Vegetarian enchiladas are a super adaptable fridge-clean-out meal. I like to use a meatless chorizo such as Soyrizo but you could easily omit it and use all veggies & beans for the filling. The spicy tomato-based sauce has a hint of cinnamon and the bubbly, melty cheese just sends the whole thing over the top. 

The sauce & overall technique are adapted from Rachael Ray's Chicken Enchilada recipe. The filling is completely adaptable to whatever you have in your fridge and pantry. 

Vegetarian Enchiladas
For the sauce:
2 cups low-sodium tomato sauce 
2 tsp hot sauce (I prefer Cholula)
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp chili powder
pinch of salt

For the filling:
2 Tbsp oil 
1 small yellow onion, diced
1 red pepper, diced
1-2 garlic cloves, minced
1 zucchini, diced**
1/2 package of meatless chorizo (optional)
1 can black beans, drained & rinsed
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1-2 tsp chipotle in adobo (can substitute smoked paprika)
Cilantro (reserve some for garnish)
Green Onion, chopped (reserve some for garnish)
** Other veggies that would be great: corn, spinach, kale, chard, cauliflower, etc.

For the assembly:
1 cup Mexican cheese blend (or Monterey Jack or cheddar)
6 tortillas (I prefer flour but feel free to use corn or even whole wheat)

Preheat oven to 350F

Combine all sauce ingredients in a small saucepan and warm over medium-low heat until flavors have combined and sauce is hot.

Heat oil over medium-high heat and add onions, cooking 5 minutes until onions begin to soften. Add peppers and any other hearty veggies, season with salt & pepper & cook 5 minutes. Stir in garlic. Push veggies out to the edges of the pan & add a little more oil. Add meatless chorizo and break up with wooden spoon. Cook 5 minutes. Add in beans, tomato paste & chipotle. Taste for seasoning and add salt as needed. Remove from heat & stir in cilantro & green onions.

Spoon about 1/2 cup of the sauce into the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish. Divide the filling onto 6 tortillas and roll up into enchiladas. Place them seam-side down into the baking dish. Spoon remaining sauce all over the top of the tortillas. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake 10 minutes until everything is hot and the cheese is melty. If desired, switch oven setting to broil to melt & brown the cheese - be careful not to burn.

Remove from oven & sprinkle w/ reserved cilantro & green onion. Serve with sour cream or greek yogurt, avocado, hot sauce - whatever you like!

I know what you're thinking - it's hard to get excited about a bran muffin. And while this recipe may not make the healthiest version of your grandma's favorite breakfast treat, it's definitely the most delicious. 

Adapted from a recipe from Epicurious.com, I've added molasses for color and depth of flavor, divided the flour to use half all-purpose and half whole wheat, and also divided the sugar to use both light brown and granulated sugar. An extra special sprinkle of demerara sugar on top just seals the deal. Serve warm or room temp with a pat of butter for breakfast or a snack.

Bran Muffins
1.5 cups (105 g) wheat bran**
1 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup canola oil 
1 egg
1 Tbsp molasses
1/3 cup (70 g) light brown sugar
1/3 cup (70 g) granulated sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup (70 g) all purpose flour
1/2 cup (70 g) whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
Demerara sugar for sprinkling (optional)

Preheat oven to 375F
Grease or line muffin tin (for 12 muffins)
Combine wheat bran and buttermilk and let soak for 10 minutes.
To the bran/buttermilk mixture, stir in oil, egg, molasses, both sugars and vanilla until well combined.
Sift the dry ingredients (both flours, soda, powder, salt) over the wet mixture and gently fold together being careful not to over-mix. 
Distribute batter evenly into 12 muffin cases (an ice cream scoop works well for this)
Sprinkle a little demerara sugar over the top of each muffin.

Bake approximately 20-23 minutes. Check after 20 minutes by inserting a toothpick into the center of a muffin - if it comes out clean, they're done.

These keep for 2-3 days, sealed in Tupperware at room temp. 

**I had a little trouble sourcing wheat bran but was able to find it in bulk at my local Sprouts grocery store.

I haven't been to Levain Bakery in New York City (yet) but I can tell you that this recipe - inspired by the legendary Levain cookies and developed by the always-reliable Stella Parks at Serious Eats - makes, what I think to be, the best chocolate chip cookies ever. 

Whether you're a lifelong vegetarian or a recent convert to Meatless Mondays, this recipe for meatless meatballs in tomato sauce will be your new favorite comfort food. The recipe comes from Chef John at Food Wishes and, apart from a little planning ahead, it's relatively quick & easy. When I make a new recipe for the first time I usually like to follow the instructions as closely as possible. If it's a success then I'll start playing around with ingredients & techniques on the next batch. In this case I might see if the mixture comes together using only 1 egg to yield a slightly denser meatball. Or I might opt to fry the meatballs instead of baking. But honestly there's not much room for improvement here. Even if you're not a fan of mushrooms give this recipe a try. The final meatballs don't taste like mushrooms but rather like all the typical meatball ingredients that they're combined with (garlic, parmesan, parsley, breadcrumbs, etc). Delicious!

My Everyday Tomato Sauce:
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup onion, finely diced
1 garlic clove, minced
2 Tbsp tomato paste
pinch of red pepper flakes
28 oz can crushed tomatoes
1/2 cup water
1 tsp dried oregano
salt & pepper

In a large pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onions and cook until they start to soften, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook 1 more minute being careful not to let the garlic burn. Add tomato paste and red pepper flakes and stir to combine. Cook for another 1-2 minutes. Add crushed tomatoes, water and oregano. Season with salt & pepper. Bring to a simmer and reduce heat to low. When the meatballs come out of the oven, add them to the tomato sauce and stir gently so they're covered in sauce. Partially cover the pot and allow meatballs & sauce to cook together over low heat for 45 minutes to 1 hour. If the tomato sauce becomes too thick, add an extra 1/4 cup of water and continue cooking. Taste again for salt & pepper or additional red pepper flakes. Optional: stir in fresh basil.

Recipe by Jenn Knight