Missed You Enchiladas

This is my version of a turkey enchilada recipe from a Cooking Light cookbook that my in-laws gave me a few years before my husband and I were married. During my pre-veggie years this was one of my favorite recipes, but it took quite a while to make. It has taken me some time to figure out what to replace the real meat with, but it really is a very adaptive recipe that contains more veggies than the original! I normally don't like meals with huge ingredient lists so I've tried to break it up so it is easy to see what can be swapped with something else. Only five of the ingredients listed were things we normally don't have on hand in our pantry, there is just a lot of seasonings. It is very easy to make the spice as mild or as hot as you prefer, my version is more on the very mild side because I can't tolerate a lot of hot spice. If the burger and the cheese parts are already done it goes together rather quickly.

Okara "Burger" (or any meat replacement that equals about 3 C.):

2 C. Soy or Almond Okara (the stuff leftover from making soymilk or almond milk)

1 TBS. Poultry Seasoning

1/2 tsp. Garlic powder

1/2 tsp. Onion powder

1/2 Seasoned Salt

1 tsp. dried Dill Weed

1/2 tsp. Lemon Pepper seasoning

2 TBS. Nutritional Yeast (powdered)

3/4 C. Vital Wheat Gluten Flour (you might need a TBS or two more depending on how wet the okara still is)

Canola Oil or Pan Spray (to coat the pan and prevent sticking)

Spinach Salsa Filling:

1 (24 oz. jar) chunky Salsa (I used mild but I might use medium next time)

1 (1 lb. bag) frozen, chopped Spinach that has been thawed and drained

1 container Tofutti Cream Cheese

1 (15 oz.) can Tomato Sauce (or Enchilada sauce)

3/4 tsp. sweet Paprika

1 1/2 tsp. Old Bay Seasoning

1 1/2 tsp. ground Cumin

1 tsp. ground Black Pepper

2 tsp. Chili powder

Nacho Cheese Sauce (or any leftover cheese sauce* or grated vegan cheese):

1/4 C. all purpose Flour

1/4 to 1/3 C. Nutritional Yeast (powdered)

3/4 tsp. Salt

1/4 tsp. Onion Powder

1/4 tsp. Chili Powder 

1/4 tsp. Garlic Powder

1/8 tsp. Mustard Powder

1/8 tsp. ground Cumin

1 C. Soymilk (plain, unsweetened)

6 good shakes of Tabasco Sauce

1 TBS. Canola Oil

Other:

1/2 - 1 C. Corn kernels (canned or frozen)

12-16 (6 inch) corn Tortillas

1 (14 oz.) can diced Tomatoes, drained (or 3/4 C. fresh)

1 head Iceburg Lettuce, thinly sliced

1 head Red Leaf Lettuce, thinly sliced

1 can sliced Olives (optional)

Tofutti Sour Cream (optional)

Fresh Cilantro, chopped (optional, for garnish)

Directions:

1.) Heat a large skillet on medium high heat along with the canola oil or pan spray.

2.) In a medium mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients for the okara burger together before adding the gluten flour. Once the gluten flour is added, mix throughly so the gluten will start to develop and hold everything together. Kneed a few times in the bowl to further develop the gluten.

3.) Cook okara mix until it starts to brown, stirring and turning occasionally to cook evenly. (see pic at bottom) Once cooked, set aside in a different container and reheat pan.

4.) Add all the Spinach Salsa filling ingredients to the pan (making sure spinach is thawed and drained), cook until the Tofutti cream cheese is melted and everything is throughly mixed.

5.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Assembly:

6.) In a greased 9x13 inch baking dish (I put it into a 7x11 inch dish and it just barely fit):

Fast Method-

A.)Place a layer of tortillas, 1/3 of the okara burger, 1/3 of the spinach filling, and 1/3 of the Corn. Repeat for second and third layers. Top with diced tomatoes.

Traditional Method-

B.) Combine Okara burger, Spinach Salsa filling, and corn together, mixing throughly. Heat a cast iron pan on Medium high heat. Doing one at a time, oat both sides of a tortilla with cooking spray. Cook for 15 seconds, each side. While still hot, fill tortilla with 1/12 of the filling, roll up and place seam side down in the pan. Repeat with remaining tortillas. Top with diced tomatoes. 

7.) Bake for 30 minutes, or until throughly heated.

8.) Once done baking, let sit for 5 minutes

9.) While the enchiladas are baking, cut up lettuce and toss in a large bowl.

