SLOW COOKER Sweet Potato and Black Bean Enchiladas with Kale and Goat Cheese

I've been having dreams about my slow cooker.  Weird, right?

Dreaming of slow cookers can mean one of two things.  I am crazy.  I think that's probably true regardless of my weird slow cooker dreams, so I'm gonna go with my second guess here:  my subconscious was telling me it's time to cook ALL THE SLOW COOKER FOOD.  Because it's basically fall.  Thursday when I woke up, it was the first time I was actually like wait, is it really 50 degrees out?  Does it actually feel like fall?  Those of you unfamiliar with what we know as unpredictable midwest weather, it's still typically hot and humid through mid-September, so it's safe to say this cool weather is slightly confusing.  But Mother Nature, if you read my blog, just let it stay like this forever.  

For those of you who know me well, you know I have a love for many simple things (and as this Buzzfeed article would point out, I'm a basic white girl and I'm not sure exactly what that means...).  Fall weather and pumpkins and doughnuts and cozy food... these are a few of my favorite things (cue sound of music)!  This week has been a great week because I've enjoyed ALL OF IT.  The town a few miles over from Peoria is called Morton.  It's the pumpkin capitol of the world.  Lucky for me, this week is the pumpkin festival.  It's an event celebrating my favorite season, during a week with my favorite weather, and it highlights my favorite vegetable.  It's basically the best thing ever.  I've been getting excited about this week for a while.  The festival has lived up to it's expectations for many reasons, including the third thing on my list of some of my favorite things:  doughnuts.  Stop and think for a minute.  If you could be stranded on an island with only one food you had to eat forever, what would it be?  For me it would be doughnuts.  Which is why this picture sums up my happiness for the week (and my discovery that a doughnut crawl is a thing that exists--thanks Buzzfeed).  Since I had conquered so many of my favorite things this week, I figured why not add one more.  My slow cooker dreams were speaking to me and convinced me to make these enchiladas.  
  

By default, anything made in a slow cooker is cozy food.  Cozy food should be eaten when you've either blasted the AC up so high in your apartment it feels cold, or when it's actually fall or winter.  I've never made enchiladas in a slow cooker before, but I figured minus the cheese getting all crispy, this would be a great way to make the my apartment smell delicious.  If you don't have a slow cooker, or don't like slow cookers, see the note below in my recipe.  You don't have to make these in a slow cooker but I think it's more fun.  

The recipe looks like a lot of steps but I promise it's not.  And it's so easy to prepare.  You don't have to make the sauce from scratch, but I like the satisfaction of a job well done.  You've got the sweet, slightly tangy sweet potato and goat cheese filling paired with a smoky, spicy enchilada sauce.  And kale, because it's healthy for us.  It's basically perfection.  If it does not feel like fall where you live, wait a hot second to make these (or blast your AC).  But, I order you to get these working in your slow cooker the second it does.

SLOW COOKER SWEET POTATO AND BLACK BEAN ENCHILADAS WITH KALE AND GOAT CHEESE

Serves 6 (2 enchiladas per serving)

Ingredients:

Sauce:
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 T flour
2 T chili powder
2 cups chicken stock
1 chipotle pepper in adobo (minced)
2-3 T adobo sauce
1, 6 ounce can tomato paste
1, 8 ounce can tomato sauce
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp paprika
1/2 tsp salt

Enchiladas: 
2 sweet potatoes (about 2 cups total)
1, 15 oz can black beans 
1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese
1/2 cup chopped kale
1 small shallot (minced)
1-2 tsp adobo sauce
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
12 corn tortillas
1-1.5 cups shredded monterey jack cheese

Directions:

Sauce:
In a medium saucepan heat oil, add flour, smoothing and stirring with a wooden spoon. Cook for about a minute. Add chili powder and cook for 30 seconds. Add stock, chipotle pepper, adobo sauce, tomato paste,  tomato sauce, oregano, cumin, and paprika.  Season with salt to taste and stir to combine. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and cook for 10-15 minutes. The sauce will thicken and smooth out. 

Enchiladas:
Take a fork and pierce the sweet potatoes.  Place on a microwave dish and steam in microwave until tender.  Time differs depending on microwave.  Should take 10-14 minutes.  
While the potato is cooking, drain and rinse the can of black beans.  In a mixing bowl, slightly mash black beans with a fork.  Mix in goat cheese, kale, shallot, adobo sauce, powder, cumin, salt and pepper.  When sweet potatoes are tender, remove peel and dice.  Add to the mixture and stir well.  Stuff inside 12 corn tortillas.  

Pour half the sauce on bottom of slow cooker.  Placed stuffed tortillas on bottom of slow cooker and top with more sauce and then the shredded cheese.  Cook on "low" setting in your slow cooker for 3-4 hours.  

**Note:  some slow cookers are not large enough for all 12.  An alternate way to prepare would be to bake off the enchiladas in a 350 degree F oven for 45 minutes, covered in foil.  If you like crispy cheese, bake uncovered on top rack of the oven for last 5 minutes.  OR, you can make half the recipe in the slow cooker and freeze the other half... that's what I did!