Another week has gone by without a full kitchen. I am impressed by how well the saute function on my Instant Pot is working. It is saving us by letting me cook a wider variety of dishes and giving us the capability of having different textures in our meals. There is no replacing the crunch you get from the oven, but this has become an amazing substitute. I have found myself using my Instant Pot almost daily and only using it to saute.
I try to cook healthy dishes whenever possible and that is becoming increasingly harder lately. The effort it is taking me to make a complete family meal in my torn up space is taking a toll. I find myself relying more on premade options from the store. Takeout is getting old fast. If you go to the right stores (Trader Joes, Sprouts, Whole Foods) there are a wide variety of healthy ready-made options. But even at my local store, I am finding frozen quinoa with vegetables and stir fry mix (just add meat) that make preparing meals right now more manageable.
So I knew I was in the mood for something vegetarian and my husband loves Mexican so I decided to try this veggie enchilada recipe I had saved courtesy of Full of Beans. I tailored the recipe to what I had on hand and the results were amazing, even for a girl without a stove or oven! I added asparagus, one of my favorite vegetables, because I had an abundance on hand thanks to a great sale at my local store. I went shopping in my pantry and was excited to see canned enchilada sauce. Nothing tastes like homemade, but when time is of the essence and extra dishes are a nuisance, I’m using what I got!
I set my Instant Pot to saute, let the olive oil heat up, and added the onions first to soften. I’m not big on red onion, so I substituted the brown onion I had on hand. After 2-3 min, I added the rest of the veggies followed by cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.
After the veggies were soft, I laid out a few spoonfuls onto a tortilla and rolled. I was able to fit 6 enchiladas in my 8×8 pan. I would say I had enough veggies left over for 4 more tortillas, but my 8×8 pan was all I had available (the rest of my pots and pans are in storage), so I just had to roll with it. I used the leftover filling over rice the next day for lunch and it was delicious! After I filled the pan with the tortillas, I drizzled the enchilada sauce over and topped with cheese. Now typically these are supposed to finish off in the oven to get the cheese ooey gooey and the sauce heated up. What’s a girl to do? Gotta make do and into the microwave, I went for about 3 minutes until the cheese was just melted.
My family loved! I added quinoa as a side and my husband added Tapatío. He’s always got to make it more spicey. Another Instant Pot hack success! My husband and I had to celebrate with our favorite bottled adult beverages. He loves to represent San Diego with a Stone Brewery IPA and I just can’t get enough of Angry Orchard Easy Apple Hard Cider. Cheers to another dinner win!
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Add oil to a large saute pan on medium or turn your Instant Pot to saute setting. Once oil is hot, add chopped onion and let soften for 2-3 minutes. Add remaining chopped veggies and spices and let cook for about 5 minutes until soft.
- Add the drained and rinsed beans and stir to combine.
- Place tortilla flat on counter and spoon about 1/2 cup of the veggie mixture onto the tortilla. Roll the tortilla tightly and place in 9×13 pan.
- Once the pan is filled, pour enchilada sauce over the tortillas and top with shredded cheese.
- Place pan in oven and cook for 15-20 min until cheese is melted. Or if you’re without an oven, place in microwave (make sure pan is NOT metal) for 3-5 minutes until cheese is melted and sauce is hot. Serve and enjoy!
