Grain Free Chorizo Enchiladas

You know you grew up in a grain free/gluten free family when....

My son asked me this evening as we were eating our enchiladas wrapped in cabbage, "What are Enchiladas usually wrapped in?"  "Tortillas," I said.

Well, while we have not eaten traditional Enchiladas in our home during my son's formative years of development because I don't eat corn or wheat, I was glad to begin to explore some alternatives.  Mexican inspired grain free or Paleo meals have been on the agenda this week.  I was recovering from a bad flu and really wanted to get back to my grain free eating.  The previous week had been very busy and I was eating gluten free as usual, but I eating gluten free granola, gluten free bread, rice, lentils, etc... for ease, I was eating already prepared foods (Enjoy Life Cookies) rather than making my own grain free goodies.  So, I was convinced that getting healthy and recovering from this flu not only meant rest, but getting back to my more typical diet of NO or VERY MINIMAL grains.

So here is tonights recipe for the Chorizo Enchiladas. I had Chorizo in the fridge because Atzin loves the freshly made Chorizo at Pete's.  However, you can substitute anything you like for the Chorizo, like ground bison, beef, turkey, etc.  You would just have to season the meat.

Ingredients:
Approximately 10 cabbage leaves
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup coconut milk
2 jalapeño peppers, stems removed, chopped
sea salt to taste
pepper to taste
12-16 oz chorizo
1 cup fresh cilantro
1 cup cauliflower, riced
grass-fed white cheddar cheese, shredded (optional)
salsa (optional)
avocados, sliced (optional)
limes (optional)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Bring a large pot of water to boil. Gently peel the leaves off of the head of cabbage making sure they don't tear. Immerse the cabbage leaves into the pot of boiling water for 1 minute. Using tongs, remove the leaves and set on a paper towel to dry.

3. Prepare the enchilada sauce.  Add the chicken broth to a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Lower the heat on the small saucepan and mix in the coconut milk and chopped jalapeños.  Stir in the sea salt and black pepper and let simmer for 3-6 minutes.
4. Brown the chorizo in a small frying pan. Remove the excess fat.
5. Rice the cauliflower in a food processor.  To "rice" the cauliflower you can use your shredding attachment as I did in this case, or just put the cauliflower in the food processor using the regular blade. This second way, it will look more the small rice and the first method will make it look more like long grain rice.

This is the riced cauliflower using the food processor. 

5. Mix the chorizo, cilantro and cauliflower rice in a mixing bowl.

6. Pour half the enchilada sauce into a large baking dish.
7. Spoon 1-2 TBS of the chorizo mixture into each cabbage leaf, roll up and add to baking dish. Add remaining chorizo mixture to the dish between the cabbage enchiladas.

8. Pour remaining enchilada sauce over the top of each enchilada.
9. Top with shredded cheese if you eat dairy.
10. Bake for 25-30 minutes.
11. Serve with the sliced avocado, salsa, fresh cilantro, and lime wedges.

Enjoy!!

An easy variation to make it vegetarian or vegan would be to substitute the chorizo with the soyrizo if you eat soy and substitute the chicken broth for vegetable broth.