Surprise, It's Pumpkin! Enchiladas

Per Serving (1/2 of recipe, 1 enchilada): 4 Points+
188 calories, 2g fat, 948mg sodium, 31g carbs, 5g fiber, 8g sugars, 10.5g protein

The recipe: "300 under 300", pages 206 - 207
or http://www.hungry-girl.com/newsletters/raw/1293

This recipe is one of those Hungry Girl recipes that is referred to quite often in her emails, and is one that I have been curious about for a while now.  I have looked at the recipe many times, but just couldn’t get myself to actually make it.  The thought of using pumpkin in an enchilada recipe sounded kind of gross to me, honestly.  But, I figured since I am reviewing a variety of Hungry Girl recipes for this blog, I should probably review ones that others might also be curious about as well.

I already had small-sized corn tortillas in my fridge, so I decided to use two small tortillas instead of one tortilla for a serving size – I just split up the filling for one large tortilla into the two smaller ones.  The points did not change.  I also doubled the recipe, since my husband tends to eat more than just one serving size.  As a result, I ended up with a nice-sized enchilada casserole for dinner.  It looked nice, but was it any good? 

It actually was!  The pumpkin filling in the enchiladas tasted nothing like pumpkin, thanks to the taco sauce and taco seasoning that was added to it.  It had a similar texture to refried beans, so it did not feel like you were eating something weird like pumpkin.   I actually didn’t tell my husband that the enchiladas were made with pumpkin, and he went back for seconds without even questioning me about the dish.  They really did taste like the regular, standard enchiladas I would normally make.  Maybe they were a little less cheesy, but still just as good.

The only thing that I would change next time is the type of enchilada sauce I used.  I used a medium-spicy sauce, but it ended up being a little too spicy.  I do like spicy foods, but because the recipe called for quite a bit of enchilada sauce, it ended up overpowering the dish.  I think if I had used a mild enchilada sauce, or maybe just less of the medium-spicy sauce, the other flavors would have come out a little bit better.

Overall, I was pretty impressed with this recipe.  Normally, enchiladas would be several more points, even if you were to use fat-free refried beans.  These, however, were very low points for a nice-size serving.  I did like the fact that I used two small tortillas instead of one large one.  Mentally, I think it felt as though I were getting a bigger serving size just because there were two of them.  If you do the same, just make sure to buy the small corn tortillas with the best nutritional stats.