Easy Vegetable Enchiladas Recipe

Filled with veggies, refried beans and cheese, Easy Vegetable Enchiladas are a warm, comforting meal to end the day with.

There’s a sound my eight year old daughter makes, a unique to her noise that conveys so much. It’s a sweet “humph,” a twinkling, pure musical sound of amusement and interest, and sometimes surprise too. Every time I hear it, it makes me smile.

Watching your kids develop from newborns to infants to toddlers to little people is nothing short of amazing. It all happens so fast, almost in a blink, as they change from helpless babies to opinionated, thinking, analyzing kids. Meanwhile, they also go through so many changes — the act of growing, developing their own tastes and learning to test and push boundaries.

And at some point, they’ve bellied up to the counter so many times, and dug into so many dishes, they begin to have opinions, ideas and suggestions about the food you cook and eat. And sometimes, that’s really helpful too.

This recipe? Paige, my daughter, and Will, my 10-year-old son, had a lot to do with its creation. We went to our local Shaw’s grocery store together, intent on finding some tasty ingredients for dinner. We talked about pasta dishes, couscous and tacos. We contemplated sauces and veggies. But in the end we came to a dish that my son orders whenever he sees it on a menu: enchiladas. It’s his favorite.

At first, I thought I would use black beans in this, but when my daughter spotted refried beans, I couldn’t resist. Add in a colorful array of veggies, black olives, cheese and a touch of cilantro, and this quickly transformed into a belly-filling, warm, comforting meal.

But I have to acknowledge something: This recipe has a longer ingredients list than I typically use, but the combination of flavors creates a delightful dish. It’s the combination of flavors and textures that really makes this work.

And despite the number of ingredients, this really is a quick and easy meal to make. You simply spread refried beans on corn tortillas, top them with a mix of veggies, olives and cilantro and then cheese, roll them up and spread enchiladas sauce, tomatoes and cheese on top. All said, it takes about 10 minutes to prepare — and it’s something you could do in the morning, and chill all day until you’re ready to cook them.

My daughter was a big help in creating these, helping with the filling and saucing of these … and the eating of course too.

February is National Canned Food Month, and it’s a good time to take stock of your pantry to ensure that it’s well-stocked for easy dinnertimes. Canned goods are great to keep on hand for convenient, nutritious, vitamin-rich add-ins for meals.

For my pantry, I always keep canned tomatoes (paste, diced, crushed, puree) on hand, since they can be used so many ways including for sauces, soups and baked dishes. I also try to have a few soups for easy lunches, baked beans, canned pineapple, olives and a few canned veggies — including corn and artichoke hearts. What I love about keeping canned goods on hand is that they are fresh, easy and ready to use — so I can get a healthy dinner on the table faster.

What are your must haves for canned goods in your pantry?

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Shaw’s. The opinions and text are all mine.