Homemade Mexican Lasagna

I'm back!

This time with a homemade recipe you'll be anxious to try! Not only is a simple recipe for you to follow, but it's fairly cheap as well! Let me start off by introducing you to this photo: 



Yum!! How can you pass that up?  And the great news about this recipe is that it's so versatile you can switch up the meats. From ground beef to ground turkey. From shredded chicken to no meat at all and this recipe will still come out amazing!

Here are the ingredients you'll need:

1 (15.25oz) can of corn
1 (15.25oz) can of peas
1 (15oz) can red kidney beans - I use Bush's reduced sodium
1 (4oz) can of sliced olives
1 (4oz) can of diced green chilies- I use Ortega brand
1 (10oz) can of Rotel  - drained
2 (10oz) can of red enchilada sauce - I use Las Palmas brand
1 lb of ground beef or shredded        
(2-4 cups) Mexican 4 cheese  - shredded
8-12 Flour tortillas
Green onions
1 medium sized Onion - chopped
Salt and pepper to taste.
3 cloves of Garlic- Minced

 

MAKE THE MAGIC HAPPEN!!!

• Simmer enchilada sauce in a small pot
•                    
• In a large skillet.  Sauté  chopped onions and 3 minced garlic.
• Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.
• Add ground beef and season with salt and pepper to taste. Cook thoroughly until beef is brown.
• Reduce heat to low.
• Add the can of (drained) Rotel and green chilies to the ground beef.
• Cook for about 3 minutes. And remove skillet from heat.
• In a separate bowl. Mix in corn, peas, and kidney beans.
• Slice the flour tortillas into 4 quarters.
• In a 9x13 inch oven-safe baking dish pour a thin layer of the warm enchilada sauce on the bottom of the baking dish. (It's important to cover the entire bottom of the baking dish with a thin layer of sauce to keep the lasagna from sticking to the pan at the end of cooking.)
• Start to prepare your lasagna.  Begin taking 1 quarter of the flour tortilla and carefully dip it into the enchilada sauce.  Cover the bottom of the baking dish with tortillas.  This is the base so it's important to make sure there are no holes or open spaces.

Layer your lasagna like this:

Sauce.

Tortillas.

Ground beef mixture.

Veggies and bean mixture.

Shredded cheese.

Sprinkle some more sauce of top. And REPEAT...

Tortillas.

Ground beef mixture....etc...

• On the top layer of your lasagna you can top it with the sliced green onions and olives. Or you can mix them in with your veggie/bean mixture at the beginning.  (My husband doesn't like olives and my son doesn't like green onions so it's  easier for them to pick it off if I only add these ingredients to the top.)

• FULLY cover your lasagna with foil and bake for 45-60 minutes.

• CAREFULLY remove the foil and bake uncovered for about 15-20 minutes.

*Everything in this dish is already cooked so you can get away with warming it up after 30 minutes. But, the longer you let it cook covered the more flavorful and softer your lasagna will be.

To make this dish even easier... buy a roasted chicken, shred it and substitute it with the ground beef. Add the chopped onions to your veggie mixture instead of sautéing them.

You can add diced zucchini,  lima beans, diced carrots to add some more veggies.

For a, "healthier," version. Substitute the kidney beans with black beans and ground beef with ground turkey. And use Whole wheat tortillas!