Joyful Simplicity

Mashed Potato and Roasted Vegetable Enchiladas:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 head broccoli, cut into small florets
• 8 oz package of mushrooms, sliced
• 1 large zucchini, cut into chunks
• 1 cup chopped chopped carrots
• 1 small onion or 1/2 large onion
• 6 small potatoes or 4 large potatoes
• butter, milk, salt
• tortillas, corn or flour
• 1 can enchilada sauce
• Mexican or Cheddar cheese
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• salt, pepper, garlic powder, cumin, chili powder, and taco seasoning

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Prep/Chop Vegetables.  Spread them on a baking dish.  Sprinkle them with olive oil and salt/pepper.
3. Cook for about 30 minutes, stirring halfway through cook time.  Remove from oven and reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees.
4. While vegetables are cooking, make the mashed potatoes.  Peel potatoes and cut into chunks.  Boil until tender.  Mash, add desired amount of butter, milk, and salt.  Blend with a hand blender.
5. Add desired amount of additional salt, pepper, garlic powder, cumin, chili powder, and taco seasoning to the mashed potatoes.
6. Mix in the cooked vegetables and 1/4 of the enchilada sauce to the mashed potatoes.
7. Place spoonfuls of mixture into the center of tortillas, add a sprinkle of cheese, and roll up.
8. Place all the rolled-up tortillas seam-side down in a casserole dish or baking pan.  Pour remainder of enchilada sauce on top, sprinkle desired amount of cheese on top.
9. Bake in oven at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes, until heated through.

Serve with sour cream, and maybe some chopped tomatoes, on top.  Enjoy!

Fabulous Zucchini Grinders:

Makes 4 sandwiches

Ingredients:

• 2 medium zucchini, cubed
• 1 small onion or half of a large onion, chopped
• 1 and 1/2 tablespoons butter
• salt and pepper to taste
• half jar of marinara sauce (about a cup or so)
• shredded Italian cheese (parmesan, mozzarella, blend, etc.)
• French or Italian bread

Directions:

1. Melt butter in a skillet over medium-high heat.
2. Add chopped onions.  Saute until slightly softened.
3. Add cubed zucchini.  Cook, while frequently stirring, until zucchini is cooked golden brown.
4. Add salt and pepper to taste.
5. Reduce heat to medium-low and pour the marinara sauce into the pan.  Cook until heated through.
6. Cut the Italian or French bread into sandwich slices (your preference how you cut it).  Toast the slices in the oven.
7. Place a handful of shredded cheese on the bottom of the toasted sandwich bread.
8. Scoop spoonfuls of zucchini marinara sauce on top of that until sandwich is full with filling.
9. Top with more shredded cheese.
10. Enjoy!  You’ll need napkins. 

A Few Notes:

• Depending on how large your onion and zucchini are, you might have to add another half tablespoon of butter at your discretion.
• I do usually make my own spaghetti sauce from scratch.  But to keep this recipe simple, I went ahead an opted for the jarred marinara sauce.  I used a 7-herb tomato sauce and it worked beautifully.  It made the sandwich burst with flavor.
• It’s not necessary to add the bottom layer of cheese in the bread.  I just like a lot of cheese, and it prevents the bottom of the bread from getting soggy.
• We tried French bread the first time, and a 5-grain Italian bread the second time.  The Italian bread worked perfectly.  I sliced the loaf in half lengthwise down the center.  Then I cut those two pieces into two more halves.  I smashed in the soft center of the bread just a bit before toasting.  It left a really nice and large hollow space for the filling to fit in nicely.
• You can always make your own bread.  I actually prefer homemade bread in my breadmaker.  Again, though, the beauty of this recipe is its simplicity, so I opted for the pre-packaged bread from the Publix bakery. 
• We used a 6-cheese Italian blend shredded cheese.