Yet more cheap and easy stuff

First off, a shout-out for Happy Herbivore's new cookbook Pudge Free
Holidays. If you haven't gotten it, or the last Sneak Peak book, go
right now! They're both full of awesome, healthy recipes (several of
which I've happily tested). I really need to make that pumpkin bread again...

Another blog shout-out for the Chocolate Covered Vegan. Her recipes
are so clever, I ended up eating two of them yesterday! I've been
blending up my oatmeal all the time since this post, and I adore it in all
kinds of ways. I've always liked oatmeal as-is, but now that I can make
it into a rich creamy pudding I've become a full-on oatmeal addict. A
couple weeks ago I was making dessert oatmeal with cocoa powder and
MimicCreme. Yesterday for breakfast I cooked the oats in unsweetend
almond milk and blended them up with a big dollop of pumpkin, half a
banana, and some pumpkin pie spice. Wowza. For dessert, I tried my
hand at apple pie pudding. I've never used agar before, and was a bit
skeptical that this would work, but it really does! Another yummy,
creamy (and super healthy) treat. I made two servings and had one for
breakfast this morning. CCV gets my undying admiration for coming up
with two dishes that reach that elusive goal of being both healthy
enough and tasty enough to qualify as both breakfast and dessert.
Since I've told you so much about what I ate yesterday, I might as well
tell you about lunch. I've had a can of small white beans sitting on my
shelf for too long, so I made a salad out of them. I mashed up the
beans with 2 tsp of flax oil and added dried basil, salt, rosemary,
garlic and onion powder to taste. Plus a handful of dried cranberries,
this actually makes a really good sandwich on whole wheat bread with
lettuce. Economical, too!I brought my sandwich and cup o' raw veggies (organic celery, tomatoes
and carrots this week) to work, and ended up taking it with me to a
restaurant with my co-workers. It made me realize how far I've come
since going vegan back in January. I didn't feel self conscious at all,
and certainly not deprived - watching them eat their super-greasy pizza
(with pepperoni, blech) just made me feel a little queasy. Not too long
ago the situation would have raised some anxieties for me, but I'm much
more comfortable now. Yay! I like that I've been vegan for long enough
now that people accept that it's not just some phase I'm going through.

Black Bean and Corn Enchiladas

I was trying to make something very very easy with minimal dishes. That didn't happen, but it was still pretty easy, and very yummy. How I managed to use every bowl and pot in the house remains a mystery.
The very very easy went out the window when I couldn't find a vegan canned/jarred enchilada sauce. The homemade one was probably better, anyway. Recipe from Cooking Light, slightly
altered -

Enchilada Sauce

Ingredients:
1/2 cup diced red onion
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 tablespoon agave nectar
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes, undrained

Spray a medium pan with non-stick spray. Cook onion and garlic over medium heat for 5 minutes or until onion is tender. Stir in remaining ingredients, reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes.

The rest of it definitely qualifies as very very easy.

Ingredients:
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 package frozen corn
8 tortillas (I used sprouted whole wheat with lime - awesome!)

Preheat oven to 350. Spread about a cup of sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish. For each enchilada, put the tortilla in a non-stick frying pan for about 10 seconds to soften it up. Then take a spoonful of corn and a spoonful of beans in the middle and roll it up; place in pan with the folded side down. Pour the rest of the sauce over the top. Bake for about 40 minutes, covered.

My tortillas were a little small, so I filled the rest of the pan with the remaining beans and corn. I put half a block of shredded Follow Your Heart cheddar on top, but I'm leaving it out of the recipe because it didn't add anything. I guess it made them look more enchilada-like, but I didn't feel like it had any flavor. Plus the enchiladas don't need it - even though they're really simple and un-seasoned, they tastes great as-is. Especially when topped with Toffuti Sour Supreme. Mmmm.

For a side dish, sauteed onion, peppers and squash with a little garlic and a healthy dose of cayenne.