Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Zucchini Enchiladas

This is a low-fat recipe that can be a low-carb or vegetarian recipe just as easily!
Bubba has a garden in our back yard- he has a green thumb. He grows fruits, vegetables and herbs. He has a little orchard growing out there with a fig tree, peach trees, plum trees (the peaches and plumbs grow 3 varieties of each), an apple tree, 4 lime trees that give us different limes at different times of the year, 2 lemon trees and one orange tree! Since we live in the southern U.S. we can grow a lot of citrus but it usually doesn't ripen until late November or early December so I look forward to the herbs and summer vegetables this time of year.
Yesterday, after cooking the green chili enchiladas I had a lot of flour tortillas left over so this morning I decided to cook a healthy Zucchini Enchilada Casserole. It's low in fat and could have been lower in carbs had I used corn tortillas instead of flour. AND I got to use the last of my zucchini, red bell peppers, banana peppers, jalapenos and tomatoes!

4 zucchini, sliced
2 medium onions, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 of a red bell pepper, chopped
1 banana pepper, chopped (optional)
3 jalapenos, minced (you can use less if you don't like spicy enchiladas)
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 1/2-2 cups chicken both (or vegetable, if you're wanting this to be totally vegetarian)
1 cup Greek yogurt
3-4 whole green chilies
3 T. coconut oil + ~ 1 tsp. or so for saute
3 T. brown rice flour
10-12 "corn" (or flour) tortillas (you can also use a small vegetable wrap for this!)
You can use 1 cup of the vegan cheese, grated for the top of this casserole or a few sprinkles of low-fat Montery Jack.

For the vegetable mixture:
Saute one onion, garlic, banana pepper, red pepper and jalapenos in a little coconut oil until the onion is clear. Add the zucchini and cook until it is soft and tender. Drain and cool; set aside. (I keep the zucchini in a strainer which is inside of a bowl as it's cooling to allow any fluid to drain through.)

For the sauce:
Heat the oil and add the other onion. Cook until clear and tender; add the flour and stir until the flour is no longer "gritty". (~2-3 min.) Pour in 1 cup of the broth and stir until the sauce is blended and thickened. Add the Greek yogurt and stir again. The sauce should be very thick at this point; pour in just enough of the rest of the broth to make a nicely thickened sauce; stir in the green chilies.

To assemble:
Put 3-4 T. of the zucchini mixture into each of the tortillas and roll. Place in a 9x13" casserole dish. Pour the sauce over the top of the tortillas and then sprinkle with cheese if desired. Top with the chopped tomatoes.

Bake in a 375 degree oven for 30-35 minutes or until slightly brown and bubbly. Take the casserole out of the oven and let it set for ~10 minutes or so. Serve.

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