potluck Archives | The Good Hearted Woman

Sweet Potato & Black Bean Enchiladas: Officially “Carnivore Approved.”

These deliciously satisfying vegetarian Sweet Potato & Black Bean are so good you won’t even miss the meat! {Bonus: they’re gluten-free and vegan-friendly.}

When I made these Sweet Potato & Black Bean Enchiladas for the first time a few months ago, the most surprising reaction I got from the family was, “they taste really meaty!” They didn’t mean it in the “Oh, I can taste the fake meat in this” (p.s. it doesn’t have any) sort of way either; but rather in the, “Hey, this might be vegetarian, but it still has a really satisfying body and texture” sort of way. In other words, they really liked it.

Sweet Potato & Black Bean Enchiladas

Course Main Dish

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Servings 8 -10 servings

Author Renée B. ♥ The Good Hearted Woman

Ingredients

2 Tablespoons coconut oil or olive oil
1 large sweet onion chopped
1 large orange-fleshed sweet potato i.e., yam cubed 1/4" (about 1 lb)
1 15 oz. can black beans drained and rinsed
1 4 oz can chopped green chilis
2 cloves garlic minced
3/4 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon curry
2 teaspoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 cup sour cream
24 small corn tortillas
3 cups enchilada sauce divided
1 cup grated cheddar cheese about 3 oz.
Fresh Cilantro for garnish

Instructions

In a large skillet over medium-high heat, saute chopped onion in coconut oil until translucent. Add yam and black beans and saute until tender. Add green chilis, garlic, and seasonings and cooked for 2-3 minute more.
Remove from heat and stir in sour cream.
Steam tortillas by putting them in a tortilla warmer or wrapping them in a kitchen towel and heating them on high in the microwave for about a minute.
Put about 2 tablespoons of filling in the middle of each tortilla and fold over. Arrange in a large casserole dish.
Pour about 2 cups of sauce over top and spread evenly. Sprinkle with grated cheese.
Bake at 350° F for 30 minutes or until cheese is melted and everything is bubbly.
Garnish with fresh cilantro and serve warm, with remaining enchilada sauce on the side.

Recipe Notes

This recipe can easily be made vegan and dairy-free simple by substituting in vegan sour cream and either leaving the cheese off the top or using vegan cheese.

A few more great things about this meal:

You can prep it way ahead of time if you need to, and then just pull it from the fridge when you are ready to bake it. (Be sure to add about 15 minutes to the cooking time if it’s going into the oven cold from the fridge.)
It makes a great potluck dish because it travels well, has a long “open-air” life, and tastes great hot or cool.
The leftovers are amazing served with a poached or fried egg on top for breakfast.
BEST OF ALL: It only takes about 30 minutes to prepare, start to finish, and another 30 minutes in the oven. So you can have dinner on the table in an hour, with time in between to put your feet up and watch Firefly reruns. Or whatever it is you do.

Note: I like to make my enchiladas on the drier side, and then serve some warm homemade enchilada sauce on the side. If you prefer yours very wet, then go ahead and use all 3 cups of the enchilada sauce when you prepare them. Also, if you have leftover filling, it makes a great omelette filling for breakfast the next morning!

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An orange-honey dressing makes this sweet and savory Citrus Pasta Salad pop with summer flavor.

Citrus Pasta Salad {Recipe} | The Good Hearted Woman

In my former life as a small acreage farm-wife, our house stood in the middle of an old walnut orchard. There were a couple hundred trees: mostly standard English walnuts grafted onto Black Walnut stock. But at the top of the orchard there were five trees that had a unique strain that had been developed by the original owner, who called them Sunshine Walnuts.

The quality that distinguished our Sunshine Walnuts from others was that they lacked the bitterness that is found in most commercial walnuts, which made them perfect for baking, salads, and so on. (Apparently, I have a very high sensitivity to bitter, and avoid it whenever possible.)

Alas, having moved away from the farm, I had just about given up trying to find a sweet, non-bitter walnut until stumbled across some red walnuts.

Red walnuts are a fairly recent creation. They are not genetically modified [i.e., non-GMO]; rather, they were created using natural methods, by grafting Persian red-skinned walnuts onto larger and creamier English walnuts. A handful of walnut growers grow red walnuts, and distribute them across the country. You can probably find them at your local Whole Foods. However, if you can’t find them, don’t sweat it – before I found them, I’d been making this salad for years with old-fashioned brown walnuts.

This Citrus Pasta Salad makes a great potluck dish, and can easily be adapted for vegetarians. Plus, Mr. B gives it a glowing endorsement: the first time I made it for him, he said (between bites), “Oh, Baby, you can make this any time!”

Citrus Pasta Salad can be made with regular walnuts, or sliced almonds, or really whatever suits your fancy, but the color and flavor of the red walnuts is really wonderful if you can find them.

5 from 1 vote

Citrus Pasta Salad

Course Salad

Author Renée B. ♥ The Good Hearted Woman

Ingredients

Salad

8 oz rotini cooked and drained
1 lbs roasted turkey julienned (optional)
4 oz. mozzarella cheese cubed 1/4"
1 lb red grapes
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or sliced almonds
2 stalks celery chopped

Citrus Dressing

2 whole oranges
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup vegetable oil
Dash of salt

Instructions

To make Salad:

Combined cooled pasta with turkey (optional), cheese, grapes and almonds.
Pour Citrus Dressing over pasta mixture and refrigerate. (I like to reserve a little of the dressing to drizzle on just before serving.) Toss before serving.

To make Citrus Dressing:

Zest one orange. Juice both oranges (about 2/3 cups orange juice), and combine zest, juice, honey and salt in a blender. Blend until smooth. While blender is running, slowly add oil.