I just winged it. I had some vegan cream cheese that I tried to make into a dip by adding a bunch of herbs and spices, but it didn’t really do it for me, so the idea of enchiladas sprung from a need to use it up.
But for reference, 1 sweet potato peeled and cubed, boiled, 1 cup dried beans soaked and cooked (ended up with about 1/2 C cooked as “extra”), 1/2 of the tub of cream cheese, and maybe 3/4 C cooked rice made 7 enchiladas in the baking dish. Used a full can of enchilada sauce. Kept them covered as they baked so they didn’t dry out.
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I have eaten truckloads of squash in my lifetime.
(aka Japanese green pumpkin, tastes pumpkin-y)
(creamy, finer grain, is a bit “dry” compared to Kabocha)
Not to be missed, one of my all-time faves and I eat it all (cut up, of course), unpeeled:
ETA: Red Kuri is easier in the blender for squash soups–no peeling.
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Thank you. Im feeling emboldened!
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Some friends have a weekend (or Friday night, really) dinner tradition of what they call “garbage burritos.” They use the large tortillas and just fill them with all the week’s leftovers and enjoy. That was the inspiration. But I prefer enchiladas, and the smaller tortillas.
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I like kabocha too, though sometimes the flesh seems a bit dry to me. I love any of the orange winter squashes 
Something I learned about butternut squash is that they need to sit in the sunlight for a while after harvesting, for the flesh to turn dark orange. I had so many disappointments of cutting into pale, tasteless butternut squashes that I finally looked up Why is my butternut squash so pale inside. Now I make sure to let them sit around a while in the light before I use them. I don’t know if this is true for other winter squashes, because I usually buy butternuts because I find them so easy to peel and use.
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Fantastic stuff!
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I made a wonderful wrap for lunch and wanted to share. It’s based on one I got at a local vegan-friendly restaurant a while back, with some twists.
Mine was:
Smoked tofu
Rice
Beans (I have soldier beans, but black beans would be really good)
Greens
BBQ sauce
Hot sauce
Fritos
The Fritos are the “twist.” So crunchy.
The smoked tofu is amazing. It’s almost like a really mild smoked Gouda in both flavor and texture.
The original had pineapples, which I would include if we had them.
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This article had stats I was completely unaware of! Seems like it shouldn’t be too hard to offer school lunch options that are healthy for everyone.
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Happy new year, fellow mutants!
For Christmas, Mr. Linkey got me a cooler of vegan treats. I’m not generally into the “fake meat” stuff I’ve tried before, but this stuff is pretty great.
He got me fake bacon, fake chicken tenders, and fake blue cheese dressing, all from this joint:
@anon3072533 - I wish I’d known about them when I was in MPLS last summer!
I’ve used the bacon on salads and BLTs, nice and smoky. I might be overcooking it, as it’s been a bit overly crunchy.
Before going plant based one of my guilty pleasures was Buffalo wings/tenders, so that’s why he got the last 2 items. The tenders are quite good! Great texture and coating, you just bake them, highly recommend. And I loved being able to dip them in “blue cheese” dressing. The dressing is at least as good as your work-a-day dairy blue cheese dressings.
Overall very impressed by all this stuff. It won’t be an all the time thing, but really nice for a treat now and then!
We also kept trying Sioux Chef recipes for the holidays. I’ll post more later.
Anyone else have any holiday plant-based delights to share?
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You will have to come back soon! 
Also: yay, Mr. Linkey. What a sweetie 
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I’ve heard of plant-based diets but never a plant-based chef!
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I watched the 4-part Netflix show You Are What You Eat. Pretty inspiring! (And convincing. We just gotta make and eat less meat!)
https://www.sfgate.com/streaming/article/netflix-you-are-what-you-eat-18591776.php
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I’ve been wondering how to talk to a housemate about the ills of cow milk consumption. It’s not easy!
I’m not even sure myself that the myths about its health benefits actually are myths, so steeped am I too in a culture that just assumes drinking milk is good for you. (I am convinced that damage to the environment caused by the industrial production of milk is a good reason not to consume it.)
A piece like this one seems convincing, but then my doubts arise when established medical sources like say, the Mayo Clinic, claim that drinking milk builds stronger bodies, instead of, as this piece claims, doing the opposite. 
many scientific studies have shown an assortment of detrimental health effects directly linked to milk consumption. And the most surprising link is that not only do we barely absorb the calcium in cow’s milk (especially if pasteurized), but to make matters worse, it actually increases calcium loss from the bones. What an irony this is!
Here’s how it happens. Like all animal protein, milk acidifies the body pH which in turn triggers a biological correction. You see, calcium is an excellent acid neutralizer and the biggest storage of calcium in the body is – you guessed it… in the bones. So the very same calcium that our bones need to stay strong is utilized to neutralize the acidifying effect of milk. Once calcium is pulled out of the bones, it leaves the body via the urine, so that the surprising net result after this is an actual calcium deficit.
Anyone here convinced about cow milk’s health benefits, or lack thereof?
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I remember seeing this argument in Forks Over Knives, and talk about how lack of dairy in…Norway, I think?.. during WWII may have had some significant impacts on improved (cardiovascular?) health. I’m not convinced that milk is beneficial for our health at all.
It is beneficial to a cup of tea, though. Apparently I ordered a giant box of Yorkshire Gold last week, because it arrived yesterday. 
Planet Oat creamer was on sale at my grocery store, so I picked some up. It’s not bad in tea, but it’s definitely not the same.
Tangent question: does anyone have a recommendation for plant-based milk substitute in tea?
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Well, taste wise, yeah…
I like soy milk in it, but then, I’ve come around to liking soy milk itself, so easy switch!
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That makes sense, the oat creamer is a bit much on the sweetness scale. With dairy milk, I prefer whole milk in tea, and this creamer seems close on the fat-content approximation. Just too sweet and not quite as flavor-neutral as I’d like. Like I said, not bad, though. After this is gone I’ll try soy or oat milk over creamer and see how that goes. Thanks!
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Articles written at a 5th grade level making assertions that require the reader to believe high school chemistry applies directly to how human bodies work make my woo detector go off. 
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Yeah well, so is most reporting, with lowest common denominator writing in order to reach more readers, etc.
Edit: I think this one’s writing is at, maybe an 8th-grade level? 
There is evidence that drinking milk does help children grow taller, but it may not be as beneficial for adult bone strength as once thought, according to the researchers. They found that countries that consume the highest amounts of dairy tend to also have the highest rates of hip fractures. They also noted that high dairy consumption may be associated with greater risk for prostate and endometrial cancer.
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That latter article seems more reasonable, as it’s consistent with the recommendations from my kids’ pediatricians. They suggesting sticking with whole milk through age 5-ish, then 2% through 25. After that, dairy is optional.
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