Can you buy sweet potatoes in Mexico?

My kiddos have been taking a lot of vacations lately!  Almost every day they jet away for the afternoon!  To what lavish destinations are they traveling you ask...Mexico!  It started about a week ago when my daughter found a rather large pink leather tote/briefcase (from my previous working life) that she decided would be a perfect vacation bag!  So, fast forward a week to the present; she packs up this huge tote with all of her most valued possessions: clothes, slippers, princess figurines, make-up, and some light reading material.  After she is done meticulously packing her bag, her and big brother announce they are going to Mexico!  They trudge off to the car, a.k.a. my bed, and off they go.  Sometimes I just don't want them playing in my room, so I try to move Mexico...turns out you can't move Mexico!  I try to create other exotic vacation destinations for them in other areas of the house; venice canal in the hallway, etc...nope...they only want Mexico!  So we visit Mexico everyday now, you would think I could at least get a margarita out of all my travels!  The best part about visiting Mexico with my kids...no problems with border crossings!

If only my kids could do some of my errands while in Mexico, like grocery shopping!  They could pick me up some of the sweet potatoes that I needed for dinner last night.  Can you even buy sweet potatoes in Mexico?  I don't know...it just sounded like a good segway into my dinner!  And yes, you did read this correctly, my dinner LAST night!  I am still quite under the weather and just really felt like crashing on the couch instead of updating my blog last night...sorry folks!  Last night we made Sweet Potato and Black Bean enchiladas!  It sounds kind of weird, but trust me, this is a really fantastic and sweet spicy dish, I think even my Dad would eat these!  It took about 2 hours to make from start to finish...but don't panick, you have about 50 minutes worth of baking time that you can use to clean up the mess you made preparing dinner or just sit back with a glass of wine or a cold beer...me, I sat at my table with a box of kleenex!  I don't know exactly where this recipe originated, I got it off Pinterest, and the original link took me back to Vegetarian Times magazine.  We made some changes to the recipe, here is our version:

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Enchiladas


Red Sauce
15 oz. tomato sauce
1 3/4 cup chicken broth
1 tsp ancho chili powder
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp dried oregano
12 tsp chipotle chili powder

Enchilada Filling
1 Tbs olive oil
1 small onion, diced
2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
15 oz. petite diced tomatoes
16 oz. mild or medium salsa
2 tsp minced garlic
1/2 cup water
15 oz. can of black beans, rinsed and drained
12 oz. round queso fresco or large bag of shredded mozzarella

Enchiladas
6 inch corn tortillas, warmed (warming them is the most important step!  Warm them in the microwave or on a skillet to make them soft and pliable...if you do not, they will break apart on you in the dish)
Avocado slices for garnish
Sour cream for garnish

* For the sauce: whisk all ingredients in a sauce pan and simmer over medium heat.  Let simmer while you prepare the filling.  We let the sauce simmer for about 30 minutes, then pulled it off the heat.
* For the filling: Heat oil in a large skillet; add the onion and let it saute for about 3-5 minutes or until pearly and soft.  Add the diced sweet potatoes, tomatoes, salsa, garlic, and 1/2 cup of water; bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium-low and let simmer for 40 minutes, or until the sweet potatoes are soft (the smaller you dice your sweet potatoes, the less simmer time this means for you!)

Once the potatoes are soft, mash the mixture with a potato masher.  Add the black beans and cook an additional 5 minutes or so.

Crumble half of the wheel of Queso Fresco into the filling mixture and remove from heat.

* Enchilada assembly: Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9x13 baking dish.  Spread 1/2 cup of the red sauce on the bottom of the dish.  Warm your corn tortillas and then fill them, wrap them, and pack them into the baking dish, making sure the seam side is down.  Pour the remaining sauce over the top.  Crumble the remainder of your Queso Fresco round and sprinkle over the enchiladas and sauce.

* Bake the enchiladas for 15 minutes.

* After they have baked, broil them for 3-5 minutes until your cheese is browned and bubbly.

* garnish with sliced avocado and sour cream.
On a side note: the sauce has a bit of a kick to it and my kids don't really like spicy stuff, so I made a couple extra enchiladas for them in a mini loaf pan without any of the red sauce, and topped them with mozzarella cheese.

These are so fabulous!  This is a must try recipe, you won't miss the meat, I promise!  My daughter devoured two of them, and my husband announced they would make great breakfast burritos and that he might eat one in the morning!  If you are scared of making enchiladas without the meat, at least try this yummy red sauce when you make your meat enchiladas!  Eating these enchiladas assured me that giving up our old meat based diet may not be such a bad thing after all.  Eliminating meat does not necessarily mean sacrificing taste and flavor, this dish proved that to us!

Thanks for reading and good eats!