You would not believe the lengths I went to for tonights dinner!

Holy smokes, I'm exhausted! I told Wayne tonight that if eating healthy takes this much effort for one dinner, we are only having one healthy meal per week!(and of course he's totally cool with that) Ok, so maybe I went a bit overboard tonight, but at least it turned out delicious. I'll explain.

I was thinking I would make some enchiladas tonight so I started last night by putting some black beans in a bowl to soak. Then this morning I put them in the crock pot and had them going on low all day. I wish I would have thought to season them, but that's ok maybe next time. Anyway, then this afternoon I made some homemade whole wheat tortilla's that turned out wonderfully! I have tried whole wheat tortilla's before using a recipe that called for shortening, and they came out tasting like pie crust and crumbling to bits. Well, who knew that making them a bit healthier (with olive oil) would actually make them tastier too!? This recipe I found today uses olive oil and they turned out fabulously and were seriously easy to make, I think you all should try it! I'll put the recipe here too:

2 cups whole wheat flour (I used freshly ground hard white wheat)

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 T olive oil

1/2 cup warm water

mix dry ingredients, then mix in the olive oil. Add the warm water a little at a time and mix into a kind of sticky ball and knead a little bit. Put it back in your bowl and cover with a cloth and let it rest for 15 min. Separate into 6 balls and roll out as thin as you can (on a very lightly floured surface). Grill on high heat until bubbles start to show, then flip over and do the other side for a little bit. The only problem with this recipe is that it makes only 6! Next time I will be doubling.

Ok, so my next step in my dinner process was to put some brown rice in the rice cooker. I also added a spoonful of vegetable broth powder to the water for some flavor (and I'm so glad I did. It was awesome!) Then, for the enchilada sauce I wasn't quite sure what to do. I was thinking of just using a can of cream of chicken soup mixed with salsa, but after scanning the ingredients on the cream of chicken soup I changed my mind. It's full of all kinds of yucky stuff, including msg. So, I went for this recipe from simple. healthy. tasty. only I didn't have any rice milk on hand. I did however have homemade almond milk on hand (crazy, I know) So I used up that. Then I mixed some salsa into the cream of something soup and called it enchilada sauce. So, using a homemade whole wheat tortilla I put on some rice, beans, and cheezy sauce then rolled them up and put them in my baking dish. Then I poured the sauce over the top and added more cheezy sauce on top of that as well as some green chile's. Then I baked it for a bit and can I just say these were hearty and filling not to mention tasty! I was so relieved they tasted good or else after all that work I might have cried.

I knew my family would not appreciate all that good stuff so I made a separate batch of enchilada's for them. I used the rice, then chicken, then cheese inside of theirs but they got my sauce poured over the top and they got real cheese sprinkled on top. Wayne seemed to like it (he ate 2, so that's always a good sign) and I will just say again that it was a relief it all turned out to be edible!

Now, for your viewing pleasure I actually took a couple pictures of the food:

Now I realize you can make healthy dinners without going through all that, but once I get my mind on something I just keep going. I realized that it's best to prepare ahead if you really are going to make everything from scratch like this. I was glad I had the vegetable broth powder, almond milk, and cheezy sause on hand for this so I could at least try an animal/animal product free meal. I still have a lot to learn but I'm feeling good and moving forward!