Cheese Enchiladas and Reflections from Summer

"Whoever hath a seed time of grace pass over his soul, shall have his harvest also of joy."
                                                                                                                             ~William Gurnall~

I won’t lie, the first day of fall was not a joyful one for me. It’s not that I don’t love the autumn season, for I do. Ah, the cooler days with the fresh smell of apples ripening in the air, the crunch of leaves under my feet and the scarlet reds, brilliant yellow and oranges, are normally a welcoming delight for me.

 It’s just that this year, I didn’t feel like I’d had enough summer.

Forest fires burned relentlessly, throughout our province, without any sign of abatement due to the hot and dry weather we experienced. For most of July and August I would wake early to the acrid smell of smoke, drifting through my slightly opened bedroom doors. I knew before even rising, from the dim light filtering through the curtains, that instead of crystal blue skies, I would find a grey and white blanket heavy above me, choking me from the beauty of summer, making me feel like I was swimming under water, unable to catch my breath.

Grace sitting on a picnic table during our camping trip...you can see the haze of smoke hovering over the lake

And what made it even worse was being imprisoned with our young children, in fear of damaging their lungs due to the poor air –quality, we spent our days pent up inside our often blistering house. The air conditioner, which we had installed after the staggering hot summer of 1998, the summer I had been pregnant with our now 18 year old son, decided to work intermittently this summer.

Usually on the hottest of days it would decide to freeze up and we would be left sweltering, like hostages in the worst of prisons. Purchasing a new one was out of the question, since we were about to send that same 18 year old off to University and like some rich parents (we're not!) of entitled kids, (he's not) we had agreed to pay for his school expenses.

One night in summer I woke to the smell of burning wood and when I glanced outside, the moon was full and almost orange from all the smoke in the air

So on those days when the fine particles in the smoke were most toxic,  the kids and I spent hours inside playing every board game in the house, reading countless books until our eyes were red and sore and figuring out which puzzles had the most missing pieces. Occasionally, feeling trapped and isolated, I would turn on the television and catch a bit of National news, and that’s when a heavier oppression hit me; our interior region was making National headlines.

News stories, showing forest fires ablaze and people fleeing their homes for safer ground, not knowing  if they would have a home to return to drifted into our family room, like the smoke in the air around us. Compounding my depression over the conditions we were living under, a thick layer of guilt grimly covered me.

We were having a good summer compared to them.

Then if I clicked the remote just five channels over to capture images rolling from CNN, real fear encompassed me. Concerns that, “Rocket Man,” whom the United States President, Donald Trump, called the dictator, Kim Jong-un, of North Korea, would catapult one of his intercontinental ballistic missiles, this one armed with nuclear weapons, and our world would erupt into war, ending life as we know it.

 Well, let’s just say life period.

So yeah, summer wasn’t great and I’m not greeting fall with higher expectations, since fall leads to 

winter, when our valley is immersed in inversion type weather systems, where we are permanently

 trapped under dark cloud and experience bitterly cold days.

I'm not ready for that yet! I didn't get enough sun yet to keep me going through our darkest months.

 Wait though, our eight year old son William, and his six year old twin sisters, Kathryn and Victoria,

 have all come running into the house now and are excitedly calling my name. “Mommy, Mommy,

 you won’t guess what we found in the raspberry patch?” Pardon me as I put down the lid of my

 laptop and see what they want.

 Sliding my reading glasses down my nose, I peer at their animated faces and see that my curly,

 blonde headed Will is holding something cupped in his hands. The little girls, are glued next to him,

 as if they are all one unit, holding this single item up for perusal. “Remember how you thought there

 was a squash growing under the raspberries?” Will said, and I answered “yeah?” “Well,” they all

 chimed in together, “it wasn’t a squash.” And then they extended a perfectly round, luminous, orb,

 circled with tiny rivers of green towards me. 

Suddenly, looking at our children’s shining, exuberant faces, and then down at the round and glowing

cantaloupe they were holding, I was reminded of the goodness of earth and the abundant lessons
always springing forth; from the ground and from the innocent joy of our children.

