Vegan Enchiladas with an Avocado Cream Sauce...YUM!

If I could eat only one thing for the rest of my life...it would be enchiladas. The moment my mom reads this I'm sure she will be thinking to herself, "What? How can this be? She HATED them as a kid!" 

It's true. I can only imagine the countless hours my mom would spend making this dish, telling me it was my grandmother's recipe, only to have her 6 year old cry, and even at one point pour water on them because they were just "too spicy". Well mom, I guess there was hope for me after all!

The original recipe can be found here.

Here is what you will need:
Local and/or organic ingredients are always best.  

Serves 6

Sauce Ingredients:
1/2 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 large sweet potato, peeled and cubed
1 28 oz. can enchilada sauce (Be careful picking one out, make sure you can read ALL the ingredients!)
1 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
a few squirts lime juice
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. chili powder

Filler Ingredients:
1/2 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 bell pepper, chopped
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 large handfuls spinach, chopped
a few squirts lime juice

6 large whole grain tortillas (I prefer using Food For Life's Ezekiel Sprouted Whole Grain Tortillas)

Avocado Cream Sauce:
3 avocados
3 Tbsp. lime juice
1 cup fresh cilantro leaves
1 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. ground cumin
black pepper to taste

Garnish with a few chopped green onions.

I also serve this dish with brown rice (just in my rice cooker), and refried beans. 

Sauce:
In a large frying pan, cook sweet potato for about 10-15 minutes just until tender. Add vegetable broth or water to prevent it from sticking. Then add the onions and cook until translucent. Reduce heat, add garlic, and cook for a minute or two. Add enchilada sauce and seasonings and stir together. Simmer over low heat for a couple minutes. Pour into blender and allow to cool a bit while working on filling. 

Filling:
In the same frying pan, after the sauce is poured into the blender, cook onions over medium heat until translucent. Reduce heat and add garlic, cooking for a minute or two. Add black beans, spinach, and lime juice. Turn off heat when spinach is lightly wilted. 

Enchiladas:
Carefully blend up sauce until smooth. Pour a light layer of sauce into the bottom of a 9x13 casserole dish. Spoon bean filling over tortillas, pour a couple spoonfuls of sauce over the bean mixture, roll tortilla, and gently place in pan with flap down. Continue until bean filling and tortillas are all used up (last enchilada or two might need to be squeezed in a bit). Pour all of the remaining sauce mixture over the enchiladas, then run a spoon or knife between each enchilada and along the edges to allow sauce to completely cover the enchiladas. Sprinkle a few chopped green onions on top before baking. Bake enchiladas for 15-20 minutes at 350 degrees. 

Avocado Cream Sauce:
While enchiladas are cooking, prepare cream sauce ingredients and add everything to blender. Blend or pulse just until thoroughly mixed. Serve immediately. 

Serve enchiladas topped with Avocado Cream Sauce, rice, and beans. Enjoy!