Mexican Pumpkin and Sweet Tater Casserole

It almost seems wrong posting non-Thanksgiving-related recipes the first day after a holiday weekend, but as I forgot my T-day recipes at home, YOU WILL DEAL, AND YOU WILL LIKE IT! NAY--YOU WILL **LOVE** IT AND YOU WILL BEG FOR MORE!!!

Also: sidenote: Mondays back at work after a lengthy holiday weekend are the fricking PITS. *sobbing and wetting myself a bit*

Anyways...

Here's a recipe I made a couple weeks ago. I saw a link to another link that mentioned these Marth Stewart enchiladas, but I just ended up borrowing the pumpkin sauce recipe and that's it. All in all, I wasn't TOO bowled over by the enchiladas. They were ALMOST mind-blowingly tasty, but I think they needed a) a really salt layer (like refried beans or something) to counter the sweetness of both the pumpkin and the sweet taters, or b) a really crunchy layer, since everything was so softy.

But I share the recipe anyways. Perhaps at some point I'll get a chance to make it again and tweak it some. Or perhaps you can do the honors.

Apparently Mondays back at work after a lengthy holiday weekend are the kryptonite to my sense of humor as well, so please insert funny, slightly pervy food-related comments here so I don't have to.

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 medium/large sized sweet potatoes


• 1 t. agave nectar


• Scant soy milk*


• 2 1/4 c. black beans


• 8 to 12 corn tortillas


• Vegan "cheddar" cheez


• 6 scallions, thinly sliced

For the sauce:


• One 15-oz can pumpkin puree


• 4 cloves garlic, minced


• 1 jalapeno chili, quartered


• 1 t. chili powder


• 2 c. water


• Salt & pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

For the sauce:

Throw all your sauce ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth.

For the enchilada-casserole construction:

Preheat your oven to about 425.

Peel your sweet potatoes, and steam or boil them until they are tender. Mash them in a bowl with your agave and just enough soy milk to make them a wee bit fluffy.

Pour about 1 c. of sauce in the bottom of a baking dish (an 8-inch square one will work best for thickest layers). Layer on enough tortillas to cover the bottom (you may end up tearing some in half to do so). Smooth out about 1/2 of your sweet-potato mixture on top. Sprinkle half of your black beans evenly over it. Add about half of your remaining pumpkin sauce on top. Layer on more tortillas. And then repeat another layer of taters and more beans. Add on a final layer of tortillas, and pour the remaining pumpkin sauce on top. Add shredded vegan cheddar to taste, and sprinkle your scallions on top.

Cover with foil, and bake until heated through (anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour--I think mine took a bit shy of an hour). Remove, and if the cheez is not fully melted, toss into the broiler for a minute or two.

Let sit at least 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

Serves about 6.

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* I am not exactly sure what "scant" means, but I like the sound of it. Here I'm using it to mean, "just a wee bit to fluffy-taste." In other words, you'll want to use just enough to fluff up your sweet taters.