So, Like, Dude --

I'm all in the middle of writing this heavy post about how motherhood whams you up against all the worst parts of yourself, and how I'm becoming intimately acquainted with mine and trying to work through it all so as to avoid passing it down the line, but my sister is here, and I got some Soft Pants in gaucho form (you should know that both Sean and I have been wearing the old full-length burgundy Soft Pants for the past four years, that is how great they are, and we call them Soft Pants), and I made the best. Dinner. Ever.

Certain of you may be interested to know that both Chocolate and Cheese are involved, although not in the M&M-studded Stilton form I had originally envisioned as the perfect combination thereof.

Quick and dirty, here's how you do it:

Black Bean and Sweet Potato Enchiladas Mole

1 can red enchilada sauce
4 roma tomatoes
3 big sweet taters, cooked, peeled, and mushed a little
3 cups cooked black beans
1 small onion, chopped
Handful raisins
3 T cocoa powder
1-3 T chipotle powder
2 t each cumin, cinnamon, and coriander
1 pack really good corn tortillas, about 10
lots of queso blanco, or you could use farmer cheese and cheddar or jack

Preheat oven to 350.

Saute onion in a little oil in a small saucepan; when it's transparent but not brown, add tomatoes, chopped small. Cook until the tomatoes break down a little; add maybe 1/4 cup water, the raisins, and the can of enchilada sauce. Add spices and salt to taste; adjust spices as needed. Let it simmer until it's a satiny mahogany-colored fairly homogeneous glop -- maybe ten minutes.

Heat tortillas enough to make them pliable, and spoon in each a line of beans and sweet potato, and some cheese. Roll up and lay, seam side down, in baking pans. Cover with sauce. Dump more cheese on top. Bake about half an hour or until the cheese is melted.

Eat them, and forget about how I never post, and how my About page is about six years out of date.

Comments

[Paula]

Oh, Jo. Quick and dirty. You, I adore.

[wix]

please tell me that you're never going to leave the house wearing those soft pants with trainers (as pictured on the website). please. lie to me, if you must.

[deborah]

Sounds yummy, but I'm still holding out for the M&M-studded Stilton. Or perhaps a Maytag Blue with chocolate jimmies.

[The Aitch]

Wait! There's no meat in that recipe.

Wait! Forreal Sean wears burgandy velour track pants (aka softpants)?

[Jo]

Wix, not to worry, I do not own shoes like that. And likewise I was pleasurably horrified at the astonishing dorkiness of that picture. Soft Pants are not for going out.

[Veronica]

Yummy spicy vegetarian recipe! Is that cocoa powder unsweetened I assume?

Sadly, I would probably wear the Soft Pants out of the house. With clogs. Or flip-flops. And fish-white unshaven legs. My post-partum (two years and counting!) wardrobe and grooming habits truly suck, in spectacularly stereotypical ways. Which is why I have so far resisted the urge to chop off all my hair into an easy but dowdy mom 'do.

[Jo]

Yeah, Veronica, I was gonna wear the gaucho ones out, with sandals. But then I once went to work in a white paper-bag skirt, a t-shirt that read "Slummin'!", and striped knee-high athletic socks. My superiors glimpsed me through a glass wall and started laughing so hard that the very serious who's-getting-fired meeting broke up.

If only they'd known I wasn't doing it to be funny.

[Jessica]

Don't hit me -- but are you a vegan? Where's the meat??? I have to have meat!

[mel]

was i the only one who caught the ween reference? rock on, jo, rock on.

[statia]

Ok, if you take some itsara petite basque and M&M's that might be the most perfect combo ever. I think my husband would LOVE stilton and chocolate.

[Aria]

First time commenting, but that sounds super yummy. Rice on the side, little sauce on top, maybe plain yogurt or sour cream. MMM. I am in my won't wear out of the house yoga pants that are two inches too short cause my ass somehow grew two inches wider.
Haven't had the gumption to try gauchos, I just don't need anything making me look wider.

[Prim]

That recipe sounds delish. I've made black bean and sweet potato burritos before but these enchiladas sound waaaay better. I hear you on the knit gauchos...perfect lounge wear!

[Jen]

I made the enchiladas last night...very yummy! Thanks for sharing. I'm not veg, but I could be if I could come up with meals like that every night.

[Jody]

That whole motherhood/worst-parts-of-self thing hit me like a ton of bricks. I spent a lot of my twenties thinking, ha, therapy worked! I'm better! And then sleeplessness and being responsible for another person's survival put me right back in touch with all the worst parts of myself, the ones that had been lurking there all along, just waiting to bite me on the ass. Stripped all my illusions away about having become a better person through therapy, anyway. I just wasn't being tested, is what it was.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to that post. And the day when I have all the ingredients around to make these enchiladas.

[JM]

Mmm, enchiladas. Thanks for the recipe -- even my carnivore mate loved them.

[art-sweet]

I just made these, after having this post bookmarked on bloglines for ages.

They were fantastic. I added a mulato chile that we had lying around the house, cut back on the chipotle because we didn't have much, and added some sugar and a but more cocoa powder b/c I like my mole on the sweet side.

Delish. Absolutely Delish. Thanks Jo!