Behind the children and to the right, you can see the cantaloupe plant..which I thought was a squash, growing out under the newly planted raspberries....the seed must have been in the compost mixture I used to top up the raised bed....unexpected gifts from the earth and answers to a prayer to bring hope to dim season

Maybe this fall is going to be better than expected

Please join me in saying goodbye to summer, as we sip the last of the ice tea and make some cheese 

enchiladas. If you want an easy meal, this is it! At this time of year, I'm really busy roasting and
freezing tomatoes, making apple sauce, blanching and freezing the last of the beans so this quick and
easy type dinner, fits the bill perfectly. Also, as you may know from reading my blog, our
son Harrison recently left for University. While I've been sad to see him go, since he was a meat lover
and would often groan when I would make a veggie dish, it's nice to be able to make something
more of us love without the negative vibes. Sorry Harry....but something good comes from every
season in life. (we miss you in every other way!)

Our vegetable loving Victoria next to her garden...the bees love her zinnias!

I hope you too are looking forward to fall and the goodness that comes from each season. 

Now let's make some enchiladas.......

(Years ago, I was an accredited La Leche League leader and this recipe was found in one of their books, "Whole Foods for the Whole Family.")

Cheese Enchiladas

Ingredients

Sauce:

3 tbsp of oil

1 to 2 tbsp of chili powder 

2 tbsp of flour

2 cups water

1 tbsp vinegar

1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp sea salt

Bean Filling:

2 cups cooked pinto beans

1/4 cup chopped green onions

1 cup cottage cheese

1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper

1/4 cup chopped almonds

1/2 cup wheat germ

1/2 cup chopped black olives

Tortillas

8 flour (see recipe below to make from scratch)

2 tbsp oil

Toppings

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 cup plain yogurt

2 tbsp chopped onion

Directions:

If you really want to stretch your budget, use dried beans. To make 2 cups of cooked pinto beans you need 3/4 of a cup of dried beans. This little bag for $2.00 has enough dried beans for MANY meals!

Combine sauce ingredients in saucepan; mix well. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Simmer for 5 minutes

Combine filling ingredients in bowl, mashing beans and mixing well. Fry tortillas briefly in oil in 

skillet. spoon filling onto tortillas; roll to enclose filling. Place seam side down in shallow baking

 dish. Pour sauce over enchiladas; top with 1 cup shredded cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 

minutes, spooning sauce over top occasionally. Serve with topping of yogurt and onion. May

 substitute shredded sharp cheese for cottage cheese, sunflower seeds fro almonds or green olives for 

black olives. Or if you wish omit olives, wheat germ, yogurt, or onion.

This is a quick, nutritious, and EASY meal, not to mention inexpensive for a crowd. Make the sauce

 and filling ahead of time and you can make it easily when your family gathers. Put some rice on, 

add some tortillas chips and you have a delicious meal for those you love.

The last watermelon of summer, and a smattering of summer corn, all adds to this change of season meal...well this is a meal for all season but boy did it taste good sitting outside on the last of summer

 

Will and his corn. While this crop would probably do better directly in the ground, we still harvested many ears of corn from this little 4x4 crop space...plus we now have seeds to try it again next year

 

If you want to take it to another level of being sustainable, make your own flour tortillas. (also from the recipe book above)

Flour Tortillas or Chapathis

Ingredients

4 cups whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking powder (opt)

1/4 to 1/2 cup butter or oil

1 cup warm water

Directions:

Combine dry ingredients in bowl. Work in butter or oil...this is optional as well. Add enough water

soft, pliable dough. Knead lightly on floured surface.Divide into 6 balls, let rest, covered for 15- 20 

minutes. Roll into thin circles, between sheets of floured, waxed paper. Bake in ungreased, heavy 

skillet, or griddle, until brown specks appear on cooking side. Cook over and cook on the other side. 

These store well in fridge or freezer. Makes 16 servings.

Sadie and I... aka Sweet Girl at the end of summer

"You carry Mother Earth within you. She is not outside of you. Mother Earth is not just your
environment. In that insight of inter-being, it is possible to have real communication with the
earth, which is the highest form of prayer." ~Thich Nhat Hanh~


Thank you for coming to visit me today.

Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope