Weekly Wonders: Sweet Potato-Cream Cheese Enchiladas

I couldn't think of anything to make for dinner last night. I hate when that happens. So I asked around and people responded with a heavy Mexican theme: tacos, chili, chili tacos (um, ok?). We love Mexican food but we'd already had tacos twice in the past week, so I didn't want to serve them again. But! The suggestions did provide some inspiration and using the sweet potatoes (actually, they're yams, but everyone calls them sweet potatoes) that needed to be cooked and a bit of leftover cream cheese – Voila! A masterpiece. Thanks for all the great suggestions, everyone.

Today I show you how to make vegetarian, gluten free sweet potato-cream cheese enchiladas.

You will need:

For the filling:
2 small yams
2 oz lite cream cheese
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 c chopped nuts (optional)

For the sauce: (or just use enchilada sauce)
1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp honey (or other sweetener)
Hot sauce

Other:
8 or so small corn tortillas
1 1/2 c grated cheese

Begin by roasting the yams. I slice them, top them with a bit of butter, and bake at 350°F for 20-30 minutes.

Then peel, mash, and transfer to a mixing bowl.

Add the cream cheese and beat thoroughly to combine. I used my extra fancy new red mixer, but you could probably just use a hand mixer. It might be a little hard to whisk the cream cheese with just a wire whisk, though.

Next, add the spices and salt and pepper to taste. I just mixed those in by hand.

Finally, I had some leftover chopped nuts from making these:

So I added them for some extra protein and texture.

Set the yam mix aside and prepare the enchilada sauce. I know you can just buy this pre-made, but I never have. We prefer my faux-sauce instead.

Add the tomato sauce, spices, honey, salt and pepper to a bowl and combine.

Then add hot sauce to taste.

Done. Now spread a little of the sauce at the bottom of a casserole dish.

Microwave your tortillas to soften them. We do a few at a time so they don't dry out.

Then spread a generous, but not too generous, amount of the yam filling down the middle of the tortilla.

Add some of the grated cheese.

Roll, lay seam-side down in the casserole dish, and repeat.

Cover the enchiladas with the rest of the sauce.

Sprinkle the top with the remaining cheese.

Cover the dish with foil and bake at 350°F for 25-30 minutes. In the last five minutes, remove the foil and allow the cheese to brown a little. Once the sauce starts bubbling, the enchiladas are done.

Serve with your favorite sides and some tortilla chips. We like refried beans, homemade guacamole, and yogurt.

Overall, this was an easy and healthy dish to make and I would definitely make it again. Hope you enjoy it and thanks again for the inspiration!