Black Bean Tacos with VEGAN Sour Cream

Ingredients:

For the sour cream:
1 cup of cashews (raw preferred, but regular salted ones you find at the store work fine)
3/4 cup water
2 tablespoons of fresh squeezed lemon juice
2 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
(recipe adapted from www.ohsheglows.com)

For the taco filling:
1 can of black beans
1/2 onion, diced
1/2 bell pepper, diced
3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tbsp olive oil
3/4 can of rotel OR 1/2 cup of your favorite salsa
2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp garlic powder

Steps:

For the vegan sour cream:
1. Soak 1 cup of cashews in water (make sure it's covering the top of the cashews at least an inch) overnight.
2. Place the soaked cashews along with the remaining ingredients in a mixer and blend on high until smooth consistency.
3. Store in an airtight container in the fridge, allow to cool and thicken before serving.
*I noticed this was a little more running that traditional sour cream, you may want to try using less water if you don't like it this runny.

For the taco "meat":
1. Rinse and roughly mash the black beans with a fork.
2. Sautee onions, peppers and garlic with olive oil over medium heat until the onion is translucent.

3. Add the mashed beans, salsa/rotel, along with all seasonings. Stir well to combine and heat for at least 10 minutes.
4. Taste and adjust seasonings to your liking.

Serve on corn tortilla and top with cabbage salad, vegan sour cream, and hot sauce!

Vegetarian Enchiladas (with #sweetpotato)!

Black Bean, Corn, Green Onion and Sweet Potato Enchiladas

So, my friend Kerri (A.K.A. Valt) and I started this long distance, diet/exercise challenge on Monday. The gist of this "Challenge", as we call it, is to take turns (weekly) and provide each other with at least 3 recipes and 3 workouts, that are to be completed by the end of the week. Well, we're only on Tuesday, and Kerri couldn't have said it better: "I feel like I'm eating like a king!". 

I provided a total a 6 recipes and we both cooked our second recipe of the week, today. She made a delicious red curry with shrimp over Thai noodles (YUM, can't wait to try that one!) and I made these delicious veggie enchiladas! 

The recipe is a combination of these two I found for the "Challenge":

http://www.thegardengrazer.com/2012/03/black-bean-spinach-enchiladas.html

http://www.averiecooks.com/2014/06/sweet-potato-corn-and-black-bean-enchiladas.html

Prep time: 1 hour (includes cooking sweet potato)

Cook time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

1 large can of enchilada sauce (or make your own)

OPTIONAL: 2-3 cups of cheese (I combined Mexican blend and mozzarella)

1 small can of green chilies (diced)

6-9 green onions (scallions)

1 can of corn

1 can of black beans (rinsed and drained)

3-4 sweet potatoes

6-8 large flour tortillas

1/2 jar of your favorite salsa

1 tablespoon of cumin

1/4 teaspoon Himalayan pink salt

Steps:

1. Cook the sweet potato in the oven at 375 for an hour, or until you can easily puncture the potato with a fork. 

2. Peel the skin off of the potato and dice into 1/2 inch cubes.

3. Mix the potato, corn, black beans, green onion, green chilis, cumin, salt, 1-2 cups of cheese (after making these a few times, I've decided to OMIT the cheese in the filling), and salsa. Mix well

4. Coat the bottom of a greased pan with a little bit of the enchilada sauce.

5. Stuff the tortillas with the mixture, roll, and place (seam down) into the pan. 

6. Cover the enchiladas with the remaining enchilada sauce and sprinkle with cheese. 

7. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake an additional 30 minutes or until the cheese/sauce is slightly bubbling and the edges are browned.

Optional: Garnish with diced tomatoes, fresh jalapeños, scallions. Serve with sour cream or guacamole. Don't forget the hot sauce!

Enjoy!