10.) Whisk all the dry ingredients for the Nacho Cheese Sauce together in a small pan. Slowly pour a little of the milk into the pan while whisking (to prevent lumping), continue whisking until all the milk is mixed in. Add oil and cook on medium high heat, continually whisking, until thickened. Remove from heat and mix in Tabasco sauce.

11.) Place a cup (or so) of lettuce on each serving plate. Place 1/6 (or 2 if rolled) of the enchiladas on top of lettuce. Top with olives, sour cream, cheese sauce, and cilantro. Enjoy!

Serves 6

Meat Alternatives:

-Sautéed Peppers, onions and Crimini mushrooms

-1 can (approx. 2 C.) each of cooked Garbanzo, Black, or Red beans and make a 3 layer casserole, using one can on the bottom of each layer

-any other kind of seitan, sauteed tofu, refried beans, TVP, or prepackaged meat replacement 

Cheese Alternatives:

-Grated Block Uncheese

-Sliced Vegan Cheese

-Any leftover vegan Cheese Sauce *(just add the chili powder, Tabasco, and cumin to sauce)

Browned Okara Burger

Presenting... My soy milk maker!

Here's good ol' Bessie.

Fresh warm milk, straight from the... bean.

I really like soy milk but I was really getting tired of having to buy it so often, for exaggerated prices, and then still having to pay for the added garbage. I would buy plain, unsweetened soy milk because I really didn't see the point of all the added sugar and my husband couldn't eat it because he is diabetic. I originally started drinking it when I was still a lacto-ovo vegetarian when it started to dawn on me that my body was not processing dairy well (later to realize I have a dairy allergy as well as being lactose intolerant!) All I had been looking for was something similar to standard milk, not a soy drink that would be strange to cook with.

Even when I was still buying the soy milk in the cartons, I always felt like I was having to keep track of how much I was using so I could portion it out and all the micromanaging was driving me batty. I sat down and figured out that if I was using soy milk at the same rate if I made it myself that I was currently, it would only take four months for a soy milk maker to pay for itself and would last years. Sure it takes time to process it, but going to the store, dealing with people and their stress is definitely more detrimental to my everyday stability than making a gallon of soy milk every four days or once a week is. This was simply a no brainer.

The reality? I'm totally stoked and LOVE it! For me the soy milk is a tiny bit more watery than what I had been buying, but other than that there isn't any difference that I can tell. I didn't count on the unexpected bonuses:

#1: It saves more money than I expected because of #2!
#2: the super high quality OKARA!!

Okara, how do I love thee...

Okara is definitely different than slimy, green okra.

(Soy) Okara is low in fat, high in fiber, and also contains protein, calcium, iron, and riboflavin. It contains 76 to 80% moisture, 20 to 24% solids and 3.5 to 4.0% protein. On a dry weight basis okara contains 24% protein, 8 to 15% fats,and 12 to 14.5% crude fiber. It contains 17% of the protein from the original soybeans.

-Okara listing from Wikipedia

#3: Not contributing to the cattle industry. I really do not get preachy about this sort of thing, but I was rather shocked about the fact that okara from commercially made soy milk (that a LOT of vegans would not live without) goes towards cattle feed. I'm happy knowing that it's one less thing I'm doing to reduce the negative impact that I leave on the world from simply making my own soy milk!
#4: Fresh hot coco that is WONDERFUL!

Look at that foam!

#5: Almond Milk! I had never had this before and I rather like it. My husband really doesn't prefer soy milk or even regular milk straight (to drink or in cold cereal, etc.) but said that he even likes to eat almond milk with his cereal better than eating the dry cereal like he has for years.
#6: Almond okara! Similarly almost tasteless like the soy okara but I have found one recipe so far that is a tiny bit better with the almond okara.

I cannot fathom why some people throw it out! It is sooooooo easy to use and I have been working on some recipes that I intend to post once I get some more of the kinks out. We use the okara so much that my husband said that we need to find recipes that use a lot of soy milk so we can have more okara to use. It has a texture very similar to reconstituted instant potatoes (but a bit more grainy.) I was actually a bit afraid of buying a soy milk maker because I had made soy milk 'by hand' with the blender once and it was so vile that no one could use it. Before then I had no idea that soy milk could be so bitter. This was also my first experience with okara but it was exceedingly chunky compared to the silky okara that I get now.

The Conclusion? I really love my SoyaJoy. it is VERY easy to use and makes high quality soy milk, almond milk, and okara. I simply do not regret buying it even though the initial $125 seemed like a lot. The okara has helped me replace the expensive veggie patties and saves us a fair amount from just those as well.