' houses), ya know, that canned crap you get from Campbell's. Consequently, I didn't think I enjoyed tomato soup, even though I really loved the Tuscan Tomato that has been featured in my college town for years at various restaurants around town. So, one day when this lovely new girl at the preschool decided to take over cooking for the day, I was a bit miffed at being eschewed for this red bowl of disappointment. Fortunately, it turned out better than I ever could have expected. Silky yet chunky, creamy yet tomatoey, it came very close to matching my beloved Tuscan Tomato. When she told me how she'd made it, I almost slapped myself for my silly belief that had kept me from making tomato soup at home all those years. And it was so damned easy when I recreated it, I could not stop thanking her. The children also loved it.

Eva's Tomato Bisque

1 medium onion, diced
5 cloves garlic, minced
28 oz canned, diced tomatoes
1 can coconut milk
1-2 cups broth/water
1 tsp dried basil (use 1 TB fresh if available)
1/2 tsp italian herb blend (opt.)
 salt, pepper to taste

Saute onion in oil until softened, about 5-10 minutes, add garlic for about 30 seconds and then dump in your tomatoes. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 30 minutes. Add coconut milk, herbs, salt and pepper to taste and puree with an immersion blender or in an actual blender. Serve with croutons or sweet potato fries. 

Hidden mushroom, super easy, gluten-free, healthy pasta alfredo for picky kids

One of the troubles I have transcribing the things I make at the preschool into actual recipes is that we cook big batches, enough to feed roughly 25 toddlers, and 4 adults. So that can make things a liiiiitle difficult to work out the scaling (ya know since I'm kind of bad at math and all) not to mention all the things I don't actually measure but eyeball out instead. 

Anyway, so this is pretty much the amount that I make for the preschool when I do my delicious amazing mushroom alfredo pasta. For the record, I'm much more into talking to kids about food and getting them engaged, encouraging them to try new things, than I am into culinary deceit and food hiding. But when you're trying to make sure a bunch of ornery littles get some good veggies into them without a fuss, you might just be willing make some compromises.

One of my favorite things (because I'm kind of a bad person) is making this mushroom filled pasta and then cooking up additional mushrooms on the side to offer to children if they want to try - but mainly as a treat for the adults. Some of the children will willingly try some, and some actually enjoy mushrooms, but a lot of the time I will receive replies of, "Ewwwww, NO, I don't like* mushrooms!" 

And I just smirk to myself, thinking, "Well, you're eagerly gobbling up a metric shit-ton of them as we speak, ya little scamp."

 Large batch mushroom "alfredo"

3-4 TB coconut oil (or olive oil)

1 large onion, diced into fairly uniform pieces

6-8 cloves garlic

4-6 cups fresh mushrooms, sliced (I’m bad at measuring, but I use quite a lot of 'shrooms)

1 can coconut milk

8 oz raw, mild cheddar cheese from Organic Valley (or any nice white cheese you like, monterey jack or havarti might be nice)

OR ½ cup nutritional yeast for a totally vegan version

2-3 boxes rice noodles or gluten free spiral noodles (or 2 packages of spaghetti)

I like to start by caramelizing onions on low heat, in a cast iron (stirring occasionally) which usually takes a long time. So start this first, with 1 TB or so of the coconut oil. You can get them as crispy golden as you like. If you get impatient, just stop! Who cares? It just makes them extra yummy. I sometimes add about 1 tsp or ½ tsp brown sugar to help them along. Feel free to not do this, and just saute them for about 5-10 minutes.

In a largeish saucepan, start heating up 1 TB coconut oil, add the garlic for about 30 seconds, then the mushrooms, and cook on low/med low until they are cooked and squishy, 10 minutes or so. Be sure to stir every now and then. Add more coconut oil by the teaspoon if you feel like they are sticking.

Start cooking your noodles.

Add the coconut milk to the mushrooms, along with 1 TB coconut oil, stir well. Add a dash of salt and pepper and any seasonings you like (I keep it simple a lot when cooking for children, but thyme or rosemary would be nice here) and heat until it bubbles. Puree with an immersion blender (if you have kids and don’t have one of these, omg buy one right away, it’s the easiest way to get extra veggies going on) or in an actual blender, or food processor. Stir in the nooch, if using.

Drain the noodles and put in a large bowl. Dab on 1-3 tsp of coconut oil, stir, and then sprinkle on about half of the cheese, continuing to stir for a little longer, no need to go crazy here because the next step is to stir in the sauce. Now you can mix well.

If you want to saute some extra mushrooms, so as to include some more meaty morsels in your pasta, feel free! 


*We actually have them say "I'm still learning about X" instead of "I don't like X" which I think is incredibly helpful. We also talk a lot about the vitamins and nutrients various foods have and how it makes muscles and bodies grow big and strong.