Mexican Lasagna

My family and I love food with a Tex Mex flavor.  Anything with the earthiness of cumin, the heat of chili pepper and mountains of cheese is always a winner in this house.  The other night I made one of our favorite Tex Mex dishes: Mexican Lasagna.

 

It’s so simple to make, too.  Instead of taco sauce, I use Muir Glen Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes, as suggested in the recipe.  Instead of a cup of frozen corn, I add a whole can of corn.  

 

 

The recipe recommends oiling your pan with olive oil, but I coat my baking pan with Pam cooking spray to avoid the tortillas sticking to the bottom and it works just fine.  For the lasagna’s layers, I cut one tortilla into quarters, lay those pieces in the corners of the pan and lay a whole one in the center.  To make this lower in fat, you could sprinkle your layers with low fat cheddar cheese, but I use full fat colby-jack cheese.

 

 

 

 

I also omitted the scallions, because I knew my kids wouldn’t eat them.  The girls ate theirs with dollop of sour cream on top.  Allana and I added some salsa to our servings for a little extra heat.

 

 

This dish is great for a crowd as there are more than enough helpings.  I froze our leftovers for a fuss free dinner another night.

 

Rachel Ray’s Mexican Lasagna

Ingredients

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 pounds ground chicken breast, available in the packaged meats case

2 tablespoons chili powder

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1/2 red onion, chopped

1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained

1 cup medium heat taco sauce or 1 (14-oz) can stewed or fire roasted tomatoes

1 cup frozen corn kernels

Salt

8 (8 inch) spinach flour tortillas, available on dairy aisle of market

2 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar or shredded pepper jack

2 scallions, finely chopped (optional)

 

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

 

Preheat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil – twice around the pan. Add chicken and season with chili powder, cumin, and red onion. Brown the meat, 5 minutes. Add taco sauce or stewed or fire roasted tomatoes. Add black beans and corn. Heat the mixture through, 2 to 3 minutes then season with salt, to your taste.

 

Coat a shallow baking dish with remaining extra-virgin olive oil (about 1 tablespoon oil). Cut the tortillas in half or quarters to make them easy to layer with. Build lasagna in layers of meat and beans, then tortillas, then cheese. Repeat: meat, tortilla, cheese again. Bake lasagna 12 to 15 minutes until cheese is brown and bubbly. Top with the scallions and serve.

 

Now link up and see what If I Could Escape and Gone Bananas are serving for this week’s Friday Food Fight.

 

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19 comments

  1. Migdalia - @MsLatina says:

    This looks delish! I have never tried Mexican Lasagna but it looks so simple I will give it a shot. Like you, I’ll omit the scallions and knowing my boys I’ll have to omit the corn as well. Can’t wait to let you know how it comes out!

  2. ofelianj says:

    I like the corners trick, instead of going crazy about fitting it exactly. Don’t tell my daughter how much corn is in the original recipe, she’ll be adding all our cans from the cabinet 😉

  3. dannie says:

    hey hey, congrats for being nominated as one of the “Best Running Blogs 2011” hope to read many more of your fantastic running stories. sending you greetings from Malaysia…

  4. Krystyn says:

    Oh, yummy. My sister usually makes one for us when she visits and I never bother to pay attention to how she does it.

    Yours looks delish.

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