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{Note from Jessica: Today’s post is shared by my friend, Aimee Suen, author of the Small Eats website. Aimee is a healthy food blogger and is passionate about sharing recipes, nutrition, and knowledge that can inspire and empower people to live happy, healthy lives. Stop by her site, Small Eats, for more delicious recipes and inspiration.}

It feels like a bit of an understatement to say that most of us lead busy lives.

At the moment, I’m working a full-time job, attending an intense online nutrition course, blogging, and still taking care of myself and being a girlfriend. Any help I can get, I take it.

For me, to get through the last several months when things have been busier, I’ve relied heavily on my meal prep Sundays and trying to batch cook as much as possible. For the first few months, I made bigger meals my boyfriend and I could eat throughout the week, and then, completely by accident, I stumbled upon the magic of Freezer Enchiladas.

In the past few years, I’ve become a big fan of making people meals as gifts instead of buying them something they may not want or need. (I’m beyond practical.) I made my boyfriend’s parents enchiladas for Christmas and decided to kill two birds with one stone and made a batch for ourselves as well. And, I ended up killing a lot more birds than I thought. In the frenzy of making enough enchilada filling, I made wayyy too much filling.

So, I decided to make more enchiladas later in the week and freeze them. When all was said, wrapped, and baked, I had THREE 8×8 pans of enchiladas ready for the freezer. And as the weeks passed, the relief I felt from having those in the freezer was amazing. One less meal I had to plan, prep, and shop for made things just that much easier.

I’ve since adjusted my recipe to make two enchilada pans, one for now and one for later, or two for later, or one for you and one for a friend. I prefer to buy 8×8 aluminum cake pans from the store to make these. If they’re going to a friend, I don’t have to track down my pan. If I’m freezing both of them, I’m not out two 8×8 pans for the rest of the few weeks until we eat them.

Note From Jessica: You can ABSOLUTELY use glass pans for this recipe. I’ve had so many people complain about the use of aluminum pans for this recipe and I totally understand where they are coming from. I personally prefer to use glass too. That said if I am making these as gifts for other people I will use aluminum pans for them because I can’t afford to buy glass pans for everyone that I make food for. Also, I know from years of personal experience that sometimes you give someone something expecting to get it back and you don’t. There have been times I have loaned nice dishes to people only to never see it again. 🙂

The filling for these enchiladas is a hearty mix of black beans, tomatoes, cauliflower and Swiss chard. Feel free to make the filling your own and swap out the kind of beans or the vegetables for what you have on hand or is available in your area.

Whether you’re in a busy season in your life or you want to maximize your kitchen time, I hope you enjoy these Vegetarian Freezer Enchiladas and the time-saving magic they bring.

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Vegetarian Freezer Enchiladas :: Gluten-Free, Grain-Free

Yield: 8

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Make evening meals easy with this make-ahead recipe. If you're not vegetarian and want some extra protein, feel free to sub ground beef, chicken, or turkey for the cauliflower.

Print

Ingredients

Red Enchilada Sauce

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 4 tbsp gluten-free all-purpose flour
• 4 tbsp chili powder
• 16 oz can tomato sauce
• 1 1/2 cups low-sodium vegetable stock (or make your own)
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp chipotle powder (optional)
• Sea salt, to taste

Enchilada Filling

• 1 medium cauliflower, cut into bite-size florets
• 15 oz cooked black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 15 oz can diced tomatoes
• 1 bunch Swiss Chard, stalks cut into 1/4" pieces and leaves cut into 1/2" strips
• 2 tsp cayenne or chipotle
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• Sea salt and pepper, to taste
• 2-3 tsp coconut oil
• 2 packages of tortillas of your choice (I love the Siete brand)
• 1/2-1 c organic cheese, depending on your cheese preference

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. To make the enchilada sauce, bring oil to a medium-high heat in a medium stock pot. Whisk in the flour and chili powder.
3. Reduce heat to medium and gradually mix in tomato sauce and spices. Pour in a little bit of stock at a time, while whisking.
4. Whisk until smooth and add as much to get the consistency you want. (I prefer a thicker sauce, so I used less than 1 1/2 cup of stock.) Simmer for about 5-10 minutes.
5. On a foil-lined baking sheet, rub coconut oil along the entire inside of the pan. Arrange the cauliflower florets in a single layer and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
6. Roast for 15-20 minutes, until fork tender.
7. In a sauté pan, bring 1-2 tsp of coconut oil to medium heat. Add in minced garlic and Swiss chard stems and cook until translucent, about 3-4 minutes.
8. Add in Swiss chard leaves and cook until wilted, about 4-7 minutes.
9. Stir in tomatoes, beans, and roasted cauliflower until combined. Add chili, salt, and pepper to taste.
10. Arrange two 8x8 pans (I use aluminum ones that are easy to freeze) and pour 2-3 large scoops of enchilada sauce across the bottom of the pan.
11. Wrap tortillas in a cloth/paper towel and heat for a minute in the microwave. This can prevent them from cracking when you roll them. Spoon a line of filling in the center of the tortilla and roll. Make sure not to overpack your tortillas or they'll be too hard to roll.
12. Place the fold side down in the pan. Repeat with all tortillas and fill both pans.
13. Top with sauce and cheese and bake for 20-25 minutes, until the cheese is golden brown.
14. Allow enchiladas to cool.
15. If you're freezing both, cover with foil and write reheating instructions on top: Heat at 375, 20 minutes covered and 20-30 minutes uncovered, or until warmed all the way through. Place freezer pan in the freezer and if you're keeping one to enjoy now, store in the fridge or serve.
    

Notes

Enchilada Sauce Adapted from RecipeGirl

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 248Total Fat: 22gSaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 14gCholesterol: 11mgSodium: 360mgCarbohydrates: 11gFiber: 5gSugar: 3gProtein: 6g

This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered from Nutritionix and we often find their calculations to be slightly inaccurate based on the whole food ingredients we use on this site. Nutrition information can vary for a recipe based on many factors. We strive to keep the information as accurate as possible, but make no warranties regarding its accuracy. We encourage readers to make their own calculations based on the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.

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