Quesadilla Casserole

Oh what to make, what to make for Meatless Monday?  With good farmer's market produce months away, it's starting to get difficult to find things that interest me.  I've overlooked this recipe for Quesadilla Casserole for a long time now, but figured, why not?  Looks easy enough, we all like beans...let's give it a try.

Quesadilla Casserole

3 tbsp vegetable oil
3/4 cup chopped onion
1 29-oz can black beans, drained, 1/2 cup liquid reserved
1 1/2 cups frozen corn kernels, thawed
1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley
Five 10-inch flour tortillas
8 oz monterey jack cheese, shredded
1 cup store-bought green enchilada sauce

1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  In a skillet, heat the oil over medium heat.  Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes.  Add 1 1/2 cups black beans and mash into a chunky paste.  Stir in the reserved liquid.

2.  Grease a heavy, ovenproof skillet.  In a bowl, combine the corn, parsley and remaining black beans.  Place a tortilla in the skillet and spread with 1/3 cup mashed black bean mixture and 1/2 cup cheese.  Press to compress layers.  Repeat with the remaining tortillas, mashed black beans, corn-bean mixture and cheese.  Bake until the cheese is melted and the casserole is heated through, about 30 minutes.  Transfer to the broiler and cook for 1 minute.  Serve with the enchilada sauce.

The Verdict:  It's pretty yummy!  But the little smatterings of green...toddler hated it.

So I'm starting to learn how to un-green my kiddos food.  It's really difficult to write a recipe blog when your 2.5-year-old is going through the "assert-myself-in-weird-ways" stage, which for him includes the green aversion.  (Doubly hard with an engineer husband whose adjectives are different versions of "good" or "I like it.")  Oh, and in case you're thinking "Of course the kid didn't eat that green stuff!" I only put the sauce on my husband's and my quesadilla.

I don't know that I actually used five tortillas to make this recipe.  I think I only used 3 or 4.  For some reason, each time I'd read the directions, I was seeing to use a third of the bean mixture, not 1/3 of a cup.  If you use them all, you're a rock star.  If you don't, you're hooked on phonics like me and that's OK.  It still turned out really good.

Another confession: my supermarket didn't have green enchilada sauce.  After spending too long scouring the Tex-Mex part of the aisle, I just shrugged my shoulders and bought green taco sauce.  Does it make a difference?  I don't know.  I buy salsa verde all the time, but couldn't tell you the difference between taco and enchilada sauce.  If you'd like to give me a tutorial, feel free to drop me a line. 

I enjoyed this recipe a lot.  What's not to like?  Beans, corn, and cheese...and cheese that got to hang out under the broiler?  That's a winner in my book.  It did take a bit of time to prepare, which isn't always the best choice for a weeknight with a small child.  But good stuff.