Hello, friends. It’s Fat Tuesday. Let’s get fat together by eating a generous portion of delicious Mexican melting cheese.

Today I made my Layered Potato and Spinach Enchiladas for you. Why layered, rather than rolled? To cram in as much food as possible into a single baking dish. More food means more cheese. More cheese means more happy. Unless you’re lactose intolerant, in which case our definitions of true happiness likely differ a great deal. I’m a healthy eater, but, dude, I like cheese.

OK, I have a trick to make this not fattening at all, but you’ll have to watch the entire video to learn the six steps involved in getting there.

Layered Potato and Spinach Enchiladas

Layered Potato and Spinach Enchiladas

• 2 lbs. red, fingerling or purple potatoes (or a whimsical combination)
• 20 oz. fresh spinach or 2 10 oz. packages of frozen spinach, thawed and drained
• 1 can of black beans
• 1 can of corn
• half an onion, diced
• 1 T olive oil or vegetable oil
• chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (optional)
• serrano pepper (optional)
• love (optional)
• 18 corn tortillas
• 2 10 oz. cans of enchilada sauce (I grab a 28 oz. can just to play it safe)
• 4 C Chihuahua cheese
• 2 T cumin
• 2 t chili powder
• sour cream
• green onions, diced
• tequila
• Peach Fresca
• sea salt
• single tortilla chip

First things first. Make your Tequila Fresca.

Boil the potatoes, whole and unpeeled, about 25 minutes.

Heat the oil and sauté the onions until glistening, about two minutes. Add the spinach and, if fresh, toss with tongs until wilted.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Chop one chipotle pepper and add to spinach mixture, as well as some of the adobo sauce. Slice the serrano pepper and add as well. Stir. If you’re feeling brave, add one more chipotle pepper. If you’re trying to impress someone with your heat tolerance, add the whole can. I will miss you.

Coat the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish with enchilada sauce. Layer six tortillas evenly. Coat lightly with more enchilada sauce.

Drain the potatoes and cool slightly. Either cut into 1-inch cubes or just break them up with a spatula. Throw them in a mixing bowl. Add the black beans, corn, cumin and chili powder. Stir well.

Add the potato mixture to the baking dish. Smash it in. We need room for a lot of food. Add cheese. Be generous.

Check your Tequila Fresca. Are you 1/3 of the way through? Try to keep up.

Add six more tortillas. Coat lightly with enchilada sauce. Layer the spinach mixture evenly on top. Smash it down. Add more cheese. Yes, be generous again.

We’re going into the later layer. Is your Tequila Fresca 2/3 gone? Go on. Catch up.

Add the last six tortillas. Tuck them into the dish if necessary. Coat with enchilada sauce. Don’t let any part of the tortillas remain exposed. Add the rest of the cheese. If you have extra cheese, reward yourself with nacho.

Cover with foil. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil. Bake for another 10 minutes, ensuring cheese has had appropriate time to melt and hug other ingredients. Now you’ve got 40 minutes. Make more Tequila Fresca. Make more nacho. But only one at a time! You don’t want to fill up.

Let the enchiladas cool about 10 minutes. Slice into 8 pieces, equally are according to how much you enjoy the company of those you are serving. Garnish with sour cream and green onions. Serve with Tequila Fresca.

Hey, everyone. I have my first cooking video ready for you! Not in the market to learn to make a new dish today? How about a front-row seat to hear about how to eat as many Cheetos as you want by pretending you’re making butternut squash dishes?

Yeah. You’re sold.

I started things off with a take on butternut squash soup because that was the dish that first made me realize I should spend some time in the kitchen. When I was a teenager, I decided I should learn how to cook by being a grand old help to my mom on Thanksgiving Day. I suggested she help me make butternut squash soup.

She and I labored over it, while she was also trying to cook the rest of the meal, and, friends, it was a big moment in the kitchen for me. The taste, the texture, the smell of my very first dish … they were just all godawful.

It was truly a disgusting mess.

So why did it keep me in the kitchen? Because I think kitchen blunders are to be embraced. If we all gave up after one botched dish, where would we be? Sure, Recipes Gone Wild can sometimes turn out to be on the inedible side. But they also help you learn about your own palate and skills.

In the spirit of embracing our mistakes, I’ll confess this to you. I completely forgot to tell you about using ginger root in the video, but it’s in the recipe below.

And that brings us to a new segment we’ll call Kitchen Confessionals. Since I’m doing these videos without a script or anybody to tell me when to filter myself, my most fun moments will be my intimate moments talking to the camera. Enjoy:

Oh, and you probably want the recipe in written form, too. I’m doing a lot for you today. You’re welcome.

Thai-Inspired Butternut Squash Soup

Hands-on Time: It’s just prep work, dear. You can handle it.
Total Time: 2.5 hours. Calm down.

Ingredients

• 2 butternut squashes
• 2 apples
• 1 large onion
• 6 carrots
• ginger root (a piece that is about an inch and a half long)
• red curry paste
• 4 cans of vegetarian vegetable broth (I won’t be mad at you if you use chicken stock, but some chickens are gonna be pissed)
• 1 can of coconut milk
• olive oil
• 1/2 stick of butter
• chile sesame oil
• cilantro

Preheat the oven to 375. Slice the butternut squashes in half and remove seeds. Brush them with olive oil, then place cut-side down in two baking dishes. Bake for one hour.

Meanwhile, chop the apples, onion and carrots into small chunks. They don’t need to look pretty. Chop the ginger root into five pieces.

You’ll probably have a little break here. Pat yourself on the back. Or it took you an hour to cut up that stuff. No pat on the back in that case. Take the squash out of the oven. I prefer to give it 15 minutes to harden up and not severely damage my hands, but you could also give peeling the skin off right away a shot. Best of luck. If you wait, like I do, then you can grab the squash and scrape the insides into a bowl. Easy stuff.

Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Throw the apples, onion and carrots in, then kick it up to medium-high. Give it five minutes.

Throw in the red curry paste. I say two tablespoons, but you can adjust this to your own taste. (But, come on. Use a lot.) Give it two minutes.

Throw in the broth and squash. Stir a little. Bring it to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for an hour.OK, now everybody gets a pat on the back. Go on. Do it.

After an hour, remove the five pieces of ginger root with a slotted spoon.

Then, working in batches, transfer the soup to a blender and blend until smooth. Or, if you have a Magic Soup Wand/immersion blender, save loads of time and praise yourself for your smart purchase. (No pat on the back this time. You’ve had enough.)

Now let’s make this thing purty. Ladle the soup into a bowl, then drizzle the chile sesame oil over the top, then drizzle the coconut milk over it, then throw on some cilantro.

Celebrate. With soup.