Chicken and Roasted Vegetable Enchiladas

Over the holidays Evan and I decided to work on a puzzle�just a simple 500 piecer that we borrowed from a friend. We were never big puzzlers in my family� I honestly can�t remember ever completing a puzzle until now.
You guys! Did you know puzzles are SO FUN!? I�m obsessed. After we finished the first one, I bought 4 Thomas Kinkade Disney puzzles. I�m a bit of a competitive puzzler, but I also like the camaraderie of a good puzzle sesh. Ya know? I get to a point, though, where we just need to really wrap one up and move on to the next. It�s serious business.
Amanda happens to be a very skilled puzzler, so I invited her over for dinner one night� dinner was really just the carrot I dangled in front of her to force her into puzzling. I mean, dinner wasn�t literally a carrot, it was enchiladas (with carrots), but I wasn�t going to let her leave til the Jungle Book puzzle was complete.
These enchiladas were just a thrown together thing, but turned out so, so good! They�re semi-homemade, with a rotisserie chicken and canned enchilada sauce that we spruce up a bit. I had a big thing of roasted vegetables in the fridge that I made earlier in the week for lunches. You could really use any combo of vegetables, but I highly recommend including sweet potatoes and onions. Below is what I used, but feel free to switch it up. These make an extra large batch, which is perfect for weekday consumption! 

I hope you know that reading beyond this point makes you contractually obligated to come puzzle at my house�

Chicken and Roasted Vegetable Enchiladas
Makes 24 enchiladas

1 (28 oz) large can red enchilada sauce (I like Herdez brand)
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon cumin
Juice from 1 lime
2 cups roasted vegetables (below)
1 small rotisserie chicken, chicken removed and shredded
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
24 small corn tortillas (taco sized)
2.5 cups shredded cheese (Monterey jack, Colby jack, etc)
1/2 cup sliced black olives

Optional Toppings:
Sour cream (mixed with a little lime juice to thin it out)
Cilantro
Hot sauce
Avocado slices
Crumbled cotija cheese
Fresh sliced radishes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, whisk together sauce, cocoa powder, cumin, and lime juice. Remove about 3/4 of the sauce and set aside. 

Add vegetables, shredded chicken, and black beans to the bowl of 1/4 of the sauce, and toss to mix everything together and coat.

Spread a thin layer of the remaining sauce on the bottom of one large (9x13) or two medium sized (baking dishes 8x8-ish). You should still have a lot of sauce left after doing this.

Warm tortillas: If you don�t have a tortilla warmer, you can wrap them in a damp paper towel and microwave for about 30 seconds.

Put a spoonful of the mixture in each tortilla, with a about a teaspoon of cheese. Roll, and place side by side tightly in the baking dish. Should make about 24 enchiladas Once they�re all rolled up and placed in dish, top with remaining sauce and cheese. Evenly distribute olives over the top.

Bake uncovered for 20-30 minutes, until cheese is super bubbly. Let cool about 10 minutes before serving. 

Simple Roasted Vegetables

1 unpeeled small-ish acorn squash, seeded and cut into bitesize pieces
2 yams or sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into bitesize pieces
1 large red onion, halved and sliced into thick wedges
4 large carrots, sliced into bitesized pieces
Olive oil
1 teaspoon of smoked paprika
Heavy pinch of salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Spread squash, yams, onions, and carrots on a baking sheet, and drizzle with olive oil. Toss to coat, and sprinkle with smoked paprika, salt, and pepper. 

Roast for about 45-50 minutes (flipping everything once) until the edges are browned but not burnt. 

Roasted Vegetables with Harissa Yogurt

Hey guess what!? I mentioned this on my Loves Food, Loves to Eat Facebook page, and also on twitter, but if you're not following along at either of those places (you should be!) then I'll tell you here too. I'm doing NaNoWriMo! NaNoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing Month, and it takes place every November. I've been very, very slowly writing a story for the past two years, and decided to use NaNo as an excuse to push through and finish it. The goal with NaNo is to write 50,000 words, which is the average size of a novel. I'm up to 30,000! Anyway, my novel has nothing to do with food. It's a mystery type story. My mom likes it so far, so�I'll consider that a success. Stay tuned, maybe I'll let you read it someday. 

But anyway, enough about that. Let's talk about your Thanksgiving table. There's the turkey, the mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing/dressing, something orange, green beans of some sort, bread rolls, and cranberry sauce. Right? 

Well, I like to also add some roasted vegetables with a little spice. These vegetables, delicata squash, carrots, parsnip, and onions are roasted until they're all caramelized, and the coconut oil adds just a hint of sweetness. Then the whole thing is topped with harissa yogurt, which is cool, sweet, and spicy all at once. Throw some crunchy, juicy pomegranate arils on top, and it's ready to serve.  

Roasted Winter Vegetables with Harissa Yogurt 

1 delicata squash

1 large carrot, peeled and cubed

1 parsnip, peeled and cubed

1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 can drained, rinsed chickpeas (not pictured..*)

2 teaspoons coconut oil, melted

salt & pepper

6 oz plain greek yogurt

1/2-1 teaspoon harissa spice blend (dry)**

1 tablespoon honey

2 teaspoons olive oil

juice from half a lemon 

Pomegranate arils (the fruity seeds)

Preheat oven to 400.

Slice delicate in 1/2 inch slices, and clear out center of each slice with a spoon. Separate and save the seeds (like with pumpkin seeds). 

Toss squash slices, squash seeds, carrots, parsnip, and onion with coconut oil, and spread out on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with a fairly generous amount of salt and pepper (you can also sprinkle on spices here if you'd like. I've tried za'atar and thyme, both were great!).

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until everything is tender. If you want more color on it, stick under the broiler for thirty seconds to a minute (keep an eye on it).

Stir together yogurt, harissa, honey, olive oil, and lemon juice. Add salt to taste.

Serve vegetables hot, topped with yogurt mixture and pomegranate arils.

This is also pretty good cold the next day, or tossed with arugula for a little salad. But, since it's cooked in coconut oil, once it's refrigerated, the coconut oil hardens again. 

*Edit: Aw man! I completely forgot that when I made this before I added 1 can of drained, rinsed chickpeas! I would definitely recommend doing that. 

**I've tried both the spice blend and the paste in this, and prefer the dry spice blend. You can buy it bulk in a lot of places or try this.