Food for Thought Mexican Lasagna

It’s day two with nothing exciting to write about so because I teased you with the Mexican Lasagna yesterday I’ll make good on my promise and share it with you now.

When we had our girls’ weekend, I was in charge of supper Saturday evening. Since we were having a chicken pasta salad for lunch that ruled out my chicken spaghetti so while sitting in the parking lot of the grocery store talking to my momma, we came up with this recipe for a south of the border lasagna. Let me tell you – we did good. So without further adieu, here is our made up on the spot recipe for Mexican Lasagna:

• 2 to 3 packages of flour tortillas (2 if using the large ones; 3 for the smaller size)
• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1 package/link fresh chorizo*
• 1 each yellow, orange and red bell pepper, diced
• 1 small to medium purple onion, diced
• 1 can diced green chilies
• 1 small bag frozen whole kernel corn
• 1 15-oz. can black beans , drained
• 1 small box frozen, chopped spinach - drained
• 1 jar Tostitos Monterey Jack Queso, Medium
• 1 can Rotel tomatoes, mild
• 1 small jar Pace Picante Sauce
• 1 package Cacique Queso Fresco*
• 1 small block Pepper Jack Cheese, grated

*I found these items in the ethnic section of the deli case at Walmart.

Brown the ground beef and chorizo over medium heat until cooked through and no longer pink. Place in a colander and drain over a bowl, reserving the drained fat. Use a couple of teaspoons of the meat drippings (tons of flavor here but you can use cooking oil if you’d rather) to cover the bottom of your skillet and sauté the onion. When the onion is almost translucent, add the diced peppers and continue to cook until soft. While the vegetables are cooking, mix the jar of Queso with the can of Rotel tomatoes, set aside. Once the veggies are done, add the green chilies, spinach, corn and black beans. Cook for a few minutes until just heated through. In a large bowl, stir together the meat mixture and the veggies. Take 4 or 5 of the tortillas and cut them into quarters. Place a cut tortilla in each corner of the pan so that the straight sides of the tortillas are against the straight sides of the pan, then continue lining the bottom of the pan with tortillas. When you have completely covered the bottom of the pan, spread some of the Queso/Rotel mix on the tortilla layer covering it completely. Spread enough of the meat/veggie mixture to cover the queso coated tortillas. Crumble some Queso Fresco evenly over the top of this layer. [ I like to press down on the tortilla layer each time before I cover with the ‘sauce’ so that the layers really stay together and can get enough layers in the pan.] Repeat the process, ending with a layer of tortillas. For this last layer instead of spreading the Queso/Rotel mixture, you will pour some picante sauce over the tortillas and then top with the grated Pepper Jack cheese. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes until heated through, removing the foil the last 5 minutes or so to make sure the cheese melts.

I doubled the recipe and made two pans on Wednesday night before I left Thursday and froze them for the 6 hour trip. Annelle would be thrilled to know this recipe “freezes beautifully”. I set it out to thaw a few hours before supper and it was like I had just made it. That night we served it with a delicious salad that my friend Anne made and the sopapilla cheesecake. I ate the left-overs for lunch almost every day last week – the lasagna that is. The sopapilla cheesecake didn’t make it through the day at the office.

Let me know how your family liked it. And please, feel free to substitute vegetables as your family desires. I used the ones I did because I wanted it to be colorful. Same thing goes for with the cheeses. Enjoy!