Beginner's Soy Enchiladas

I call this dish Beginner's Soy Enchiladas because I'm nowhere near an expert enchilada maker. As a matter of fact, I can't remember the last time I made them, but I've been wanting to make them for years. For my first time in at least a decade, I decided to stick to the familiar tastes of the past. For me that meant using soy ground, vegan cheese, and yummy toppings. By the way, the cheese melted really nicely here - I did not have to use the broiler. I also used canned enchilada sauce because I've never dipped my toes in the territory of homemade enchilada sauce before, and I wanted this meal to be as successful as possible for my family without any of Mom's usual fiddling with ingredients. I had trouble with the corn tortillas cracking when I rolled them; I found that microwaving softened them a bit, or coating them in the enchilada sauce helped, although the latter made for a mess. When I can come up with a sure-fire way to fold corn tortillas without cracking them, I'll let you know. My family really loved these, and even though I made a lasagna-sized pan and a half, there were only two enchiladas left by the end of the night! G mumbled something about how lettuce doesn't taste as good the next day, mm-hmm. I think at the end, they were being polite in not taking the last of them. By the way, I only had two, so it wasn't me. Since these were so easy to make and required so few ingredients, I will be making these more often. If I come up with more creative recipes for enchiladas, I'll let you know. In the meantime, here's my super simple version.

Beginner's Soy Enchiladas (in the pan)

Beginner's Soy Enchiladas with a side salad (my plate)

Beginner's Soy Enchiladas
Ingredients:

Corn Tortillas
1 - 28oz. can enchilada sauce, or your favorite homemade version
1 Tbs. canola oil
2 pkgs. Soy Ground, Mexican style
1 block of Follow Your Heart Vegan Gourmet cheese, mozzarella style, finely grated

Toppings:

Romaine lettuce, chopped small
1 - 15oz. can olives, sliced in thirds
Vegan Sour Cream

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large pan, heat oil. Add the soy ground, and cook over medium heat until browned, about five minutes or so. Add 1/2 cup of the enchilada sauce and stir into the soy ground. Put half of the finely grated cheese in with the soy ground and sauce, and mix well. Turn heat down to medium low, and cook for a few minutes, until cheese blends in. Set aside. Put a thin layer of enchilada sauce down in the bottom of a lasagna-type pan, about 1/2 cup. To soften corn tortillas, try microwaving a handful at a time for fifteen seconds. Put two to three tablespoons of soy ground mixture in the middle of each tortilla and roll the tortilla up the best as you can. Place seam down in pan. If it cracks, don't worry, it will still taste good. Do the same with as many tortillas as it takes to use up the remaining soy ground. I got about fifteen or so enchiladas out of this and had to get a second pan, which I partially filled. Once all the enchiladas are placed in their pan(s), pour the remaining sauce evenly over them. Sprinkle the second half of the cheese on top of the sauce. Cover the pan(s) with foil and bake for 40 minutes. Take out of the oven and cover with the toppings. So good. Feeds five hungry vegans.