Gluten Free Vegan Enchalidas and Loss

 Before I start anything tonight, I need to give a huge acknowledgement to a beautiful woman. Sarah Geer revamped my blog page... JUST LOOK HOW TALENTED SHE IS!! I am eternally grateful for the fresh, vibrant life that her talent has breathed on this site. She is available to do yours, I think her work speaks for itself, but since I am a huge fan of her work, I will speak for her, as well! Thank you, Sarah.

Grandpa's kids and grand kids singing hymns at his memorial

 I am not sure that death is ever really going to be understood with the dimmed vision that we have.  My husband's grandfather, and really one of the only men I have ever called "grandpa." passed away on February 10th. He was 89, and in these last few years of his life, we all watched as life left his eyes, before his body. It was painful. He left behind a rich legacy, and it will live on. He was imperfect but he was a kind man, and those are rare. Grandpa farmed. I believe our love of growing food trickled down from him, to mom, to us. It pretty much runs through the whole family, this ability to grow food. In fact all of Grandpa's kids do it, and most of us, grand kids. We spent over a week gathered together, as a family, having dinner together. It was a comforting thing, to be surrounded by family after a loss.

I am not a fan of loss, in fact, it is pretty overwhelming to me. My grandmother, whom has lived next to us since we both built our homes, around 7 years ago, is going to sell that home. that my kids continue to sneak over to. That loss is heartbreaking to me. But life changes and so it is until we will no longer have to deal with death of any sort, ever again! Until then, I simply honor the tears that flow, as I think that there will come a time when my kids will no longer stray over to the gigantic yellow house, next door.

In the next couple of days, I will start seedlings!!! I am very excited! Last year I started them around this time, and it worked out pretty well. I want pumpkins, kale, collards, carrots, onions, broccoli, beets, cabbages, tomatoes, cucumbers, potatoes, lettuce, peas, spinach, chard, and radishes!! Food!!! yet again!! FOOD!!! I'll post some pictures of my indoor set up. We are also going to have chicks and a few turkeys. They come in on march 8th. The house will be up and busy with kids wanting to bother the chicks...it will also prove to be a learning experience for our dog, Lexi. Lexi loves birds, this is not so good. She will have to learn that she cannot bite them.

This leads me to discuss my home's diet more candidly. In the past I have eaten exclusively vegan and even ate raw for a few months, last year. The way my family eats in not any one way, now, though. So though this blog is going to be exclusively vegan and gluten free, that doesn't reflect how we eat all the time. My whole house does not eat dairy (there are extremely rare instances when this is compromised on) and besides my oldest son and I, the rest of the house eats gluten. We make healthier choices about our food, but that does not mean you cannot find an example of an exception. Toby dip net fishes at Chitna for salmon, in the summer. We have chickens that we get eggs from. I will raise turkeys and prepare them for thanksgiving. I eat pretty much gluten free, and vegan, but that is not always the case.

I am pretty confident that you will not ever find us in line at a fast food restaurant, or grabbing some ready made meal from the grocery store (or even bread products). In the summer, you won't really see me at any grocery store. I am in my garden or at the farmers market. I buy my bulk from azurestandard and my favorite local health food store, both are amazing.

Back to my reason for this post, Enchiladas! I have tried making this dish with quinoa instead of rice, and I have added and taken away ingredients from the sauce. but I loved the way this came out!!! The secret is in the rice and most importantly, the homemade sauce!!! YUMMO!

here is what you will need to impress anyone who likes enchiladas!

Gluten Free Vegan Enchiladas

1/2 medium onion diced
2c of chopped spinach (optional)
1-2 diced zuchinni (optional)
2c of cooked bhutan red rice (I believe this was my secret pizazz ingredient)
2 cans of black beans (I use my pressure cooker to make my beans, it is awesome)
how ever generous you want to be with daiya cheese
and one package of these tortillas

this is what you will need to make the amazing enchilada sauce that will make, or break your tasty dish

5c of broth or water
2c of tomato sauce
1/2c of chili powder
2T of cumin powder
1T of garlic powder
1T of salt
1/2t of cinnamon powder
1/4 and 2T of buckwheat flour
1/3c of coconut oil
----in a pan put oil over medium heat, whisk flour and oil, constantly add flour and rest of dry ingredients....followed by the broth/water..... bring to a boil, stirring constantly (about 3-5 minutes)....add tomato sauce and let sit... the sauce will thicken, I have found that if the sauce is too thick, it won't soak through the enchilada layers properly....and nobody wants dry enchiladas!! so you can add more water, if needed.

in a 9x13 oiled casserole dish begin to layer....tortillas layed down, followed by rice, onions, beans, zucchini , chopped spinach, and daiya cheese (organic corn would be good too). Pour a generous amount of sauce...make sure it's saturated.  Repeat the layers again...making sure that there's enough sauce to almost bubble over....top with tortillas and some daiya sprinkled....

baking in 350 oven for 1 hour.... Enjoy!!



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