How to Boil Water: Sweet Potato Black Bean Enchiladas

It's been a long time since I have shared a recipe but I thought I would share this one that we tried recently. This is a vegetarian recipe which I have been looking for more of this type recently. I'm not against eating meat but I have been struggling with find meat recipes that I like so I like a good healthy whole foods (or mostly so) vegetarian recipe. We have a beef enchilada recipe that we like but I always like choices and this one was a gamble but it was delicious I thought.

Dinner Brought To You By: Cookie + Kate blog

Here's What You Need:
1 1/4 lbs sweet potatoes
1 can (15 oz) black beans, rinsed and drained
8 oz (2 cups) grated Monterey Jack cheese, divided
2 oz (1/2 cup) crumbled feta cheese
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp lime juice
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp salt, more to taste
Freshly ground black pepper
2 cups (16 oz) mild salsa verde
10 corn tortillas
2 tbsp sour cream
1 tbsp water
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Here's What You Do:
Preheat to oven to 400° and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Slice the sweet potatoes in half lengthwise and coat the flat sides lightly with olive oil. Place the sweet potatoes flat-side down on the baking sheet. Bake them until they are tender and cooked through, about 30-35 minutes

**I will mention that I bought sweet potatoes that you can steam in the bag using just the microwave. I found them in the produce department and they were pretty much the only option that I had at the time. But it worked really well and cut down on the prep time by a lot.

Meanwhile pour enough salsa verde into a 9x13" baking dish to lightly cover the bottom (about 1/2 cup). In a medium mixing bowl, combine the black beans, 4 oz Monterey jack cheese, feta chee, garlic, and seasonings.

Once the sweet potatoes are cooked through and cool enough to handle, scoop out the insides with a spoon. Discard the potatoes skins and mash up the sweet potato a bit.

Stir the mashed sweet potato into the bowl of filling and season to taste with additional salt and pepper.

Warm up your tortillas, one by one in a skillet, or all at once in a microwave, so they don't break when you bend them. Wrap them in a tea towel so they stay warm.

Working with one tortilla at a time, spread about 1/2 cup filling down the center of each tortilla, then wrap both sides over the filling and place it in your baking dish. Repeat for all of the tortillas.

Top with the remaining salsa verder and cheese. Bake for 25-35 minutes, until sauce is bubbling and the cheese is lightly golden.

Let the enchiladas cool for about 5 minutes. Whisk the sour cream and water together to make a drizzly sour cream sauce. Drizzle it back and forth over the enchiladas, then top them with cilantro and red onion. Serve.

The whole process was pretty easy overall especially with the shortcut of steaming the sweet potatoes in the steamer bag instead of waiting 30 minutes for them to cook in the oven. It cut down on the time by a lot and worked really well. There is an option to add diced chilies and a jalapeno but I'm personally not a fan of spice and the mild salsa verde had enough of a kick for me, that I was good with the decision to leave them out. But you can definitely add them in - you just put them in with the filling mixture.

The rest of the family didn't love this recipe but I thought it was delicious and I really liked it a lot. This is one of those recipes where I make this one because I like it and everyone else just has to tolerate it.