Candy In Crazy Land

Welcome to crazy town, because that is where I am residing right now. This week could not get any busier for me and I’m still trying to figure out how I’m going to fit it all in… The good news is that I have reached the calm after the stress-storm. I am no longer worried about it–I am bracing myself and going to do the best I can, but I am done stressing out about everything being perfect.

(What the WHAT?!) Who am I?

I think what helped me (aside from my new perspective on life and focusing on the most important things) was, instead of taking the kids skiing today like we originally planned, we decided to not go and I was able to use today to get caught up and maybe even a little ahead of the game. Thank you for that Mr. Presidents!

In addition to a few other things, I made an awesome dinner! And there are lots of leftovers to help with the busyness of the week ahead.

Here I go again with the pumpkin… (what is my deal lately with pumpkin?) But, I promise, this is an amazing use for our friend, Mr. Pumpkin.

Veggie Enchiladas with Pumpkin Sauce

For the sauce:

Combine pumpkin, garlic, jalapeno, chili powder, salt and pepper into a bowl.

Add about half of the water,

and blend with immersion blender (or regular blender) until smooth.

Add more water, a little at a time until you get a nice saucy consistency. You may or may not use all the water.

Next get your tortillas filled and folded. I cooked some pinto beans earlier that I had soaked in water for the past several days so they were ready to go.

Then, I used up some leftover roasted veggies–butternut squash, cauliflower, onions and carrots and then added a sauteed red bell pepper, frozen corn, chopped spinach, scallions, and a handful of chopped cilantro and stirred in about 2 tsp of taco seasoning.

Spoon some of the filling onto a tortilla and top with cheese (if you are using). This is one for the guys.

This one is for me, topped with vegan “parmesan” sprinkles.

Pour 1 cup of sauce in the bottom of an 8″ square baking dish. Place rolled up, filled tortillas seam side down in baking dish, then pour remaining sauce on top; sprinkle with cheese if using.

 Place dish on a baking sheet; bake until cheese is golden and sauce is bubbling, about 25-30 minutes. (This dish can be assembled up to 8 hours ahead of time; just refrigerate covered with plastic wrap until ready to bake. You will need to add a few minutes to the cooking time.)

 Let cool about 5 minutes before serving. Top with salsa if desired, but it is totally not necessary because:

Holy pumpkin sauce! This. Is. So. Good. This sauce is amazing–slightly spicy, slightly sweet and slightly salty–and paired with the veggies, and beans? Perfection.

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Veggie Enchiladas with Pumpkin Sauce

Makes 4 servings

• 6 scallions
• 1 jalapeno chili, (or about 8 slices from a jar)
• 1 1/2 cups grated sharp white cheddar cheese (easily omitted to make vegan)
• 1 can pumpkin puree
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1 1/2 cups water
• Whole wheat tortillas
• Beans, cooked (I used pinto)
• Veggies, whatever you like, cooked
• 2 tsp taco seasoning
• Cilantro
• Salsa (optional)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

For the sauce: Combine pumpkin, garlic, jalapeno, chili powder, salt and pepper into a bowl. Add about half of the water and blend with immersion blender (or regular blender) until smooth. Add more water, a little at a time until you get a nice saucy consistency. You may or may not use all the water. Set aside. Next, get your tortillas filled and folded: Spoon some of the filling onto a tortilla and top with cheese (if you are using). Pour 1 cup of sauce in the bottom of an 8″ square baking dish. Place rolled up, filled tortillas seam side down in baking dish, then pour remaining sauce on top; sprinkle with cheese if using. Place dish on a baking sheet; bake until cheese is golden and sauce is bubbling, about 25-30 minutes. (This dish can be assembled up to 8 hours ahead of time; just refrigerate covered with plastic wrap until ready to bake. You will need to add a few minutes to the cooking time.) Let cool about 5 minutes before serving.

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This dinner was so good, that Erik didn’t even mind that I left him with a kitchen full of dishes to do.

Don’t worry, these weren’t just dinner dishes. I also made granola bars and peanut butter crisp balls this afternoon to have snacks on hand for this week. There might even be some lunch dishes in there too.  (Thanks Erik, for cleaning up after my tornado!)

Now, back to the regularly scheduled craziness. This week, in addition to the every day stuff, I have to: take my son in for a bronchoscopy under anesthesia (omg, omg, omg…), make frosted Star Wars cookies for his special day at preschool, volunteer in my other son’s class, take Obi to puppy class (and teach him what we learned last week), finish preparations for and pull off the annual Blue & Gold Banquet dinner for the entire cub scout pack (80+ people), write an article for the preschool newsletter, and finish helping plan, set up and work at the annual open house/carnival at the preschool.

Yowza.

There probably won’t be much sleeping this week, and probably not much blogging either, but we’ll see.

At lease we’ll have Enchiladas with Pumpkin Sauce to sustain us through it all.