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!)

Eggplant...Finally!

Stress has overtaken my entire being. One surefire way to help me distress is watching reality television. Thank goodness there is a ton on for me to watch right now. Two reality food shows have started this week Next Food Network Star and Masterchef. There isn’t anyone on Next Food Network Star that has grabbed my attention yet. There is a woman with an absolutely horrible accent. I’ve never heard anything like it. It makes my ears hurt. Check it out just to hear that accent! Masterchef on the other hand has some interesting characters! There was a Scottish woman who was gushing over Gordon (of course I would too!) and he seemed to love her too. Some crazy bearded back woods redneck served the judges alligator. I was impressed, I miss southern food! And then there was the crazy who served sushi off of a naked woman. This confused me completely. So that’s my short and to the point recap of the reality food shows I'm watching now.



Cooking probably isn’t something I should do to de-stress. We all know that it just gets me hyper and usually pretty annoyed. Of course during a particularly stressful day, I decided it was time to try out cooking eggplant. This is my second attempt, the first being The Sandwich That Made Me Cry debacle. I found this recipe on a blog that I read daily Cheap, Healthy, Good. The recipe is Roasted Eggplant with Mushroom Tomato Sauce. There was no way I was going to try to make another sandwich. My sandwich cooking days are over! I cannot tell you how important it is to read through the entire recipe before you start cooking. When will I take my own advice?! I remembered that the eggplant had to be salted and than it sits out for 30 minutes after being sliced (I didn’t know why I was doing this, but apparently it draws out some of the bitter liquid. Very interesting I had no idea this was done!). So I paused Housewives of Orange County and sliced and salted the eggplant.


After Housewives was over I went back into the kitchen to continue with my cooking. Don’t forget to rinse off all that salt!! Thank goodness I didn’t. You broil the eggplant for 8 minutes, flipping them once. While the broiling was happening I chopped a green pepper and onion and I sliced some mushrooms. Of course since everything I do in the kitchen is very slow the eggplant finished cooking before I was done chopping. I was also pretty distracted by the ants that had invaded my living room that day (part of my stress!) and I felt the need to check 50 times or so to see if they were still there (they were and they still are! ) By now it’s was about 6:30 and I was starving. So I grabbed a skillet (heated the oil of course) and put the onions, peppers, and mushrooms in it with some garlic, Italian seasoning, hot pepper flakes, and salt. You cover the skillet and cook this until most of the liquid is gone, then you uncover and cook another couple of minutes.


Meanwhile you get a baking dish ready and spray it with some cooking spray. Once the mushroom mixture is ready you pour half of it into the baking dish, than put ½ of the eggplant layered over that, and add some ground pepper. Spread half of the tomato sauce onto the eggplant, and add half of each of the cheeses (I used mozzarella and feta). Then you go back and do the same thing again (like lasagna), but don’t add the mozzarella cheese this time. Now you have to bake this and that’s when I realized the huge mistake I made! This thing is supposed to bake for 60 minutes! Are you kidding me?! I turned my eyes to the clock and it was 7!! Yikes I wouldn’t be able to eat until 8. This is why you MUST read the recipe through once before you start cooking. I was devastated, but alas I put it in the oven and watched some more reality television (I also snacked on some leftover Crab Rangoons). Once the 60 minutes is up you add the mozzarella and let it get melted and bubbly in the oven for about 5 minutes.

 Final Product:

                   (I just love that little mountain of feta in this picture!)


Even though I had to wait a millennium (between the debacle and the cooking time) to eat eggplant, I was very happy I tried to cook it again. This recipe is great. Once again I over did it with the cheese (you think I would stop and think before putting cheese on my food!), but it was super delicious!! I will be making this every time Anthony isn’t around for dinner (if I don’t order take out)! And there is enough leftover (if you are eating single) for lunch for 2 days at least!! Loved it! If you like eggplant, mushrooms, and red sauce try this out! Finally something I was really happy with. Next time I will remember that I have to cook it for an hour though and start the process earlier. It's a perfect dinner for those who want to eat vegetarian once in awhile!