Srilankan Eggplant dish, Enchillada Casserole and my bagel discovery

So many thoughts and all in one blog!!
I made this Sri Lankan Eggplant Curry for dinner tonight, but I won't go on and on about it because I know Em can't make Indian-spiced food. Can I just say, though, it was YUM! It was very close to Indian food, but still different. I will dice the eggplants smaller next time. V wanted to know when I would make it again!
So instead I am posting the recipe for Enchilada Casserole that I made last week.
An old colleague/friend, Kristie gave me this recipe when I was vegetarian. She brought it often to work parties too. I have modified it over the years (made it healthier, I think) and now have vegan-ized it too. This recipe is open to many interpretations and changes. You can change the vegetables, beans - everything according to your taste and interest. I experiment with it everytime. I assume that the filling will work for burritos too! Here it is...

Vegan Enchillada Casserole

Ingredients:
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic
1-2 Chipotle chillis in Adobo sauce, chopped (change based on your tolerance for the spice)
1 Green Pepper, chopped
2 Carrots, chopped
1 cup chopped mushrooms
1 cup chopped spinach
2 cups cooked pinto beans (can use black beans, kidney beans or any other beans)
1 1/2 cups Salsa
1/2 package silken Tofu
2 T vegan cream cheese
2-3 T nutritional yeast
2 T Oil
2 Tortillas, warmed and torn into pieces
Salt - to taste
1t cumin powder
3 T Adobo seasoning (or to taste) or any other spice
1t nutmeg
Cilantro - optional


Preheat oven to 350
Blend together the Tofu, cream cheese, nutmeg.
Heat oil in a pan, add garlic and onion. Cook till browned
Add carrots and peppers. Cook 5-7 minutes. Add mushrooms and cook for 1-2 more minutes.
Add beans, salsa, chipotle chillis, salt, cumin powder, Adobo seasoning and cook till the flavors are all mixed.
Add the blended tofu mix, nutritional yeast and spinach and cook for 5-8 more minutes
Layer pieces of one tortilla in an oven-safe bowl (9x11 will work well) - you may need to spray with oil.. I don't!
Layer half the mix on top of the tortilla.
Layer the pieces of tortilla and the rest of the filling on top.
Bake for 25-30 minutes.

For great zing, you can add enchillada sauce to the mix too. I used to, but find that these flavors are enough.
The photo looks like a glob, but you get the idea! I just added pita chips for color and style!



Tomorrow and Friday, I spend all day at a conference (Indiana Speech Language Hearing Association, if you were interested) in Indy. We have to leave at 6.30am to get to the conference. Traveling as a vegan means spending some time researching and planning my food options/choices. And I love to plan (especially about food), so this is not really a problem.
I planned to stop by Einstein's Bros to grab some breakfast early in the morning. I was researching bagels to decide which one I should get - vegan or not etc.
I found, to my excitement, that most bagels there are vegan. I always thought bagels had eggs.
In the process of reading the ingredient list, I discovered that their Ceasar dressing has anchovies in them.
My colleague was surprised that I was surprised. I have never been a huge fan of Ceasar dressing... not a big deal for me. But, it just goes to show how ignorant I am or how important it is to look at labels. You never know what's lurking there.. next to the high fructose corn syrup (They now have ads telling us it's corn and healthy!! That's what we need - ads telling us to eat stuff like that) and the fake sugars.
When did this turn from a recipe post to a rant??
Have a good few days, everyone. V bought a mini-muffin pan today - so I hope to get to the doughnuts sometime soon.