Well, I have no pictures of our woodland adventures today because we were not there long enough to take any pictures. Within about 10 minutes I had two very cold, cranky girls on my hands that not even a backpack full of refined carbohydrates (pretzels, granola bars, kashi crackers) could turn around. It WAS cold though, the thermostat in the car read 18 on the way home. Oh well. We tried.

Interestingly enough though, Ava said she “couldn’t wait” to go cross country skiing when we got home. Zak brought his childhood cross country skis to the house yesterday and Ava’s been in love with the idea of cross country skiing ever since.

So off she went, cross driveway skiing immediately after bailing out on our homeschooling friends because it was too cold to play outside.

Maxine stuck to her “it’s too cold” guns and we stayed inside to watch Ava and her maiden voyage on cross country skis.

I have to say, she did pretty well for her first time, especially considering how cold she was barely an hour earlier.

With our schedule suddenly clear for the afternoon, I had no choice to but get started early with dinner.

On tonight’s menu? Something I haven’t made in what feels like ages: Enchiladas!

One of the reasons I haven’t made enchiladas in a while is my reluctance to use the canned enchilada sauce that I typically use. The ingredient list on the can always make me screw up my face and put the can back down to go find something else to make instead. Tonight was no exception… but with a perfectly ripe avocado giving me the evil eye and practically daring me to make it in to guacamole, I decided to find a way around my canned enchilada sauce dilemma.

After a bit of googling and looking at the label of the enchilada sauce can for clues, I went to work making my own enchilada sauce tonight. This is what I came up with:

1 6 oz can of tomato paste
1 tbsp canola oil
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 cups of water (approx)
1 tsp agave nectar
2 tbsp chili powder (more or less to taste)
1 tbsp cumin
1 tsp paprika

Add tomato paste, water and spices to pan on low heat, whisk until smooth. Add spices, canola, agave, and vinegar and continue whisking until simmering, remove from heat.

I took French in high school, but I’ve watched my fair share of Dora the Explorer and I’m fairly sure that “Enchilada” is Spanish for “make a big mess on your stove”. Either that or “use a bigger pan next time, you dope.”

I ladled enough enchilada sauce into the bottom of a baking dish and then added 5 handsome enchiladas to the pan. I filled each whole wheat tortilla with refried black beans, cooked (frozen) corn, whole black beans and pepper jack cheese, swaddled them like a newborn baby and laid them into the dish on top of the sauce. More sauce ladled over tortillas and then placed them into a pre-heated 350 degree oven for about 35 minutes.

This recipe made more sauce than I needed, but it worked out well because I had plenty to drown these suckers with, when normally I don’t have a drop to spare when using sauce from a can.

While my enchiladas were baking, I got to work on that avocado that was giving me dirty looks.

Homemade guac consisting of 1 fork smashed avocado, 1/2 a diced onion, the juice of one lemon, 1 glove minced garlic and salt.

Guacamole is Spanish for “creamy goodness”, right?

I meant to make rice, but I forgot – by the time I remembered I didn’t care anymore so I went wild and ate my enchilada with guac, salsa and no rice.

How do you say “This is the end of my post” in Spanish?