Vegetable Enchiladas with Pumpkin Sauce

While on Spring Break this week, I was excited to see a segment on The Early Show on meat substitutions. Because my husband is highly allergic to beans, I tweaked their black bean enchiladas with pumpkin sauce for our family. And since everything is bigger in Texas, of course I had to "super size" them.

For the sauce: (use organic ingredients if possible)
* 1 (15 ounce) can pure pumpkin
* 2 cups filtered water
* 4 cloves garlic
* 1 jalapeno (I didn't have any jalapenos, so I used 1 tsp. red pepper flakes instead)
* 1 tablespoon chili powder
* 1 teaspoon sea salt
* 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

For the enchiladas (Use organic):
* 1 (15 ounce) can black beans (I used black eye peas instead) - drained and rinsed
* 1 (10 ounce) bag frozen corn, thawed
* 1 (10 ounce) box frozen spinach, cooked and squeezed of excess water (I used fresh spinach)
* 2 cups shredded Daiya cheddar cheese (plus extra to sprinkle on top of enchiladas)
* 6 scallions, chopped, white parts only (or chopped white onion)
* 1 minced jalapeno (I used a couple shakes of red pepper flakes)
* 2 teaspoons chili powder
* 1 teaspoon garlic salt (if you use garlic powder, add a little salt)
* 1 teaspoon cumin
* 16 corn (I used whole wheat) tortillas. Use less tortillas if you "super size" them like I did.
* fresh cilantro

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

In a blender, combine pumpkin, water, garlic, jalapeno, chili powder, salt and pepper, and puree until smooth.

Pour about 3/4 cup of pumpkin sauce in a 9 x 13 baking dish. In a large bowl, mix beans or peas, corn, spinach, 2 cups cheese, scallions, jalapenos, chili powder, cumin, and garlic salt. Place tortillas between two damp paper towels and microwave for 45 seconds (I rarely use my microwave, so I heated the tortillas in a nonstick pan on the stove.) Put a mound of bean mixture on each tortilla, roll up like a burrito, and place seam side down in the baking dish. Pour the remaining sauce over the enchiladas and top with additional Daiya cheese. Bake until the cheese is bubbly and melted, about 20 - 25 minutes. Garnish with cilantro and serve.

This was my first time to try this recipe. I didn't end up using all of the pumpkin sauce because I was a little leery of what it would taste like. The sauce ended up being delicious (I wouldn't have known there was pumpkin in it if I hadn't of made it myself.) Next time, I'll include all of the sauce on the enchiladas. I also didn't sprinkle the enchiladas with an entire cup of Daiya cheese since there was already 2 cups in the filling. The next time I make these enchiladas, I'll probably sprinkle some sliced black olives on top with the vegan cheese. I can't wait to eat the leftovers for lunch today!