Roasted Veggies Mexican Casserole

This is such a great one dish meal. All of my family really enjoyed it and it will be going in my recipe book that I'm working on. Its fairly easy, and inexpensive to make. You don't have to use meat but I choose to put in chicken because my husband is serious meat man. To him no meal is ever complete without meat BUT to me I could be a vegetarian some days.

My kids eat almost everything I make, sometimes they say it takes a little different but if they are hungry enough they will eat it. Also, in our house we have a rule that if you don't finish your meal you have to eat it before you eat anything else. Food is TOO expensive to be picky and waste.

Last week at the butter I buy was $2 more! Now that is some serious inflation. Food prices are rising everyday, so its important to me to find healthy recipes that I can afford.

Roasted Veggies Mexican Casserole
1 can corn OR one bad frozen corn
4 sweet peppers
1 onion
1 can black beans, rinsed, and pureed or smashed up
1lb shredded chicken or ground beef, cooked {optional}
2 cups cheese
2 tbsp cumin
2 tbsp chili powder
corn tortillas to layer, I  used about 6
2 cups enchilada sauce
salt
avocado and sour cream to top it

1. Place some oil in your pan and let it warm up.
2. Chop up your sweet peppers and onion,open bag or can of corn, put into pan with warmed up oil.
3. After about 10 minutes add cumin and chilli powder, mix up.
4. When veggies are roasted, slighly browned turn off pan, keep veggies in pan until ready to put casserole together.
5. Preheat oven to 350. Either use blender and puree black beans or smash them up if you don't have a blender.
6. Cut tortilla's in half, pour a little enchilada sauce on bottom of baking dish, then cover the bottom with the cut in half tortillas {I cut in half because I think you can cover more of the pan}
7. Pour and spread out black beans on top of tortillas in baking dish.
8. Layer half the chicken, veggies, cheese and enchilda sauce.
9. Then, layer the tortillas, other half of chicken, veggies, cheese and enchilada sauce.
10. Place in oven for about 15-20 minutes, really just until cheese is melted and everything is warmed.
11. ENJOY a warm homemade meal with your family.

We always strive to sit together at least once a day and share a meal. I remember reading about how important it is for families to sit down and eat together. I can tell you that when we sit down together it really has a calming effect on our day, helps us to all be in the same place at the same time, doing the same thing, and enjoy each others company :) Are some meal times kinda crazy, YEP! But by the time everybody has their plates filled with food, everything calms down and peace sets in, at least for a little bit ;)

REAL Food Nachos {Gluten Free} AND The Challenges of Being Hungry @ The Grocery Store With Kids

Today I totally forgot to bring a snack with me, that's always a bad idea when I know I'll be gone longer then 2-3 hours. Thankfully I had to stop at the store on my way home anyways, so I figured I would grab a few bananas for the kids and I to hold us over.

As I was walking through the store, I could tell my kids were just as hungry as I was. I had to stop myself from looking at everything, and just focus on why I came. The kids looked like vultures circling their prey ready to grab everything! I had to keep the cart in the middle of the isle so Weston didn't grab things from the shelves. I told Michael to hold onto the cart to keep himself from fingerprinting every box of goodies he saw.

Finally I grabbed some salmon and baby items and we headed to the checkout, BUT that's the worst place to be when your hungry. First they have magazines lined up with tons of garbage all over it and junk food galore. Weston grabbed for the kill and got a snickers, I gently grabbed it saying that i had some bananas in the cart for us to have. Thankfully he was so excited about the banana that he gladly let the snickers go without a fight.

As we left the checkout and everybody bundled back up to go into the arctic zone {I'm exaggerating a bit, but its so cold and keeps snowing, ah!} I gave the boys a banana. We got into the car and started on our way home. Along the road there was a lady waiting at the bus stop, and she pulled a doughnut out of her bag and started eating it. My first thought was, I wonder where she got that from? Hence where's the closet bakery BUT I stayed on my mission of home. Bakeries are places I rarely visit, because there's no gluten free options and I like to make homemade goodies anyway. BUT when your hungry anything with carbs looks good.

So when we got home Michael made peanut butter and jellies for Weston and himself, and I decided to make some REAL food nachos. Its so easy and you can add whatever you like or have on hand.

REAL Food Nachos

Corn Tortilla Chips
shredded cheese {I used RAW cheese I found @ woodmans! I was so excited}
black beans {optional}
plain yogurt {Or sour cream}
salsa
Guacamole or avocados {I used some leftover guacamole} {optional}

Other toppings you can use:
Tomatoes
spinach
lettuce
feta
onions
corn
And whatever else you can think of

Spread out your chips on a plate, sprinkle shredded cheese over the top, add black beans {and other items that need to be heated up}.

Warm up in the microwave for about 30-40 sec

 Add yogurt{sour cream}, salsa, and guacamole

Enjoy!

You can do this as a treat, snack, dinner, or for a party. People can make their own and personalize which topping they like.

You can always melt the cheese in a pot and add some butter and milk to make it more creamy like, but serve immediately before it gets to stiff ;)