Recipe: Enchiladas that taste better than the ones you get at restaurants

We haven't posted a recipe in a while, so here's a most delicious one that's supremely easy and quick.

Ingredients
1 pack of whole wheat tortillas
2-3 green onions, finely chopped
2 cans fat-free refried beans
1 can of diced tomatoes OR 3-4 medium tomatoes, diced
1-2 jalapeño peppers, finely choppe
1 can enchilada sauce
1 bag shredded reduced-fat Mexican cheese
large handful of fresh cilantro, finely chopped


Preface
In my opinion, the enchilada sauce in the most important ingredients. Enchiladas are just not enchiladas without the sauce. Do not attempt this recipe without it. I find it difficult to make my own that has the right taste and super-smooth liquid texture, which is why I use the (delicious) stuff in a can, but if you can do it, go for it (and send me your recipe!)


Directions

1. Heat the beans in a pan just until warm and soft.
2. Line an oven dish with aluminum foil and preheat your oven to 350.
3. One by one, prepare your enchiladas side by side in the oven dish, making sure to place them snugly; this will help hold the tortillas in place so that they don't unfold. Spread refried beans down the middle of a tortilla. Follow with a spoonful of enchilada sauce, a scoop of diced tomatoes, a sprinkle of green onions, and a sprinkle of cheese. Roll tortilla closed and repeat to make the next one.
4. When all the enchiladas are made and in the oven dish, pour the enchilada sauce generously over the whole lot and sprinkle cilantro and cheese on top of the sauce.
5. Bake for 10 minutes or until the cheese on top is melted.

Serving Suggestions
Try these accompanied by rice, salad, and fried plantains.

No-Bake Cookie Twofer: Oatmeal Dark Chocolate Cookies and Coconut Bon-Bons

Image via Wikipedia

I hate to cook, but I quite like to bake. This really doesn't work out well for me because we don't have an oven here in Costa Rica. What's a girl to do for delicious baked goods during the holidays without an oven? Buy them at the local bakery? Nope. The bakeries here don't make anything good (in my opinion) besides doughnuts and whole cakes; everything else is dry and brittle, full of hydrogenated oils (trans fats), and/or tasteless. Costa Ricans also seem to be generally confused about chocolate; for some reason they think it's supposed to be made with shortening and have no taste of cocoa whatsoever. The result is much like the oily and rubber-like "icing" top on a Hostess cupcake. No thank you.

My solution to the no-oven dilemma? No-bake cookies! That's right, cookies made entirely on the stovetop. Quick, easy, delicious.

These first cookies, I'll admit, don't look that great, but they *do* taste good. A variation that I tried with half the batch is to roll them into balls instead of just plopping them onto the wax paper. Let them chill in the fridge an hour or two and then roll them in powdered sugar, so they end up looking like doughnut holes. The result is a much prettier, still tasty cookie that looks nice when paired with the bon-bons in the following recipe. Almost like I planned them to go together.

Dark Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients

2 cups sugar
1 stick butter (1/2 cup)
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 Tbs cocoa
1/2 cup peanut butter (optional but recommended)
3 cups rolled oats (or sub rice krispies cereal)
1 cup powdered sugar (optional)

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients except peanut butter and oats in an medium-size pot and cook over medium heat. Bring to a boil.
   
2. Let boil for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
3. Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter and oats.
4. Spoon out quickly onto wax paper or aluminum foil.
5. (optional) Refrigerate for 20 minutes to an hour, then roll into balls and coat with powdered sugar.
   
6. Cookies will harden as they set.

Coconut Bon-Bons

Ingredients
1 (15 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup butter margarine
2 1/2 cups sugar (powdered works best, but either will do.)
1 (12 ounce) package shredded coconut
1 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup whole milk/cream/condensed milk
1 cup crumbled or ground peanuts

Directions

1. Mix together condensed milk, butter, 2 cups sugar, and coconut. Cover with wax paper and chill for 24 hours.
2. In medium-sized saucepan, combine cocoa powder, milk, and remaining 1/2 cup sugar. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and let cool 20 minutes.
   
   
   
   
   
3. Roll coconut mixture into 3/4-inch balls and dip into chocolate.
4. (optional) Roll in nuts.
   
5. Place on wax paper to cool and dry.
   

Serving suggestion: Ever had frozen bon-bons? These are better; I guarantee it. Freeze them. You'll thank me. There's a reason there's only 1 left.

Homemade Pico de Gallo with Garden Tomatoes

We can't help reiterating that one of the best ways to save money is to make your own food. It's almost always fresher, healthier, and tastier this way.

