Meatless Monday!

For all those participating in Meatless Mondays, this post is for you.  As I've mentioned a gazillion times I love Mexican flavors and foods.  This recipe has those flavors without all the pressure of needing to know how to cook.  While I wouldn't call this dish " Real Mexican", it's American Mexican and it's delicious and easy!  I found the recipe for Black Bean and Tortilla Bake on Food.com (this site has a ton of recipes on it, check it out!).  Just looking at this recipe I knew that I would like it since I love all the ingredients in it.  The real test was whether or not Anthony would enjoy it.  He isn't a huge fans of casseroles and this kind of reminds me of a casserole, just a little smaller in size.

The BBTB is super for a weeknight meal and it's meatless which makes it perfect for Meatless Monday's. (I prefer to be meatless more than one day a week, but this is a good start for those just trying out this meatless thing).  I altered the recipe a bit after looking at the reviews, people had some good ideas of how to make this tastier and heartier.  So in addition to the recipe get another can of black beans (2 total), 1 can of chopped green chilies, a can of diced tomatoes, and salsa.  You don't need to buy a tomato if you used the diced canned tomatoes instead.  The other thing you will need to do is double up on the onion, garlic, and spices since you are adding more beans to this dish. 

First step is sauteing the onion, garlic, chilies, green onion, cumin, and chili powder, until the veggies are tender.

Then add the can of diced tomatoes and tomato sauce; cook for another 5 minutes or so.

Stir in your beans, cilantro (parsley in this house), salt and pepper.

You are going to want to cook this in a square baking dish make sure to coat it with some cooking spray.  I also coated the bottom of the dish with salsa.

Now you build the "bake" by layering 4 corn tortillas on the bottom of the baking dish, then some cheese, and some of the bean mixture.  Repeat 2 more times.

Top this with 2 tablespoons of cheese.  I only bought one package of corn tortillas and there were only 10 in a pack, so I improvised and it still worked out fine.  Don't for obligated to buy a bigger pack, but you will need at least 10 to make this work.  The recipe says to bake covered for 20 minutes at 350 degrees and uncovered for 10 minutes.  Not sure if this is necessary or not, but I followed the instructions.

Final Product:

My thoughts:  It's not much to look at, but it was really good.  I could eat this quite often although it's right up my ally.  Of course I added some sriracha when I was eating it, because I can't get enough of that stuff.   Also decided to make some rice and served it with sour cream.  I wanted this meatless meal to seem filling and satisfying.  Anthony told me he really liked it! Yay!  Finally a casserole type dinner that isn't so horrible! We had leftovers for 2 days of lunches too!  Very economical.

Okay this was supposed to be another budget meal so let's see how much it costs:

Items I already had:  Garlic (minced from a jar, chili powder, cumin, 1 can black beans, salsa
Onion/$0.24
1 can Diced Tomato/$0.79
Green Onions/$0.85
1 can Tomato Sauce/$0.39
1 can Black Beans/$0.79
Parsley/$0.75
Corn Tortillas/$1.19
Cheddar Cheese (shredded)/$2.29
1 can Chilies/$1.49

Total/$8.78

Under $10 and was good for three meals for the two of us (2 lunches (4 servings) and 1 dinner (2 servings).  I'd have to say that's worth it!  Yes, I know if you didn't have all of the things that I had it would be more expensive, but I think that spices like chili powder and cumin should be a staple in your cabinet.  Along with a jar of salsa, it has so many different uses when it comes to cooking.

Next Up:  Gnocchi with Zucchini Ribbons and Brown Butter Parsley (this one didn't work out so well, but I don't feel defeated because of it!)