Spicy Black Bean Enchiladas

I was lucky enough to spend this past Father's Day with two amazing dads - stepdad Chris Vittles, and father-in-law Douggy Vittles.

And let me tell you - what a day it was.  It involved milkshakes and go karts and arcade games and mechanical bull riding.... just to name a few.

But my own dad was on a trip to Las Vegas, as Candi Vittles was participating in her second annual World Series of Poker event (yay!).

So while I know it's a little late for a Father's Day post, I figure I should get a pass since my celebration with Pappy Vittles will be a bit late as well.

Not to mention the fact that my internet has been broken at home since Friday morning, and I am actually posting this at work.  (Shhh...)

So... let's just pretend it's last Sunday.  Isn't time travel fun?

So now that it's Father's Day again, my first order of business is to wish my dad a very happy day - he is truly one in a million, and I'd hardly be the person I am today if it wasn't for him.

Like... I might gamble, or forget to be careful, or not take my vitamins. 

I might be bashful at the dinner table and starve.

I might forget to "do the right thing," or "go easy" (whatever that means.)

Heck, I might not even sleep tight, or worse - let The Zipperumpazoos bite!

Me, Pappy Vittles, and Chocolate The Bunny in 1986

Flexing his Dad Muscles for Mr. Vittles in 2008

Now as I've already explained, my father does the cooking at his house - and what usually comes with that territory is the grocery shopping.

(Like, as much as I would love to pass on the dreaded grocery duties to Mr. Vittles, it would be silly to have him buying the food when I'm the one planning and executing the meals.)

But before grocery shopping became the chore it is today, I used to love accompanying my dad to the store.

This was for a couple of reasons.

One was the obvious: father-daughter bonding time.  Yep, always was Daddy's Little Girl!

And there was a ritual - first, the reading of circular flyers, as well as the clipping and organizing of coupons before departure.  Then the excursion itself, followed by the post-trip celebration of how much money we saved. 

But to be honest, the "bonding" during shop time was few & far between, leading to my second reason for taking these trips with him - to get a laugh.

My dad was so focused on the products and the prices- on getting not only the right thing but the best deal - that I could literally tell him I was abducted by aliens the night before and his only response would be "Uh huh."

Not to mention, we always had a running joke that you could look in his cabinet at any given time and find at least 5-6 cans of baked beans.  Random, but I guess this was an item frequently on sale- and Lord knows the Vittles family cannot resist a good sale!

So he would buy a can or two, and before you knew it, he had enough baked beans stockpiled to survive for a week in a blizzard.

Well.  You know what they say.

The nut doesn't fall far from the tree.

First of all, the Celebration of Savings is alive & well in my household and can take one of two forms - either "Guess How Much I Saved On The Bill" (most grocery stores are kind enough to print this on the receipt for your enjoyment):

....or the equally popular "Guess How Little I Paid For This Normally Expensive Item".

(I'm not sure which game Mr. Vittles likes more.  Probably neither.)

Secondly, as I am pretty jam-packed into our apartment kitchen, I tend to have things stored in odd places.  Well, between three different cabinets, I recently discovered my own stockpiling of 7 cans of diced tomatoes.

Which would have actually been nine cans, if I hadn't just made a double batch of black bean enchiladas for Mr. Vittles and my brothers-in-law.

Yikes.  Apparently... Pappy V's baked bean is my diced tomato.

Just goes to show that we all forget to "go easy" every now and again!

And FYI - your parents' OCD is not quite as funny when you're looking in the mirror.
 
But oh well.  The more diced tomatoes I have on hand the more black bean enchiladas I can make!

Love you, Dad :)

Spicy Black Bean Enchiladas

• 1 T. olive oil
• 1/2 medium onion, diced
• 2 t. garlic
• 1 15.5 oz. can black beans, undrained
• 1 10.5 oz. can diced tomatoes with chiles (Rotel)
• 1 t. chili powder (I like to use chipotle chili powder to give them a smokey flavor, but regular is fine)
• 1/2 t. cumin
• 1 T. fresh cilantro, finely chopped
• 1/4 t. dried oregano
• 1 C. cooked rice
• 1/2 C. enchilada sauce or your favorite salsa
• 8 flour tortillas
• 3/4 C. cheddar, jack or any kind of Mexican shredded cheese

In large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat and saute onions until tender.  Add garlic and saute another 30 seconds until fragrant. Add black beans, diced tomatoes/chiles, chili powder, cumin, cilantro, and oregano.  Stir and bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to med-low and simmer gently until thickened, about 7-8 minutes.  Add rice and stir until heated through, 1-2 minutes more.  Remove skillet from heat and allow to cool slightly.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees, and coat a 9x13 baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.

In 10-15 second increments, heat flour tortillas in microwave (this makes them more pliable).  Spoon 1/3 C. of bean & rice mixture down the center of each tortilla, then fold in the sides and roll to form an enchilada.

Place each enchilada in baking dish, seam side down, and spoon sauce/enchilada over the top.  Cover pan tightly with foil and bake 15 minutes.

Remove from oven, uncover, and top with cheese.  Bake an additional 7 minutes, or until cheese is melted to your liking.

Recipe Source Unknown
**I remember finding a recipe somewhere online, and I adapted it into the above - but I never wrote the source down.  If you recognize this recipe, leave me a comment or email me and I will be happy to give credit!