The Vegetarian Saga Continues

The Leftovers

(The plate is 7 inches in diameter.

They aren't the lunkers they appear to be.)

On Monday after work, it was simply a matter of trying to do two things at once. I couldn’t give both tasks the focus they needed.

I started dinner preparations first, opening up a package of frozen spinach, dropping the green brick into pan, adding a quarter cup of water, and turning up the gas burner to high, as the direction specified.

“Why don’t you and Eddie put in the air-conditioner now?” I asked Andy as he walked through the kitchen.

We are expecting a three-day stretch of hot, humid weather. The temperature will reach the upper 80s, so it won’t be a scorching heat, but enough to want to add some artificial cooling to the house. (After 10 years, our monster window unit is still going strong.)

In the middle of chopping up 2 tablespoons worth of onion and a clove of garlic, I helped the boys position the a-c into one of the windows by the dining table. Once we secured it, and after the boys had wandered off to the family room, I thought the unit looked a little bit off-center, enough so that the plastic panels would leave a slight gap on the left side. I know that I’ve made this kind of adjustment on my own in the past, but I must have been thinking about continuing the dinner preparations. All of the sudden, as I attempted to shift it very gently – or so I thought – to one side, the a-c nearly popped out of the window. In the process, the glass of one of the storm windows shattered. None of the shards hit my arms or hands, fortunately.

The boys quickly responded to my call for help. At my request, they removed the unit from the window while I “borrowed” one of the storm windows from the neighboring frame. Otherwise, we would have ended up with a bug superhighway leading straight into the house.

It took less than five minutes to get everything back in order.

Then I was able to complete the preparations for Spinach Cream Enchiladas, which earned “best vegetarian entrée so far” reviews from JoAnna and Eddie. (Incorrigible carnivore Andy had other dinner plans.) I’ll even venture to say that these enchiladas are as good, if not better than, the ones that my sister Barb used to make nearly 30 years ago during the early Spruce Street years in Oshkosh.

(30 years! Sometimes it doesn’t seem that long ago when I drove from Springfield to Oshkosh with all of my possession stuff into a 1976 Datsun B-210.)

And here’s the recipe for the …..

Spinach Cream Enchiladas

(from the Jalapeno Cafe)

Ingredients
1 package frozen spinach, cooked, drained well and chopped
1 tablespoon oil

2 tablespoons finely chopped onion

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

2 or 3 pickled jalapeno slices, finely chopped

1 tablespoon juice from pickled jalapenos

1 4-oz. can chopped green chilies

1 3-oz package cream cheese

Salt to taste

1 cup grated Monterey Jack cheese

8 corn tortillas

1 cup ancho chile sauce or

1(10-ounce) can enchilada sauce

1 cup heavy cream

Directions:

Sauté onion in oil until soft. Add garlic and cook a minute or two more. Add chopped spinach, jalapenos, jalapeno juice and green chilies. Mix and stir until heated through. Turn heat to low and add cream cheese. Stir until cheese is melted and incorporated into the mixture. Taste and add salt as needed. Remove from heat and set aside.

Soften the tortillas. Dip each side in the enchilada sauce. Stack on a plate until ready to assemble the enchiladas.

Make the enchiladas in one baking dish. Spoon about 1/4 cup spinach mixture in each tortilla and roll up. Place rolled tortilla on sauce in baking dish, open side down. Continue until all tortillas are rolled and placed in baking dish. Pour the cream over rolled tortillas and sprinkle with the cheese. Bake in 400 degree oven until cheese is melted and cream is bubbling. This dish can be prepared ahead and heated when ready to serve.

The Professional Recipe Photo