Mexican Lasagna

I got this recipe from www.sparkpeople.com, you can find the recipe here. This is another of our favorite meals that we enjoy eating and freezing.

As in the past, I will notate the changes we make to the recipe in RED.

1 lb. ground turkey (I use lean ground beef because Phillip doesn't like ground poultry.) 1 tablespoon olive oil 3 garlic cloves, minced (Today I used 5 cloves, but we LOVE garlic in this house) 2 onions, chopped 2 10 oz. cans black beans, drained and slightly mashed (my cans of beans were larger, but that's okay because we like this recipe with more beans, I think the cans I had were 14.5oz) (in the past I have used one can of black beans and one can of Rosarita Black Bean refried beans, and it turned out great) 1 tablespoon chili powder 1 tablespoon ground cumin 2 cups tomato sauce (my can of tomato sauce was 15oz, I figured that was close enough) 1 10 oz. can stewed tomatoes, coarsely chopped (I never seem to have stewed tomatoes in the house when I need them, so I just used diced.) 6 medium whole wheat tortillas (I cut my tortillas in half to enable me to put them in the pan with the cut edges along the side of the pan, therefore getting better coverage) 1 cup low fat shredded cheddar cheese (along with garlic, we LOVE cheese, so I use way more than this, about double if not more)

Directions

1. Preheat oven 350 F.

2. Saute 1 onion, 1 garlic clove on high heat while breaking up meat. Cook until meat is no longer pink. Stir in black beans. Set saute pan aside.

3. Heat oil in another saute pan over medium heat. Saute remaining onion, until soft. Add remaining garlic, chili powder and cumin, saute for 30 seconds. Add tomato sauce and tomatoes with juice. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, simmer partially covered for 20 minutes or until sauce is slightly thickened. Transfer all but 1/2 c (I usually set aside 3/4 cup) sauce to meat and beans; Mix well.

4. Dip half the tortillas, one at a time, in the hot tomato sauce. Lay tortillas in the bottom of an 8.5 x 11 casserole dish.


Spread half meat and bean mixture over tortillas. Sprinkle half the cheese over meat and beans.

5. Add another layer of tortillas and meat & beans mixture. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake 35 minutes or until bubbly and cheese is melted. Let stand 5 minutes. (Today I made the lasagna in the morning, stopping at the I would bake. Instead I put the lasagna in the refrigerator and will bake for about 45 minutes before serving.)

Serves 6.

Freezer tip: We like to eat on this for two nights, and then freeze the rest. What I do is cut the lasagna into thirds. After the baked lasagna has been in the fridge overnight and before I reheat it I put 1/3 of the lasagna on a sheet of tin foil that I placed on a cookie sheet. Removing the lasagna from the pan works much better if you use two spatulas. I then wrap the lasagna in the tin foil I set it on and place the cookie sheet with the lasagna in the freezer. Usually I let it freeze overnight. The next morning I take the cookie sheet with the frozen lasagna on it out of the freezer and vacuum seal it using my food saver. When I want to eat it, I take it out of the freezer and set it on the counter for about 30 minutes. After the 30 minutes I carefully remove the lasagna from the vacuum sealer bag and the tin foil. Then I place it in a small pan coated with cooking spray. Top the pan with tin foil and put the pan in the refrigerator to finish dethawing.

Hope you enjoy!