Mexican Casserole

A twist on Mexican!

A great tasting dish for something that is rather effortless to make.

It takes a bit of time & preparation but its not hard.

Everyone in our home really loves it!

You'll need:
1 pack corn tortillas
2-3 cups cooked brown rice
1 can black beans           (or 1 cup home-made pre-cooked)
1 can red kidney beans   (or 1 cup home-made pre-cooked)
1 red capsicum
1 green capsicum
1 zucchini
1 onion
1 can corn
1 can tomatoes
1 red chili     (or to taste)
1/2 cup salsa
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon coriander

Chop the tortillas into bite size pieces.
Place on a lined baking tray & bake at 200C for 10-15 minutes until just firm but not yet brown. (Cooking times with vary depending on the tortillas you use and your oven.)

Drain the canned beans, and canned corn. Chop the onion, zucchini, capsicums and chili. Combine all of these into a large casserole pan or baking dish. 
Add the rice and spices. Mix well. 
Stir through the tomatoes and salsa.
Spread evenly around the pan.
Cover with foil or a lid and bake for 30minutes in a preheated 200C oven.

The tomatoes will be bubbling hot when you take the dish out of the oven.
Spread the baked tortilla chips over the top and gently press them down into the mixture.
Return the dish to the oven and continue to bake for a further 10-15minutes until the chips are browned on top.

Serve and enjoy!

Perfectly satisfying by itself or you can add mashed avocado or tofu sour cream if you like.

Submitted for Healthy Vegan Friday.
You can add your recipe at these blogs:
carrie on vegan                    veggie nook                    greenthickies 

What happened this evening.....

I hope you've all had a wonderful weekend.
I have :-)

This evening we decided to take a walk along a local beach & get a meal.
We walked up and down the road for quite some time thinking about what we would have.
We sat down in a pizza place & perused to menu..... then decided we didn't feel like pizza. 

~So we got up and left.~

Then we went to a mexican restaurant. Excited by the thought of beans in a burrito we proceeded to order. We made our dietary preferences known..... only to discover that they fry their beans in butter and therefore nothing on their menu was vegan :-(

~So we got up and left.~

We went home then.
AND HAD THE BEST DINNER EVER!!!!!

I cannot believe how quickly we made up this mexican feast all from the pantry! 
It was so incredibly satisfying!

In a baking dish we piled corn chips & then topped them with a can of Coles Mexican Chilli Beans.
I then made a 'cheeze' sauce.
I poured into the blender 1 cup soymilk with 1/4 cup nutritional yeast and a tablespoon of cornflour. Blended til well combined then poured into a microwave safe jug & microwaved for 30 seconds. The sauce thickened. 
I poured the sauce over the corn chips and beans & baked for 15 mins.

Perfect vegan nachos:

We also made tortillas.
In a frying pan I combined a chopped onion, 1/2 chopped capsicum, 1 can corn, 1 can red kidney beans, 1/2 chopped green capsicum, 1 chopped zucchini. 
I added a packet of taco seasoning mix and put a lid on to let it all cook through.
I then stirred in a jar of salsa.

Perfect vegan wrap filling:

 We warmed up the tortillas and then added our filling along with lettuce, grated carrot & avocado. My husband put his one in the sandwich press - but I prefer my wraps soft.

 And together they made for the perfect home-mexican meal:

Question of the day:
What items do you regularly keep in your pantry that can be used as fall-back meals?