Vegetable Tortilla Lasagna

How many weeknights do you end up wondering what to create for dinner when all you want to do is relax? Fluffy and Shadow are twirling between my feet, in hopes of either being picked up or getting to share a can of soft kitty food and Rocky, our Golden Retriever, is looking at me like "if they can get picked up, he gets picked up." Rocky is 9 years old and the biggest baby. I would be lost without him!

Okay, I have 4 new cooking magazines that just came in the mail: Cuisine at Home, Bon Appetit, Gourmet, and Chile Pepper. a quick flip through the pages left me on idea overload. Then a recipe jumped out from the Chile Pepper magazine called Vegetable Tortilla Lasagna. Tortillas are so versatile and great for a fast dinner. The lasagna part intrigued me. Oh, yess, I forgot to add that I am looking at these magazines on the drive home from work, but I carpool, so perusing magazines is okay. All I was lacking for the lasagna was fresh corn-on-the-cob and a large zucchini. Fresh veggies between layers of tortillas sound summer, fast, and tasty. The recipe looked hearty enough to keep everyone happy and not even know there is no meat, just vegetables and black beans for the main ingredients.


The recipe is fun to make, the corn is a little tedious to cut from the cob, and the vegetables makes me feel good that I fed everyone a meal full of flavor, quick on time, and healthy to boot. This recipe is a keeper to bake again but I would like to add that the lasagna will have a little zip to it...The recipe did come from a Chile magazine.

Vegetable Tortilla Lasagna
Ingredients
1 cup fresh corn (frozen can also be used)
1 large zucchini, sliced into 1/4-inch rounds
1 teaspoon olive oil
salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1 cup canned black beans, drained and rinsed
1 1/2 cups jarred salsa verde
1/4 cup sour cream
1 t. chili powder
1 t. cumin
8 (8-inch) flour tortillas, cut in half
1 cup shredded Mexican cheese blend
2 Tablespoons minced cilantro



Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with foil, and add corn to one of them. On the second baking sheet, toss the zucchini slices with olive oil, salt and pepper, and spread into a single layer. Put both baking sheets in the oven to roast the corn for 12 minutes, and the zucchini for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a bowl, mix the salsa verde, sour cream, chili powder and cumin; set aside. To assemble the lasagna, in a 9 x 9-inch baking dish, cover the bottom with 1/3 of the salsa verde mixture. Add layer of tortillas, followed by half the zucchini slices, half the corn, half the beans and a sprinkling of cilantro. Spoon 1/3 more of the salsa verde sauce on top, and cover with 1/3 cheese. Repeat to make another layer. Then, place the final layer of tortillas, remaining cheese and cilantro into the dish. Place the lasagna in the oven, and cook until the cheese is melted, about 10 to 15 minutes.






Putting on the last of the layer before adding another layer of tortillas and starting again with each ingredient.













The first slice of vegetable lasagna and all the layers stayed together. The recipe has so much flavor with the heat and a little bit of the sweet.