I always recommend that you think beyond the obvious when you make your meals to keep things fun. When you go the unexpected route, it makes food feel a little bit special. Hey, it works when you have breakfast for dinner or pizza for breakfast, right?
The Kid is a typical kid (even if she’s now 19) and loves pasta. I have a few lasagna recipes that I’ve tried, but this time I opted to make a fast turn at the intersection of Italian and Mexican. Suddenly the Mexican Enchilada Lasagna was created. Yes, there is now such a thing. It’s lasagna made with tortillas instead of pasta noodles, and has a Mexican flair to it.
It’s also a heckuvalot faster to put together than either lasagna or enchiladas in my experience. I even made homemade enchilada sauce that’s really simple to put together. The sauce recipe below makes double what you need for the lasagna. You can use the leftovers on salads, tacos and breakfast burritos like I did, or you can just cut the recipe in half.
Enchilada Sauce
- 1 1/2 cup chicken broth (veggie or beef broth work well too)
- 1 1/2 cup tomato sauce
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- 2 Tbsp chili powder
- 2 Tbsp lime juice
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp oregano
Mix all the ingredients in a pot over medium heat. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 15 minutes until slightly thickened. Remove from heat while you prepare the filling.
Mexican Enchilada Lasagna 
- 1/2 cup (100g) yellow onion, diced
- 1/2 cup (75g) red pepper, diced
- 1/2 (14g) jalapeno pepper, seeds removed and diced
- 1 1/2 tsp minced garlic
- 15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1/2 cup (75g) corn
- 1 1/2 tsp chili powder
- 1/4 tsp cumin
- 1/4 tsp paprika
- 3/4 cup (180g) canned pumpkin
- 1 lb browned ground beef OR 1 cup textured vegetable protein (TVP)
- 3 fajita sized tortillas
- 1/2 batch of enchilada sauce (see above)
Heat a large pan over medium heat and spray with non-stick spray. Add the onions, red pepper, and jalapeno. Cook for about 5 minutes until softened. Add the garlic and cook for another minute or so.
Stir in the beans, corn, and spices and heat just until warmed. This took about 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the pumpkin and browned beef or TVP. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees and spray a 9×9 inch baking dish with non-stick spray.
Spread 1/2 cup of the enchilada sauce in the bottom of the dish and top with a tortilla. Spread half the filling over the tortilla and pour on 1/3 cup of the sauce. Add another tortilla and the rest of the filling. Pour on 1/3 cup of the sauce. Top with the remaining tortilla and 1/3 cup of sauce.
Cover with foil and bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes. Remove the foil and cook another 10 minutes. Remove from oven and cool slightly.
Makes 4 servings at approximately 318 calories – 25g protein, 50g carbs, and 2g fat for the non-beef version. Your calories will vary slightly depending on the tortillas you use and the percentage of beef.
You can top it with cheese during the last 10 minutes of cooking if you want a cheesey version. You can also use the filling as a burrito filling and wrap it in the tortillas or make traditional enchiladas with it. Ole!
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