Meatless Mondays: Sweet Potato Quinoa & Enchilada Bake

I have been holding onto this recipe from shelikesfood.com for a few weeks. I have never cooked with enchilada sauce so I was excited to try. I also have been a little rice and potato heavy so getting back to eating more quinoa seemed like a good idea. I definitely took longer than the prep time indicated but I dice vegetables slowly.

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup dried quinoa
• 4 cup cubed sweet potato, about 2 large ones
• 1 red pepper, diced
• 1 green pepper, diced
• 1 zucchini, diced
• 1/2 red onion, diced
• 1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 cup corn kernels
• 1 cup grated cheese, divided (I used vegan cheese)
• 2 1/2 cups enchilada sauce
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 3 teaspoons olive oil, divided
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
• Black pepper
• Optional garnishes: cilantro, red onion, tomato, avocado, jalapeno

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Rinse quinoa and place it in a small pot with 1 cup of water.  Bring to a simmer and cook until water is absorbed and quinoa is cooked through, about 15 minutes.  Set aside.
2. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees F.  On a large baking sheet, toss together the cubed sweet potato with 2 teaspoons olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.  Bake sweet potato for 20 minutes.
3. While sweet potato is baking, add all the diced bell peppers, zucchini and onion to a bowl and toss with 1 teaspoon olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper.
4. Add the vegetables to the sweet potatoes, stir and make sure they’re in an even layer.  Place back into the oven 10 minutes.
5. Increase the oven temperature to 400 degrees F.  Place the sweet potatoes and veggies into a large baking dish and stir in the cooked quinoa, black beans, corn, 3/4 cup of the cheese, enchilada sauce, spices, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.  Top with the remaining 1/4 of the cheese and place back in the oven until heated through and cheese is melted, 10-15 minutes.

Hubby and I loved it! We chose to garnish it with avocado. It blended together well and it came out light.  While we were eating it, I thought it would be interesting to add mushrooms, too. I definitely look forward to making it again.