Black (and Red) Bean Tortilla Casserole

John and I made this last year a couple of times and it doesn't disappoint. It's easy and doesn't take much time to come together.














It's basically like Mexican lasagna, but probably easier.






















In the past I've made it in the 8X8 pan that it calls for, but since we only have one size pyrex dish, we doubled the recipe.
















And here's where the recipe changed. We only had one can of black beans, but we had a can of red beans on hand to make yet another recipe from Kira's blog, later this week. Yes, it's true - we can only eat things that Kira tests out before hand. It's a habit I have, of making all her recipes. I just hope she keeps making things I like. It's really weird because, as you can see from the right hand side of the page, I subscribe to something like 50 blogs. Unfortunately, I had to cut back when school started, but I still read a bunch of them to get recipe ideas. Still, I mostly started cooking from Kira's blog, so it's where I go when I need something I've tried before and that I can count on for a week night.















I keed, I keed, I make plenty of things tested out by other food bloggers.















Anyways, doubling this just meant another meal of wonderful left overs, so I was glad it turned out this way.


Black (and Red) Bean and Tortilla Casserole
from Food alla Puttanesca.


Ingredients

1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 10-ounce can Rotel tomatoes
1 cup picante sauce
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed (I used 1 1/2 cups soaked and cooked dry beans.)
4 ounces cream cheese (I used reduced-fat.)
5 corn tortillas (7-inch), cut in half
1 1/2 cups shredded cheese (cheddar, Monterey, Pepper Jack, etc.)

In large skillet sauté onion until soft. Add tomatoes, picante sauce and cumin and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. Stir in beans and heat through. Add cream cheese and stir until melted. Remove from heat.

Spray bottom of a 8 x 8 baking dish with cooking spray. Spread 1/3 of bean mixture on bottom of pan, topping with a layer of tortillas (five tortilla halves) and half of cheese. Then another layer of bean mixture, tortillas and bean mixture. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top.

Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes. Let stand for 5-10 minutes before serving. Serve with sour cream, lettuce and guacamole as desired.