What Type of Tortillas Should I Use?

According to some Latin American bloggers, it is traditional to use corn tortillas for enchiladas. I buy Mission Corn Tortillas from my local store, which are about 5″. If you’d like larger corn tortillas, try these 8 inch corn tortillas from Del Campo, which are made in a dedicated gluten free facility. Order them on Amazon.

Prefer to use flour tortillas? Mission also makes a gluten free flour tortilla. Other options include Meijer (grocery store chain) and Ole Extreme. Just a heads up that all three of these companies make non gluten free tortillas. Most are sold in similar packaging, so make sure you’re grabbing the right one.

Why This Enchilada Recipe Needs Warm Tortillas

One of the most important tips in making gluten free black bean enchiladas is to use warm tortillas. If you try to roll them while they are cold, the tortillas will break. I warm them individually on a skillet, 10 seconds per side.

Is Enchilada Sauce Gluten Free?

Great question. I swear I had seen canned enchilada sauces that contained wheat as a thickener. Of course, now when I look, I don’t see any. Therefore, many are *probably* ok. I prefer La Preferida Enchilada Sauce, as it bears the GFCO certification seal.

Can I Use Beef or Chicken Instead?

One of the benefits of making black bean enchiladas is the convenience. Canned black beans are shelf stable, and inexpensive. However, if you want to use ground beef or chicken instead, have at it. I wouldn’t use more than a pound.

Are Black Bean Enchiladas Good For Your Health?

One cup of cooked black beans contains approximately 15 grams of fiber. This is about 60% of the recommended daily intake of fiber for adults. 

Per the USDA, “for example, at a 2,000 calorie reference level (which is appropriate for some but not all people) the daily dietary fiber intake should be 28 grams.” A study showed “50% of females did not eat adequate amounts of fiber, iron, or calcium.”

Fiber is important for our heart health, as it lowers cholesterol. Fiber plays an important role in maintaining intestinal health by reducing the risk of certain digestive disorders. Read more about Celiac Disease and Fiber at this link.

What Should I Serve with Black Bean Enchiladas?

Make a meal from these enchiladas by serving some delicious side dishes. Make your own guacamole to go with chips. This recipe for Easy Gluten Free Street Corn from G-Free Foodie will make everyone happy. Looking for beverages? Horchata is naturally gluten free and dairy free, and DELISH. For dessert, try this Tres Leche Rice Pudding from Sweety Saldo.

Other Hispanic Inspired Gluten Free Recipes

Looking for Spanish and Latin American inspired recipes? Here are a few on my blog.

• Black Bean Enchilada Cups
• Arroz Con Pollo
• Pupusas
• Gluten Free Mexican Fried Ice Cream
• Gluten Free Choco Tacos

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Gluten-Free Black Bean Enchiladas

Servings 4

Ingredients

• 12 tortillas, corn
• 1 can black beans
• 1/2 extra large onion, diced
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• 1 oz spinach leaves – fresh (optional)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 6 oz Enchilada Sauce (I prefer La Preferida)
• 4 oz shredded cheese
• 4 tbsp sour cream or Greek Yogurt

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 F. Dice onion (and any other preferred vegetables such as bell peppers) and sauté in a medium pan over medium heat. Cook until onions are translucent. Add spinach and cook until it's wilted. Add black beans and spices, and stir ingredients together. Season filling as preferred
• To prepare tortillas, heat them in a skillet, 10 seconds per side. Then, dip them in Enchilada sauce. **Note- it is important to do this with WARM tortillas. Otherwise they will break as you try to fill and roll the enchiladas. 
• Fill corn tortillas with black bean and vegetable mixture, approximately three tablespoons. Roll to enclose, and place in a casserole dish, seam side down.
• Top with additional enchilada sauce and shredded cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minuets. Garnish with sour cream.

Originally Published July 2013

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Sometimes there’s nothing more comforting than a big bowl of chili. Cold weather, warm weather, on top of hot dogs. I found this recipe for cozy comfort chili in my Curves Complete recipe book. This chili is full of vegetables and fiber-rich beans and under 400 calories per serving. It’s become a frequent meal in our house and it will quickly become a favorite of yours.

Gluten Free Chili For Two or More

While we usually prepare this dish for just two servings in our house, I wanted to increase it to feed a crowd. That makes this cozy comfort chili perfect for any party. This chili would be perfect for a Super Bowl crowd, March Madness, or the NBA playoffs. Not planning any parties soon? Prepare a large batch as directed and freeze portions for meals during the week.

