Mexican Lasagna

I apologize for being M.I.A this week. It's been a busy one, but I do have a few recipes to share. This one is worth the wait. Pasta and Mexican food are two of my favorite things in the world, so put them together and you have one yummy dinner.

I think Kenley was even a little jealous...

This is much less tedious than your typical lasagna. I used no bake noodles, and I am not ashamed. I don't ever start cooking until after 7, so we wouldn't have eaten until 10 if I had to boil noodles on top of everything else.

I used ground turkey to lighten this up a bit. And I always use my potato masher to help brown the meat.

Once the meat is ready, add in a packet of taco seasoning and some extra cumin and chili powder. Personally, I like the reduced sodium....if you check out the nutritional facts on the regular, you will understand why!

Tomato paste, diced tomatoes, corn, black olives, and black beans finish off the sauce. I let it simmer away for about 10 minutes and taste it as I go. You may need some spice, of water to thin it out. It's all up to you and your preferences.

The recipe calls for tomato sauce, but I like chunky tomatoes in mine. Again, do whatever you feel like!

Put a layer of sauce into the casserole dish, followed by pasta sheets. Then add more sauce, and dots of sour cream and cream cheese. Top that with mozzarella (or cheddar) and repeat 3 times.

On the last layer, I skipped the sour cream and cream cheese. I just finished it off with shredded cheese and called it a day.

Oh my this is good....

What's great about this is that you can dress it up however you'd like. Add in green onions, cilantro, pinto beans, jalapenos, etc. I wish I had cilantro on hand, because it's my favorite thing about Mexican cooking. Oh well, next time. You better believe there will be a next time :)

MEXICAN LASAGNA

INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef or turkey
1/2 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon ground cumin
salt and pepper to taste
1 (29oz ounce) can diced tomatoes and juice or tomato sauce (depending on how chunky you like it)
1/2 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 can corn kernels, white or yellow
1 (6 ounce) can olives, sliced

1 pkg taco seasoning

9-12 no-boil lasagna noodles

2 cups shredded cheese
1 cup sour cream, light or regular
8 ounces cream cheese, light or regular

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9X13-inch pan and set aside.

In a large 12-inch skillet, brown the ground beef or turkey and onion over medium heat until the meat is no longer pink. Drain the grease. Add the taco seasoning and cumin and chili powder. Add in 1/4 cup water and stir to combine, cooking for about a minute. Add the tomato paste and then the diced tomatoes. Stir to combine. Add the black beans, corn and olives. Mix well and heat through, about 5 minutes. You can add water to thin it out and continue to simmer.

Remove the skillet from the heat. Spread 1/2 cup sauce in the bottom of the prepared pan. Layer three or four noodles over the sauce. Spread 1/3 of the sauce over the noodles. Dollop 1/3 of the sour cream and 1/3 of the cream cheese (just pinch off chunks) across the sauce. Sprinkle with 1/3 of the cheeses. Repeat the layers two more times until all the ingredients are used.

Cover the lasagna with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake 10-15 minutes more, until the lasagna is hot and bubbly. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting into and serving.