Meat Free Monday #4, Changes & Zucchini Enchiladas

     One thing I learned from my teaching days was that if something isn't working; try something else. My attempt at a linky party wasn't too successful, so I'm going to change things up a bit. I'm going to try to post a meat free recipe each week, and I will also post a small collection of my favorite meat free recipes that I come across as I search the web each week. All the recipes that I post from various blogs will be stumbled to bring a little extra love to their posts...and if you happen to be one of my featured recipes you can grab my "I was featured on Meat Free Monday" button for your post.

     So,  my recipe for this week is Zucchini Enchiladas. I mentioned last week that we have a lot of zucchini from our tiny garden, so this recipe was the perfect way to use some of it up with a meat free dish. I found the recipe an issue of "Healthy Cooking" magazine of which I was recently given a subscription. I love zucchini and all, but I was a bit nervous about using it as the main ingredient. I was pleasantly surprised at how filling and flavorful this dish was. In fact, I may make my own enchilada sauce from now one. It was so much better than the store bought sauce. J's verdict: "It has a fresh, healthy flavor that reminds you that you are eating something healthy." In other words, he hated that he actually liked something healthy!

1/2 medium yellow pepper, chopped
1/2 medium green pepper, chopped
1/2 large onion, chopped
1 Tbl oil
1 clove garlic, minced
15oz tomato sauce
14 oz diced tomato, undrained
1 Tbl chili powder
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp marjoram
1/2 tsp dried basil (I used fresh 1tsp)
1/2 tsp cumin
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp red pepper
1 bay leaf
4 cups zucchini, shredded
12 corn tortilla, warmed
2 cups shredded Cheddar
1 can sliced black olives, drained
1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro
Sour cream, opt.

• In large saucepan, saute peppers and onion in oil until tender. Add garlic and cook 1 minute longer. Stir in tomato sauce, tomatoes, chili powder, sugar, marjoram, basil, cumin, salt, red pepper, and bay leaf. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to low. Simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes or until thickens. Discard bay leaf.
• Combine zucchini, 1-1/2 cup cheese, and olives in a large bowl. 
• Place a heaping 1/3 cup scoop of zucchini mixture in the center of each tortilla. Roll up and place seam side down in a large baking dish. Pour sauce over top and sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup cheese (Oops! I forgot this part....I guess I mixed all the cheese in with the zucchini!)
• Bake, uncovered, at 350* for 30 minutes. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve with sour cream if desired.

My featured recipes this week... 
Images from their respective blogs


Squash Zucchini Pizza Bites @ 5DollarDinners

Light Creamy Pesto Ravioli @ BarbaraBakes

Vegetable & Cheese Pierogi @ CookingCreation