What To Serve with Gluten Free Chili

In our household, I always make a batch of Bette Hagman’s gluten free cornbread when I make chili. Or, you could make my gluten free crescent rolls. My friend Johnna told me people in Kansas prefer cinnamnon rolls with their chili.

Meat Free Chili Options

Not a meat eater? No worries. Sub one half cup cooked lentils for every 3 ounces of cooked meat in this cozy comfort chili. It would be a delicious dish for those wanting to add more meatless meals to their culinary repertoire. The great thing about this dish is that it’s open to customization. No kidney beans? Sub chickpeas. Don’t like spicy? Leave those spices out. (We do!) Like things hot? Add as much gluten free chili powder as you like!

Other Gluten Free Chili Recipes

Looking specifically for a vegetarian chili? This Instant Pot Four Bean Chili from Vegetarian Mamma is great for busy nights. Craving chicken instead? This Crock Pot White Chicken Chili recipe from Iowa Girl Eats looks fantastic! I love squash in the fall and this Butternut Squash Chili from Chew Out Loud sounds amazing!

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Gluten Free Chili

Servings 8

Ingredients

• 1/2 each of red yellow, green and red peppers, diced
• 1 large onion diced
• 3-4 cloves garlic minced (2 tsp)
• 2 tsp oil
• 1 1/2 pounds of 93% lean ground beef or 4 cups cooked lentils
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp cumin
• 4 cans of canned beans- mix of black kidney and pinto beans
• 3 cans of 14.5 oz diced tomatoes
• 1-2 8 oz cans of tomato sauce

Instructions

• Dice onions, pepper and vegetables.
• In a large pot, saute vegetabes in 2 tsp for 5-7 minutes until soft.
• Next, add meat and cook throughly until no longer pink.
• Add cumin and salt, and saute for 1-2 minutes until cumin is fragrant.
• Stir in tomatoes, tomato sauce, and beans. Simmer for 20-30 minute or longer if you like.

When’s your favorite time to eat chili? What’s your favorite seasoning to add? Share your chili commentary!

First Published February 2017

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400 Calorie Meal

When I originally wrote this post in 2013, I was working at Curves. If you’re unfamiliar with Curves, it’s a fitness facility for women. Fast forward to 2017. I’m not longer working there, and I’ve learned how to take better pictures. I also learned that in weight loss, not everything has to be exact, and not every single calorie has to be minutely counted.

Even though my time at Curves is done, I really enjoyed some of the 400 calorie recipes in their Curves Complete plan. One of these is a what I turned into a gluten free beef stroganoff. I’ve tried it with various brands of pasta, including this Organic Brown Rice & Quinoa Fusilli from Trader Joe’s.

Do What Works Best for You

Now, I have to be honest that I “tweeked” this gluten free beef stroganoff recipe a bit from the original. To start, I sauteed the thin slices of beef in a tablespoon of butter. When those were cooked, I removed the beef from the pan and sauteed the onions and fresh mushrooms.

I used Pacific Foods Cream of Mushroom instead of Cream of Chicken, because mushrooms are amazing. I also substituted Greek yogurt instead of the sour cream. (We never have sour cream in the house and ALWAYS make this substitution.) I also left out the flour and water, because the mixture was plenty thick.

Other Small Batch Recipes

Looking for more “small batch” recipes? You’ll love my Gluten Free Butternut Squash Lasagna for Two. Or how about this Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry for Two from Dessert For Two? Or find a whole collection of small batch recipes in Carol Fenster’s Cooking for Two Cookbook!

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Gluten Free Beef Stroganoff for 2

Keyword gluten free beef stroganoff

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup 4 oz gluten free pasta
• 1 tbsp butter
• 8 oz sirloin steak or ground sirloin
• 1/2 onion s – medium
• 3 oz mushrooms 1/2 cup
• 2 cloves or garlic minced
• 1/2 cup soup – gluten free cream of mushroom
• 4 tbsp Daisy light sour cream OR fat free Greek yogurt
• salt & pepper to taste
• 2 cups green beans or broccoli

Instructions

• Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add gluten free pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente. Drain.
• Warm a nonstick skillet over medium heat and melt 1 tablespoon butter. Saute thinly sliced beef, 3 minutes per side. Remove beef from pan.
• Add onions, mushrooms, and garlic to the pan. Saute until onions are translucent. When the onions soften, add sliced sirloin back to the pot. Pour the soup over the steak and vegetables, and cook until hot and bubbly.
• Remove from heat and add light sour cream or Greek yogurt,  and salt & pepper to taste.
• Serve mixture over noodles with steamed green beans or broccoli on the side.

