bonjourhan

They may sound odd, but these enchiladas were SO GOOD. Let me ‘splain. Here was my thought process going into this yesterday:

• I really want to find some unique way to use the leftover turkey from Thanksgiving!

• I remember seeing a recipe for turkey sweet potato enchiladas a long time ago. Mmmmm.

• Oh… We have no tortillas, and I am not about to drag the baby to the store just for tortillas. Oh well. I guess I’ll have to wait till next Thanksgiving to make this recipe that I’ve been dying to make for the entire past year… *dramatic sigh*

• BUT WAIT! I’ll just make tortillas from scratch!

• Oh… we don’t have any leftover sweet potatoes.

• BUT WAIT! We have a few uncooked sweet potatoes in the pantry! I’ll just whip up some of those too.

• Oh… we only have a little bit of salsa left, and no fresh veggies to make more.

• BUT WAIT! I found a can of fire-roasted diced tomatoes, and I can toss in some spices and a little water and call it good!

• DONE.

And with that, my dreams of having a productive day were shot. I HAD to make these enchiladas. Good thing they were delicious; yummy food masks a multitude of unfinished chores. But you didn’t hear that from me.

I can’t remember exactly how I made them, but I will do my best, even if only so I can have a recipe for when I want to recreate it sometime.

Ingredients

This recipe serves four. I may or may not remember everything I used, and I certainly didn’t measure, but I’ll give it a shot.

• 1 – 1 1/2 cups salsa (I used about 1/2 cup salsa, a few Tbs water, 1/2 a can of fire-roasted diced tomatoes, some onion powder, garlic powder, chipotle powder, salt and a tiny bit of oregano all mixed together. Please don’t be like me.)
• 2 cups cooked turkey, chopped or shredded (you can use chicken too)
• 1-2 Tbs lime juice
• salt and pepper
• 2 cups cooked, mashed sweet potato
• 1/4 tsp cumin
• 1/4 tsp chipotle powder
• 8 small flour tortillas (I made mine using this delicious recipe from Annie’s Eats. Her recipe makes 12. These enchiladas only use 8. Elementary math may inform you that I ate the remaining 4.)
• 1 – 1 1/2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
• hot red pepper flakes

I think it would be good with green chiles and pepper jack cheese too.

Directions

This version of the directions will assume you already have several of the ingredients without making every single thing from scratch. It’s actually pretty quick if you PLAN AHEAD. I’ve heard there are people like this.

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F.
2. Squeeze the lime juice over the turkey and toss with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.
3. Season the sweet potatoes with the cumin, chipotle powder and a little salt. Set aside.
4. Pour salsa into the bottom of a baking dish until it just barely covers the surface.
5. Spread 1/8 of the sweet potatoes into a line down the center of a tortilla.
6. Spoon 1/8 of the turkey onto the sweet potatoes. Roll up the enchilada and place it seam-side down in the baking dish. Repeat steps 4-5 until all 8 of the tortillas are filled and rolled up in the dish.
7. Pour the rest of the salsa evenly over the top of the enchiladas. Sprinkle the cheese over the enchiladas, and shake some red pepper flakes on top of everything.
8. Bake at 350° for 20-30 minutes, or until heated and bubbling. For best results, let it rest about 10 minutes after you remove it from the oven so it can set.

We had the leftovers for dinner tonight, and it was still delicious. Please don’t discount this recipe because it sounds weird. You don’t bite into it and think, “Sweet potatoes.” All the flavors blend into a smoky, smooth bite. Let me know what you think!

Side note: I realize the pictures are ugly. I took them of the leftovers. At night.

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