Mmmmmm...enchiladas!

This recipe is a throwback to my younger years (haha). I hadn't even thought of this recipe until one of my old roommates sent me a message reminding me of when I used to make it in college...it seems like it's the only recipe I can remember making. And it sure was delicious!

I got it from one of my first veggie cookbooks...you know, when you first become vegetarian & every birthday, Christmas, etc, you get a pile of vegetarian cookbooks. Ooooooh, what a unique idea! A vegetarian cookbook! No one has ever bought me one of those before!

So anyway, this was a pretty good cookbook. It's a fairly health-minded cookbook (being vegetarian & all, cuz we're such healthy eaters) so obviously these enchiladas are nothing like authentic enchiladas (which I LOVE). But they are delicious in their own right. And I mean, very delicious.

I've always made it with ricotta cheese, but this time I only had 1/2 cup ricotta left, & I didn't want to buy more, so I used 1/2 cup of cottage cheese (don't tell Tim!), and I processed it in a food processor to remove the lumps (to conceal the evidence that there was cottage cheese in the recipe).

Pinto Bean Enchiladas

15 oz can pinto beans, rinsed & drained
1/2 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
1/2 cup low-fat cottage cheese
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 cup shredded low-fat Cheddar cheese, divided
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup chunky salsa
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
6 whole wheat flour tortillas

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat 9 x 13 inch baking dish with cooking spray.

Combine beans, ricotta & cottage cheese, chili powder, & 3/4 cup cheddar cheese. Set aside.

In a large frying pan over medium heat, warm the oil. Add garlic, stirring frequently for 2-3 minutes, or until tender. Stir in the salsa & tomato paste; bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to low, simmer for 5-10 minutes, or until the sauce thickens slightly. Stir in the vinegar.

Briefly dip one side of tortilla into the sauce to coat, then place about 1/4 cup of the bean filling on each tortilla; roll to enclose filling. Place, seam side down, in prepared baking dish.

Does anyone have any tips on photographing dinner? I like to have pictures of some of the steps during the process, but it always seems like I end up showing steps that would make you not want to actually eat the final product... I partially blame the lack of light (not only is it never sunny out when I'm making dinner, but our kitchen has no windows, and is blocked off from the rooms which have windows) but I'm sure there's some other things I could do to improve my dinner picture taking skills!