Vegan Spinach Mushroom and Cheese Enchiladas

I wasn't planning on blogging about these enchiladas; I just made them to use up some ingredients I had around the kitchen. I make enchiladas all the time and wasn't expecting anything special this time. However, when I tasted the filling, I declared them my new favorite. They're way too tasty not too share.

It started with a wedge of Daiya Havarti-style vegan cheese that I bought on impulse to have with crackers. The stuff is fantastic, but then I ran out of crackers after eating only an ounce. Since Daiya is fairly perishable, I decided to cook with it right away, and since I had enchilada sauce in the freezer, I bought some spinach, mushrooms, and tortillas.

When I was getting ready to make the enchiladas, I also found half an onion in the crisper and half a jar of piquillo peppers in the freezer. Freezing jarred peppers makes them very soft, so they're perfect for something like this. The Daiya Havarti is jalapeño and garlic flavored, and fairly salty, so if you use something else in its place, add garlic or garlic powder, a bit of cayenne pepper and maybe some salt (I'd probably throw in a pinch of white pepper, too.) Only half the cheese is necessary for the filling; the remainder is optional (but awesome.)

I am sending this to Cooking with Whole Foods - Spinach, hosted this month by Cooks' Joy.

Vegan Spinach Mushroom and Cheese Enchiladas

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 cup yellow or white onion, finely diced

10 cremini mushrooms, about 6-1/2 ounces, chopped finely

1 (16-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

1/2 (12-ounce) jar piquillo peppers or roasted red peppers, diced, about 3/4 cup

3 to 7.1 ounces of a (7.1-ounce) package Daiya Jalapeno Garlic Havarti Style Wedge, sliced

2 cups enchilada sauce (from this recipe or a 15-ounce can)

12 small tortillas (I used flour)

Heat olive oil in a skillet. Sauté onion until soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in mushrooms and cook until mushrooms are soft and dark, about 5 minutes. Add the spinach and peppers and heat through. Add about 3 ounces of the Daiya slices and stir until the cheese melts.

Preheat oven to 350 F. Oil a 9 x 13-inch baking pan or two 8 x 8-inch ones. Spread about 1/3 cup of the enchilada sauce in the bottom of the pans. Divide the filling among the enchiladas, roll up, and transfer to the pans. Spread the remaining sauce on top. Top with the remaining cheese, if using. Bake for 25 minutes or until enchiladas are hot in the center and sauce is sizzling around the edges.  (You can also freeze a pan to bake later.)

Serves 6.