One of my new friends who is a Holistic Health Coach just got certified from the Cancer Project and is going to start doing a 21 day plant based diet. It is supposed to be a "vegan" diet but since we are taking baby steps we are modifying it to be vegetarian.
Honestly I don't think I can give up cheese, meat I don't mind so much, but cheese? come on! So yesterday we made our 1st recipe and was I surprised! This is one of the best vegetable recipes I have ever tried, its hearty and filling and its roughly 300 calories per serving (2 enchiladas) I highly recommend you try it, I promise you will be pleasantly surprised.
Zucchini Enchiladas
Ingredients:
- 1 medium sweet yellow pepper, chopped
- 1 medium green pepper, chopped
- 1 large sweet onion, chopped
- 2 Tbsp Olive Oil
- 2 Garlic Cloves
- 2 Cans (15 oz. each) tomato sauce (we did half)
- 2 Cans (15 oz. each) no salt added diced tomatoes
- 2 Tbsp Chili Powder
- 2 tsp. Sugar
- 1 tsp. Dried Basil
- 1 tsp. Ground Cumin
- 1/4 ts. salt
- 1/4 tsp. Cayenne Pepper
- 1 Bay Leaf
- 3 lbs Zucchini, shredded (about 8 cups)
- 24 corn tortillas
- 4 cups shredded low-fat cheddar cheese
- 2 cans of diced black olives
- 1/2 cups of fresh cilantro
Preparation:
In a large sauce pan saute peppers and onion in olive oil until tender. Add garlic and cook for another minute, stir in the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, chili powder sugar, basil, cumin, salt and cayenne pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer uncovered for about 30 min until the sauce is slightly thickened.
In the mean time, start building your enchiladas. You can grab about a 1/3 of a cup of zucchini and place it in the center of the tortilla and top it with about 2 Tbsp of cheese and one of olives. I personally like to mix the olives, zucchini and cheese and then roll my enchilladas. Before rolling the tortillas make sure you warm them up on a pan, if not they will break.
Place rolled tortillas side to side seam down in baking dish coated with a bit of the sauce. Pour Sauce over and sprinkle with cheese. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 30 - 35 min. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve with sour cream if desired.
Enjoy!
CM
