Laptop Lunches #304

Yet another attempt at veganizing my once-beloved chicken enchiladas (I am getting much closer!), some refried beans, Mexican rice (from Cook wtih Manali), and an avocado-salsa salad thing I made.

It is getting colder here--in fact, we just had a snowstorm!--so I can start in on all my oven recipes again. I have started taking a closer look at Morningstar Farms stuff because they're now labeling a lot of it as vegan, and I found their veggie pulled pork and thought it might be possible to put it into enchiladas and not be too pork-like. (I used to use shredded chicken in the enchiladas, and I haven't yet found a good substitute for shredded chicken.) It was rather pork-like--which bodes well for other recipes, if not necessarily what I was going for--but it had the right texture and I really liked the final product. It is decidedly not like what I was trying to do, but it was good.

The refried beans are Goya's Rancheros beans. I wrote to them several months ago asking if the "natural flavors" were plants or not, because they were my favorite canned refried beans, but I was wary of mystery "flavors" because I am vegan. I never got a response, but I noticed that the cans are now labeled vegan! And so are a lot of their other refried beans, incidentally. I don't know if I had anything to do with it (and wish they'd sent a coupon or something) but I'm so excited to have this as an easy option for the future.

If I'm making a Tex-Mex meal, I'm not going to do without rice, and this is a great recipe! It's really versatile. I added some green bell pepper to it when I was adding the jalapeno, and I also halved the recipe because as much as I love Tex-Mex (you're going to see a lot of it as I work my way through what I cooked), I'm not able to get through quite that much. It isn't the way I used to make it, which once upon a time involved bacon, but I'm not ready to veganize that recipe until I can get my enchiladas right. One thing at a time.

I was distraught that the bag of avocados I bought mostly had to be rejects. They would go moldy before they ever ripened, but I managed to get about half of one to cooperate.

Comments

  1. Oooh this meal looks delicious! I can't wait for the perfected recipe! Finding the perfect substitute can be difficult but I'm sure you will find it!

    I have been having the worst luck with avocados too! I get so many duds, that's why I was so happy to finally have avocado toast again!

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  2. Looks delicious; I'm sure it won't be long before you've perfected the veganized chicken enchiladas! And that's great that the refried beans are now labeled vegan!

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  3. I’m thinking you might like the texture of shredded jackfruit better for the enchiladas , faux chicken won’t really shred.
    Bad avocados are the worst! Disappointing and also expensive enough it makes me mad
    Ttrockwood

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