**This post contains affiliate links. Purchases made through those links help support this blog with no extra expense to you. Thank you for your continued support!**

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Carbohydrates as Part of a Healthy Diet

I despise diet trends. I realize I may lose a reader or two (or ten) by saying this. However, I cringe when people demonize an entire food group. For example, carbohydrates. Our body needs them to function properly. (If a pediatric doctor at the hospital reinforces why this is true, as your Type 1 Diabetes kid lays in the peds unit with ketoacidosis, you listen.) While it’s true that too many refined carbohydrates do not help our system, one doesn’t need to cut carbohydrates completely. Whole grains, with B vitamins, maintain important systems in our body, such as metabolism and our ability to sleep.

Rudi’s gluten free tortillas supplies another key nutrient. Fiber. “Most Americans don’t get enough fiber to begin with and when they make the switch to a gluten-free diet, it only gets worse,” says Anne Lee, MSEd, RD, LD.” These tortillas boast 5 grams of fiber per tortilla. In addition, these tortillas remain low in sodium. I highly recommend warming these tortillas in a warm skillet.

Monounsaturated Fats and Avocados

This recipe calls for avocados. While avocados do contain fats, monounsaturated fats can help lower cholesterol. In addition, avocados contain fiber, vitamins and minerals, and helps satiate hunger. WebMD states “In one study, people who added a fresh avocado half to their lunch were less interested in eating during the next three hours.”

Looking for ways to add avocado to your diet? Try some of these recipes from trusted friends! This Roasted Avocado & Bacon Guacamole from Life After Wheat adds a new taste to a standard favorite. Flippin’ Delicious adds avocado to her Gluten Free Southwest Pasta Salad, and What the Fork makes Easy Avocado Truffles your kids will love! A tip on cutting your avocado. I cut mine in half by laying it on the counter, inserting the knife along the side, and spinning the avocado until cut in half. Twist the two sides apart and you’re ready to get cooking!

Adding Beans and Fiber to Your Diet

But let’s get back to these quesadillas. They require few ingredients and come together in a snap. You can use either of the Rudi’s gluten free tortillas for these, but I chose to use the plain variety. (They also make spinach tortillas.) Why? Because they were on sale and a gluten-free-girl needs to save where she can, right? This recipe utilizes corn and black beans, thereby boosting your fiber intake. Just one half a cup of beans per day contains about half of a woman’s recommended daily intake for fiber. (Women should consume at least 25 grams of fiber per day. Most consume only 12-13 grams.)

How Many Calories in a Serving of Grains?

As previously stated, I based this recipe on a burrito recipe I had in a diet book. The original recipe called for one whole wheat tortilla. One whole wheat tortilla contains 160 calories, which is two servings of grains. However, Rudi’s gluten free tortillas contain only 90 calories, allowing me to have TWO tortillas instead of one. (I don’t know who said less is more, but they couldn’t have been talking about food.)

Therefore I simply used the same filling suggested in the book, and placed it between two Rudi’s gluten free tortillas. Then I cooked them on the skillet and cut them into wedges. Then, I served them with two tablespoons of salsa, and two tablespoons (1 ounce) of avocado. Lots of flavor that keeps you filling full throughout the day is always a win in my book!

Looking for more recipe ideas that don’t pack on the calories? Check out these 12 Gluten Free Dinner Recipes Under 400 Calories from My Fitness Pal. You may also like my recipe for Gluten Free Black Bean Enchiladas!

(Please note that this recipe is for one serving.)

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Gluten Free Black Bean Quesadillas

Ingredients

• 2 Rudi’s gluten-free tortillas
• 1/4 c. black beans
• 1.5 oz. corn
• 1/4 medium tomato- diced
• 1 oz. shredded cheddar or dairy free cheese of your choice
• 2 tbsp. salsa
• 2 tbsp. mashed avocado

Instructions

• Chop tomato
• Heat black beans until warmed through.
• Stuff tortilla with black beans, corn, tomato, and shredded cheese. Heat in the toaster oven or microwave until the cheese is melted.
• Slice avocado and mash with a fork. Measure 2 Tbsp. of the mashed avocado.
• Serve burrito with salsa and mashed avocado for dipping.

Have you tried Rudi’s gluten-free tortillas? What do you like to make with them? What’s your favorite gluten-free burrito recipe?

**This post is not sponsored by Rudi’s Gluten Free Bakery. All thoughts and opinions are my own. This post contains Amazon affiliate links.  Purchases made through those links help support this blog with no extra expense to you. Thank you for your continued support!**“

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