Since I was so busy preparing for brunch this past weekend, I didn't take my usual time to meal plan and grocery shop like I normally do. There are pros and cons to being in this situation. This might be a time where people would just order out until they could get to the grocery store, but luckily I always have some staples in the house so I can usually come up with something to make. This is the good part. I feel like I always end up coming up with something fun and creative on the days I don't plan ahead. We all need a little spontaneity in our lives! This recipe pretty much came out of the fact that we bought a ton of avocados for avocado toast but didn't end up using all of them so I wanted to use some of them before they went bad (because wasted avocado is a sad sad thing)! This Mexican lasagna would probably be even better with some salsa mixed in or replacing the diced tomatoes, but like I said, I had to use what I had! Also, the creaminess of the avocado paired with the flavor of the nutritional yeast made this really "cheesy" and it was amazing! Let me know if you give it a try and make any changes!
Looking at these pictures make me want to go back and eat it all over again!
Mexican Lasagna
Ingredients:
1 tbs olive oil
1/2 onion, diced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 14.5 oz cans diced tomatoes* (no salt added)
1 4 oz can diced green chiles
1 15 oz can black beans (no salt added)
ground black pepper and pink Himalayan salt to taste
dried oregano (optional)
dried cilantro (optional)
crushed red pepper (optional)
3 avocados, mashed
juice of 1 lemon or 2 limes
5 tbs nutritional yeast
*You could substitute with salsa if you have it available!
Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Heat oil in skillet over medium heat.
2. Add onion, bell pepper, and garlic to skillet. Season with salt and pepper and cook until soft.
3. Add 1 can of diced tomatoes, green chiles, and black beans. Let simmer for 5 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, mash avocado in a bowl and season with salt, pepper, and lemon/lime juice.
5. In a round baking dish, pour half a can of diced tomatoes to coat bottom of dish. Sprinkle with salt, pepper,oregano, cilantro, and crushed red pepper. Top with one tortilla.
6. Scoop about 1 cup of prepared filling and spread over tortilla. Add about 3 tbs avocado mash on top of filling. Sprinkle with 1 tbs of nutritional yeast and cover with another tortilla.
7. Repeat previous step 3 more times.
8. On top of the final tortilla, pour the remaining diced tomatoes, sprinkle with oregano, cilantro, crushed red pepper, and 1 tbs of nutritional yeast.
9. Bake for 30 minutes. Garnish with fresh cilantro if you'd like, slice, and serve!