Another kind of comfort food

Enchiladas don’t sound healthy, unless you do these tricks

The weather we’ve been having this winter has me craving some stick-to-your ribs comfort food. Since I grew up in Tucson, Arizona, comfort food was always something Mexican or southwestern, involving tortillas, rice, beans, cheese and a tasty sauce to drown it all in. Which is a long way of saying: enchiladas are pretty much my dream food. So it became my goal to create a version of enchiladas that mimicked the flavors and comfort of my childhood but didn’t make me feel weighed down and searching for my elastic waist-band sweatpants.

I swapped out white rice for brown rice to boost the nutrient profile, and used black beans without added fat (I almost don’t miss the lard). While cheese enchiladas are honestly my flavor of choice, I added chicken to give heft and protein, which enabled me to reduce drastically the amount of cheese. Without the extra fat, I needed some moisture to keep the filling luscious and tasty.

Surprisingly, finely chopped baby spinach worked great, adding nary a calorie but a little boost of vitamins (A, C, folate) and iron. Win-win.

I whipped up a simple enchilada sauce using canned whole tomatoes. And my final victory? I used large chard leaves instead of tortillas.

Chard is an incredible source of vitamin K (one cup has 4 times your daily requirement), while also providing vitamin C and A. And, one cup of chard has, get ready: seven calories.

Using chard as a casserole-wrapper is way easier than it sounds. Trim away the thick stem and then boil the leaves for two minutes, which softens them just enough to fill and roll without falling apart.

Try today’s recipe for enchiladas, and once you master the roll-up technique, try swapping chard leaves for pasta in Italian dishes like manicotti.

MELISSA D’ARABIAN VIA AP Chard-wrapped enchiladas are shown in this photo.