Roasted Veggie Enchiladas

 I want to eat more vegetables - more fresh, locally grown, in season vegetables.  I'd like to grow them myself, but I'm finding it hard to do that while working full time and teaching piano lessons and leading worship... etc.  Confession: everything in my summer garden failed except one jalapeno plant.  And I haven't planted my fall/winter garden yet.  So what's a girl to do?  Look for a CSA!  What's that you say?  CSA stands for community supported agriculture.  You pay a local farmer a fee and get a "share" of produce.  Usually you join for a season, but I was excited to find one that lets you buy by the week.  I wasn't quite ready to commit.  I picked up my first bag last night...about 5 miles from my house.  For $20, I got a delicious cantaloupe,  beets with greens, sweet potato greens, spaghetti squash, butternut squash, eggplant, okra, and sweet peppers.  I was thrilled!  If you're interested in finding a CSA, check out Local Harvest.

I think I've only eaten eggplant once, and I don't know that I've ever eaten beets...let alone cooked with them, but I remembered reading a blog post awhile back about turnip enchiladas and the wheels started to turn.  I spent the rest of the evening reading food blogs and researching.  Then I went to bed and dreamed about vegetables all night.  Seriously.

Now I'm going to share with you the most ambiguous recipe ever...because I completely made it up.  I started by chopping the eggplant, peppers, and beets (not pictured, because they didn't look as pretty and I hadn't gotten them out of the fridge yet).

Then I tossed them with olive oil and salt and pepper and roasted them in the oven at 400° for approximately 30 minutes, until soft, tossing occasionally.

 

While the veggies roasted, I made enchilada sauce from scratch and wilted the beet greens.  Again, here comes the ambiguity.  I heated some olive oil in a pan, added some flour, and whisked until lightly browned.  I didn't have tomato sauce, so with my immersion blender I blended some chopped tomatoes until smooth (we buy Pomi chopped tomatoes because they're non GMO and BPA free), then added chili powder, cumin, oregano and garlic powder and poured it into the pan with the oil and flour mixture.  I added some water and a couple bouillon cubes and let it simmer, whisking occasionally.   

Then I washed the beet greens and heated them in a second pan until wilted. 

In the meantime, my nephew Samuel got creative with the okra and peppers on the kitchen table. 

When the veggies were soft, I pulled them out of the oven, removed the beet skins and chopped the bigger chunks into smaller pieces.

 

I poured some enchilada sauce in the bottom of my 9x13 glass baking dish (I'm avoiding aluminum and non-stick - trying to use glass or cast iron when possible, and dreaming wistfully of pricey enameled cast iron), then tossed the vegetables and greens with the remaining sauce, reserving some for the top.  I placed some veggie mixture into whole wheat tortillas, rolled them, and laid them in the pan.

When the veggie mixture was used up, I poured the remaining sauce on top, covered it with cheese, and baked until the cheese was melted.

Then we topped it with fresh, homemade salsa, ate it, and it was delicious.   

On a side note, I tasted the roasted beets and eggplant out of the oven, and the roasted beets were a revelation.  The eggplant was pretty good too.

On another side note, if people are interested, I might try to make a more specific printable of the recipe.