Thursday, October 8, 2009

Corn Tortilla and Mixed Bean Lasagna

CORN TORTILLA AND MIXED BEAN LASAGNA

Start to finish: 1 hour 5 minutes (30 minutes active). Servings: 8

ingredients

1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil

2 medium yellow onions, chopped (2 cups)

2 medium bell peppers, cored and chopped

2 tablespoons minced garlic

- 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained

- 15-ounce can pinto beans, rinsed and drained

- 14-ounce can diced tomatoes (with juice)

- 4-ounce can mild or hot chopped green chilies

1 tablespoon chili powder

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon salt

12 white corn tortillas

2 cups grated reduced-fat Monterey Jack cheese

directions

1 Heat the oven to 350 F.

2 Heat oil in a large saucepan. Add the onions, bell peppers and garlic. Saute until the vegetables are soft, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in both beans, tomatoes, chilies and spices. Heat and set aside.

3 In a 9-by-13-inch baking dish (or other 3-quart shallow baking dish) spread 1/2 cup of bean mixture. Arrange 6 of the tortillas over the bean mixture, overlapping them slightly and having them come about 1 inch up the sides of the dish.

4 Spread half of the remaining bean mixture over the tortillas. Sprinkle with 1 cup of the cheese, then arrange the remaining 6 tortillas on top. Cover with the remaining bean mixture.

5 Coat one side of a piece of foil with cooking spray, then tightly cover the dish. Bake until the lasagna is bubbling and heated through, about 30 minutes. Uncover and top with the remaining cheese. Bake for 5 minutes more, or until the cheeses is melted

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Grape Trifle

My cousin David sent me this recipe . I know how good this is, as it is served often at our third Sunday dinners at church. I prefer to use the red grapes in it, as it seems to be sweeter. I just love red grapes. I also use them in chicken salad, but anyway, here it is, and it is a blue winner. I have recently discovered seedless black grapes which are really wonderful......


Grape Trifle

Cream together:



1 cup sour cream (I prefer reduced fat.)

8-ounce cream cheese (ditto)

½ cup sugar or Splenda

1 tsp. vanilla

Fold in 4 cups washed and dried grapes, removed from the stems. Spread in 8x8" dish.

For topping, grind 1 cup of pecans to fine crumbs. Mix with ¾ cup brown sugar. Spread over grape mixture and refrigerate. Can be doubled for use in a 13x9" dish.
I sometimes sprinkle about a Tablespoon of cinnamon sugar over this as well, this
is such a great dish.Sometimes, I just chop the pecans. Luckily, we have our pecan trees. I love the native ones the best, tiny, but so tasty.