Butternut Squash Enchiladas - Mini Dinner Party

On Saturday, it was carnival day! Liam and I met up with my Sister and my Grandpa to take the children to the fun fair. There were only a few rides that Izzy was old enough to go on, but she still had fun. First they went on a little train ride...

I'm glad I opted not to go on this as, as you can see in the first photo, the man running it had to pull the train back and then run forwards with it at least 5 times before it started properly! I don't know if that is the norm for that ride or it was having a bad day, but either way - bit worrying!

Izzy also went on a spinning tea cup ride with a couple of friends we bumped into, and my Grandpa bought her a huge candyfloss - lots of sugar!!

We then went home for me to start cooking - my Mum and her partner, Colin, came round on Saturday night for dinner and to watch the carnival. I fancied making butternut squash enchiladas so had a Google and ended up adapting Daily Garnish's Roasted Butternut Squash and Black Bean Enchiladas and Cordon Pink's Roasted Butternut Squash Enchiladas with Goats Cheese. My recipe is probably quite simplified, but it still tasted delicious - my Mum said quite wistfully afterwards that after my (*ahem* less adventurous) little sister leaves home, she'll be able to start cooking more vegetarian meals!

Butternut Squash Enchiladas with Goats Cheese and Caramelised Onions
(serves 4-5 people)

• 1.5 butternut squashes, chopped into half inch cubes (I got Liam to slice the remaining half butternut squash, which kept in a sealed bag in the fridge for a couple of days, for me to roast as today's lunch)
• oil - enough to roast the butternut squash, plus 1 tbsp for the onions
• 3x 500g cartons of passata
• half tsp chilli powder
• half tsp garlic powder
• 3 red onions, sliced
• 1 tbsp butter
• sprinkle of caster sugar
• 180g log of goats cheese, chopped into cubes
• 9 tortilla wraps
• cheddar cheese, grated (I think we used 200g which seems loads, but there you go - I only weighed it afterwards so just judged how much cheese I needed by eye)

1. Start by roasting the butternut squash at 200C for about 30 minutes, until soft and starting to brown. I used olive oil spray to cover the squash, and stirred and re-sprayed half way through the cooking time.

I didn't want the squash overlapping so I used the two dishes I was going to cook the enchilladas in as well as my roasting tin, then quickly washed them up in between cooking stages!

2. I kept the tomato sauce for my enchilladas very simple by just simmering the three cartons of passata with the chilli powder and garlic powder. You could increase the amount of spice if you want, but I liked the mild kick it had. I simmered the sauce for about 30 minutes - make sure to use a pan with a lid as the passata 'spits'.

3. To make the caramelised onions, melt 1 tbsp oil and 1 tbsp butter over a medium heat. Add the onions and cook gently, stirring occasionally. These took about 15 minutes to caramelise. I added a sprinkle of sugar half way through, although I have seen some recipes saying to use salt instead.

All the fillings ready to assemble

4. To make the enchilladas, spread a layer of tomato sauce on the base of each baking dish. I used two dishes to hold 9 enchilladas, but you could of course reduce the recipe if cooking for less people. Fill one wrap at a time - a couple of spoons of butternut squash, some caramelised onion and 3 or 4 cubes of goats cheese.

5. Wrap the enchilladas up and place them in the baking dishes - I did this burrito style (folding the ends) as otherwise they were too long to fit in the dish.

6. Once you have made all the enchilladas, cover with the remaining sauce...

7. ...and then cover with grated cheese and bake in the oven at 175C for 30 minutes.

Unfortunately the photos of my plate don't look that attractive as by then our guests had arrived, so you'll have to trust me that they tasted much more delicious than these photos suggest! This was my plate on Saturday night...

and this was the leftover enchillada I ate on Sunday - *ahem* at 10.30am - like I say it was delicious!

The onions weren't originally blue - they went like that after being in the fridge overnight!

On Saturday, I served the enchilladas with a simple salad made of a bag of mix lettuce (lazy!), a chopped avocado and a chopped red pepper, plus a ginger and mandarin salad dressing which was fantastic...

After we'd all filled ourselves up on enchilladas, we had a little break before dessert. I made a chocolate orange cheesecake, which is a recipe I came across on Mumsnet - on the first page of this thread (yes, I'm kind of thinking about Christmas already!!) It was so simple to make, and as I made it on Friday to chill in the fridge overnight, it was one less thing to worry about whilst making the enchilladas.

I served it with some blueberries and oranges as I was worried it would be a bit too sweet for some of us...

Izzy was so happy to be allowed to stay up late to eat with us - she wouldn't normally but as we wanted her to watch the carnival she got to stay up late!

The cheesecake was really good, but I think next time I'd make it with dark chocolate orange/dark orange flavoured chocolate for a slightly more "grown-up" taste.

After we'd finished eating, we went outside to watch the carnival. Izzy had some money ready to give to the carnival collectors...

I'm sure the carnival seemed shorter this year than previous years, but maybe it's just me getting older!!

I wore my new coat - nice and cosy, but it makes me look huge! Ah well, I love it still!!

There were a lot less 'big' floats than previous years - lots of walking ones instead.

Despite what it looks like, Colin did enjoy the carnival too - this was the most "smiley" photo I managed to take!!

Towards the end of the carnival, Izzy got quite tired, but luckily we had a little chair she could sit on!

She really enjoyed the carnival - it's the first year she's properly been able to to follow it and get excited about it. She had naps both Saturday and Sunday afternoons to make up for staying up a little bit later on Saturday night, but she was still super tired (and grumpy!) this morning. A one off though, so hopefully worth it!

How have all your weekends been? Any ideas for other vegetarian enchillada fillings? I make sweet potato and mashed kidney bean burritos which are really good, so I could translate those into enchilladas I guess. I don't really like the texture of whole beans though. The filling of these enchilladas were great - the butternut squash worked so well with the goats cheese, indeed as it does in my butternut squash and goats cheese risotto - it seems I like that combo!