Take my salsa recipe. We were able to pluck nearly all of the major ingredients from our summer garden—the tomatoes, cilantro, and habaneros. Yes, the onion, lime, garlic, salt, and black pepper were store-bought, but these come cheap. So in a sense we only paid a pittance for about a liter of deliciousness.

Try out this recipe, but also experiment. Add your own ingredients like chipotles, mangoes, etc., if you wish to create your own flavors. Let us know about your recipe in a comment below.


Homemade Pico de Gallo

6 medium red tomatoes
6 medium yellow tomatoes
1 1/2 medium white onions
1/2 medium orange habanero (substitute: 1 Tablespoon cayenne)
1/2 cup cilantro
2 cloves garlic
1 lime, or to taste
salt, pepper to taste

1. Chop all ingredients and throw in a large mixing bowl. Chop garlic and especially the habanero super-finely.
2. Add the juice of one lime, salt, and pepper to taste.
3. Refrigerate for at least an hour before eating for flavors to blend.

You'll never want to buy any of that jarred stuff again.


This recipe was included in the Carnival of Gluten-Free Recipes and the Carnival of Savings.

Another delicious fall drink recipe: Best Hot Buttered (Rum) Cider Recipe Ever

Image by podchef via Flickr

Clearly, I'm on an autumn-inspired beverage kick. All this rainy, dreary, Midwest fall weather is making me want to do nothing more than curl up in a cozy window seat and read a good book whilst sipping a toasty, possibly alcohol-infused, beverage. Pip, pip!

Apparently, it also makes me think I'm British. But on with the recipe!



Best Ever Hot Buttered (Rum) Cider

Ingredients:
1 64 oz. bottle of apple juice (or apple cider)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon (or 4 cinnamon sticks)
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
6" square of cheesecloth (or a coffee filter)
6 whole cloves
1/2 tsp. allspice AND 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg (or just 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice)
1/2 tsp. vanilla (imitation works just fine)
a bit of lemon peel (do not substitute lemon juice)
1 cup rum (optional; I prefer dark or spiced rum for this recipe)
1 Tbs butter (or butter substitute)

Combine juice/cider, brown sugar, vanilla, and rum in large pot over high heat. Combine spices and lemon peel in cheesecloth or coffee filter, and secure with a bit of clean string or a twist tie.
Drop sachet in pot and heat to boiling.

Reduce heat and simmer for 15 min. Remove sachet.

Pour cider into mugs and top each with a thin slice of butter. Serve immediately.

Did you try this recipe? Leave us a comment and let us know what you think!
Got a cider recipe you think is better? Share it with us. (We dare you.)

Autumn is in full swing!

And so it's time to say goodbye to the goldfish. Too many leaves are falling into the pond for me to keep up with. I must have skimmed half a tree out of there in the past two days.

So this afternoon, we threw on the cover. You can get netting like this either a.) in a pack labeled "Pond Net" with some useless plastic stakes for $15 or b.) bulk from a hardware or home and garden supply store for $4. Guess which we chose?

I hope the cover lasts until winter. The fish have already started eating less because of the cold weather. Pretty soon they'll be little fishsicles. It's always amazed me how they survive winter living in a block of ice with no food. Very strange. Fishy hibernation I guess.

MDT and I also made caramel apples this week. Delish. At the grocery, we looked at the Happy Apple brand premade caramel apples, but every variety we saw contained trans-fats (hydrogenated oils)! Ridiculous. Plus, at the cheapest they were $1 a piece. Also ridiculous. So we bought a kit that included popsicle sticks and a packet a caramel mix for less than $2 and a bag of Jonathan apples.

It was much more fun making our own than just buying them, anyway. All we had to add to the mix was 2 cups of sugar and some water.

Dip chilled apples, set on wax paper or parchment paper in fridge for 20 minutes, and voila!


The best part about these apples is that the caramel isn't hard and grainy; it's soft and creamy.

Total cost for ten homemade caramel apples: $4.70. Total cost for ten store-bought trans-fatty caramel apples: $10. It's all about the little everyday choices, folks.

As an added bonus recipe, try out my spur-of-the-moment caramel mocha, made with a bit of leftover caramel, spooned straight from the pot

Caramel mocha (or macchiato, if you prefer)

Ingredients:
1 cup brewed coffee (or espresso) of your choice
1 teaspoon warm caramel
1/2 teaspoon chocolate/cocoa powder/chocolate syrup

Add chocolate/cocoa to coffee and stir. Then add caramel and stir again. Sprinkle with a bit of cocoa powder, powdered sugar, or cinnamon. The caramel adds enough sugar that cocoa powder works just fine. Or pop in a square of Hershey bar or a few chocolate chips for some super sweetness. Whatever you've got around. That's how we roll.

