Heathen daughter and her intended are not following a plant-based diet so I wanted to make something that I think most anyone would love - plant-based or not. Mexican Lasagna to the rescue! :)
I've probably made this dish more times in the last 4 months, since we started our plant-based journey, than any other dish. We all just love it. Heathen son told me I could make it every single week and he'd be fine with that. I haven't done that yet but I do always try to keep the ingredients on hand just in case we get a craving for it.
It seems that food with a Mexican flare works really well on a plant-based diet. We can throw together some black beans, corn, cilantro, cumin and chili powder - roll it up in a whole wheat tortilla and we're good. This isn't quite that easy but it's not too far off.
I start off with the usual -- sauteed onions and bell peppers in some veggie broth. I also added some garlic and a grilled hatch green chili I got from the Farmers' Market last weekend.
Then I added some TVP (textured vegetable protein) crumbles, chili powder and cumin along with a can of drained and rinsed black beans and some fresh cilantro. I intended to add some corn but forgot. Oh well, next time. Now this would have been great rolled up in a tortilla, too, but I had other plans for it.
I thinly spread some fat free refried beans on 6 corn tortillas to cover the bottom of a 9x13 glass baking dish. You really have to do this one tortilla at a time. If you laid them in the dish first and then tried to spread the beans on them it could get ugly.
I added a layer of half the veggie bean mixture to cover the tortillas.
Then add another layer of tortillas with the refried beans.
Then add the rest of the veggie bean mixture, top it with a cup of your favorite salsa (I really like Pace's Texas White Bean Salsa -- yummy!). You can add chopped tomatoes, too, if you like. Sweet hubby doesn't like tomatoes so I only put it on half. Your baking pan is going to be really full and heavy!
Finally, add one last layer of tortillas (you'll need 18 in all), top it with a can of red enchilada sauce, cover it with foil and bake it at 375 degrees for 30 minutes.
I served this with some brown rice mixed with a little salsa and dinner was complete. It served 5 of us for dinner and there was plenty left over for heathen son and sweet hubby to have some for lunch today, too.
Give it a try. You'll see! :)
- Posted by Jennifer
Location:Home, Sweet Home
