Vegetarian enchiladas

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!