Thanks to Yes, I Am Cheap for including this post in the Festival of Frugality #199, to Gotta Little Space for including this post in the Make It From Scratch Carnival, and to Focus Organic for including this post in the All Things Eco Carnival.

Homemade Veggie Burgers—Mexican Style

Last month I posted my recipe for Homemade Indian-Style Veggie Burgers, and I must say that they were a hit. Well, I thought I'd share another recipe for veggie burgers. It's easy, delicious, and as with my previous recipe, you can make a large batch of these burgers and freeze them for future use.

Frozen burgers cooking on skillet.

Best of all, you'll save quite a bit of money by avoiding pricey brands like Gardenburger, BOCA Burger, Morningstar, and the rest.

The key is to buy as many of the following ingredients in bulk as possible and to reuse containers when doing so. This way you'll reduce the cost to your bank account and to the environment by avoiding unnecessary packaging.

On to the recipe.

Homemade Mexican-Style Black Bean & Lentil Burgers
makes about 16 burgers

6 oz. black beans (dry)

6 oz. lentils (dry)
1/2 small onion
3 garlic cloves
2 jalapeno peppers (substitute: 1 Tb. cayenne)
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
2 tsp. chili powder
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
2 beaten eggs
1 cup bread crumbs

1. Prepare beans and lentils.
2. Allow beans and lentils to cool.
3. Mash together.
4. Chop onion, garlic, jalapenos, and cilantro.
5. Mix all ingredients in large bowl.
6. Add more bread crumbs, if necessary, until desired consistency.
7. Roll mixture into balls, and press into patties.
8. Cook on greased skillet 5–8 min.

If you plan to freeze the burgers, make sure you double layer the wax paper in between. This will keep them from sticking together—you don't want to have to pry them apart!


Do you know of a delicious recipe to share, one that will save some cash? Please let us know in a comment.

This post is part of Pennywise Platter Thursday at The Nourishing Gourmet and the October Fest Carnival of Super Foods: Beans and Legumes Recipes at Kitchen Stewardship.

Homemade Veggie Burgers

I often feel exasperated that my vegetarian diet can end up being just as expensive if not more expensive than a carnivore's. Veggie burgers at $5.00 a box? While ground beef is $0.56 a pound? Why?

Well, I've had enough. I recently began making my own veggie burgers, and it turns out the preparation is much easier than I thought it would be.

The following recipe is a variation of a great Black Bean and Lentil Burger dish I made awhile back. This time around I had run out of black beans, but I did have a four-pound bag of yellow split-peas (toor daal) on hand, so I subbed out the black beans and traditional Mexican spices for some daal and Indian spices. It turned out really well.

Here's the recipe:

Indian-Style Yellow Split-Pea (Toor Daal) and Brown Lentil Burgers
makes about 16 burgers

6 oz. yellow split-peas (toor daal)
6 oz. brown lentils
½ small onion
3 garlic cloves
1 T. tandoori powder (I like Sun Brand. If you can't handle spicy, use less than 1 T.)
2 tsp. chili powder
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
2 beaten eggs
1 cup bread crumbs

1. Prepare beans and lentils.
2. Allow beans and lentils to cool. Mash together.
3. Chop onion, garlic.
4. Mix all ingredients in large bowl.
5. Roll mixture into patties.

Cook on greased skillet 5–8 min at 320 degrees.

Save even more money by buying the split-peas and lentils in bulk. Make a huge batch in a mixing bowl. Press into patties, separate the patties with wax paper, and freeze 'em. Freezing is an especially good idea if you're like us and the nearest retailer of reasonably priced fake meat is in a distant land.

Put 'em on a bun or eat 'em cake-style. I like to add a little mango chutney or yogurt sauce.

Note: When flipping the patties, do so gently--they have a high moisture content and won't hold together as well as most burgers. And if you stack the patties when you freeze them, make sure you double layer the wax paper in between. I made the mistake of stacking them with only one sheet of wax paper between and squishing them a bit to fit in the container. Once they were frozen I ended up having to use a hammer and chisel to pry them apart.

Did you try making this? Will you? Let us know how they turn out. Or if you have an economical veggie burger recipe of your own, share it in a comment below!

This post is part of Pennywise Platter Thursday at The Nourishing Gourmet and the October Fest Carnival of Super Foods: Beans and Legumes Recipes at Kitchen Stewardship.