Spicy Mexi-Lasagna Night

Happy Tuesday!!! I know I'm a little late, but how was your St. Patty's Day Weekend? Ours was totally and completely unbelievable. The weather in Southwestern Ontario continues to be to die for. Usually our temperature at this time of year is 4C and we've been in the low 20s for days!! For those of you who still use Fahrenheit, 20C is really warm!!! The forecast for Wednesday and Thursday is calling for 27 and 28 which is what we usually get in mid-August. We are all counting our lucky stars and praying that all of this amazingness continues right into the summer months!

We should be barbecuing and heading out to the patios for dinner, but since Derek wasn't home last night, I decided to pull together a bunch of food that's been hangin' around in my pantry and make up a layered Mexi-inspired casserole. This one was inspired by a recipe that was posted by Jenn a while back and it didn't disappoint. I tossed in a bunch of veggies that were looking pretty sad and I ended up with a dense and delicious meal. Make sure you have some toppings: sour cream, guac and salsa make this meal amazing!  

Spicy Mexi-Lasagna
Serves 8

9 corn tortillas
1 onion, diced
1 orange pepper, diced (green, red or yellow would be fine!)
1 jalapeno, seeded and diced
1 clove garlic minced
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 packet taco seasoning
2 c black beans
1 1/2 c corn kernels
1can refried beans
2 c salsa
1 1/2 c shredded cheddar (Daiya would work for my non-dairy friends)

Preheat your oven to 400. Grease a deep dish 9" pie plate.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat and spray with non-stick spray. Add the onion, orange pepper, jalapeno and garlic and  cook for 5 - 6 minutes until the veggies are starting to soften.

Add the sea salt, pepper, taco seasoning, black beans and corn and mix well. Cook for an additional 2 - 3 minutes until the mixture is heated through.

Now for the fun part! Assembly!!!

Cover the bottom of your pie plate with corn tortillas. I used scissors to cut apart my tortillas so that the bottom was completely covered. Add half of your refried beans and smooth over the tortillas. Follow with 2 c of your veggie/bean mixture and 1 c salsa. (an extra layer of cheese would be awesome here, but between snapping pics and assembling my pie, I totally forgot!!)

Repeat your layers one more time. Cover the top with more tortillas and then the shredded cheese.

Bake for 30 minutes. Now mine did overflow a wee bit, so you would be wise to stick a cookie sheet underneath.

Once the casserole is cooked through, remove from the oven and let sit for 15 minutes so it has the opportunity to set.

Cut into wedges and serve.

You can spice this up as much as you like. If you're like us, you can amp up the heat with some Frank's red hot, some jalapeno seeds or some red chili pepper flakes.

It's not the most gorgeous looking beast, but it is sooo gooo-oood!!!

Tastes amazing with sour cream and guacamole. A little extra salsa would also be great!

Now I have to tell you this is VERY heavy and filling, so you won't need much on the side. I was going to steam some veggies as a side, but I didn't have room for one more bite!

Did you do anything in celebration of St. Patty's Day?

What is your favourite type of take out? I LOVE LOVE LOVE Mexican and Thai.

Have a fantastic day!

Andrea
xoxo