Comfort Food: Vegetarian Enchilada Pie

Tuesday morning, I was supposed to meet with some brand new friends and tell stories. Instead, I woke up with a raging sore throat and an aching body. I stayed in bed most of the next three days, reading a little. Sleeping mostly. Paul was amazing in keeping his vow about “in sickness,” bringing me saltines and vitamin c and orange juice before heading into full days, crammed with meetings and conversations and building new relationships with the church here.

Meanwhile, news of the flood damage keeps flooding in as waters recede. People around here are turning their attention from rescue to rebuilding.

Flu and floods…

Coming out of my own deluge of post-nasal drip, I was hankering for comfort food tonight. I’m Molly-Make-Do when it comes to cooking, so I looked at the left over lentils, the stack of corn tortillas, the lone zucchini squash… and came up with this (Inspired by the Lentil Meatball idea from Sprouted Kitchen):

Vegetarian Enchilada Pie (for two)

• 2 cups cooked brown lentils
• 1/3 cup of salsa
• 1 Tblsp Olive oil
• 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
• 2 cloves of garlic, diced
• 1 Tblsp Chili powder
• 1/2 tspn Cumin
• Salt to taste
• 16 oz of prepared Enchilada sauce (I used locally crafted Roberto’s Vegetarian Burrito Sauce)
• 9 white corn tortillas
• 3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 medium zucchini, thinly sliced
• 1 cup diced tomatoes with green chili
• chopped cilantro (for garnish)

Grease a 6×9 deep dish casserole pan

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees

Lentil-smash: It’s what’s for dinner.

Put lentils and salsa in a food processor and pulse until paste-y.

In a saute pan, heat Olive oil on medium low and add chopped onions. Saute until just translucent. Add mashed lentils, diced garlic, chili powder, cumin and salt until heated through. Turn off heat and set aside.

In 6×9 pan, pour 1/3 of Enchilada sauce

Cover with three corn tortillas, spread 1/2 of seasoned lentils over tortillas.

Layering is important in the changeable Colorado weather

Layer half of the slices of zucchini over lentils. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of shredded cheese over zucchini. Pour 1/3 of Enchilada sauce over cheese.

Repeat with three more tortillas, last half of lentils, remaining zucchini slices, another 1/4 cup of cheese and final third of Enchilada sauce.

Layer three more corn tortillas on top and cover with cup of diced tomatoes with green chili and last 1/4 cup of cheese.

Bake covered with foil for 25 minutes. Uncover and bake another 10 minutes. Let set about 5 minutes before serving.

Comfort Food: Vegetarian Enchilada Pie!

This little low-fat, protein packed dinner was totally improvised. And now it’s just another good reason to make lentils and have fun Tex-Mex sauces around!

Shout Out! to Fort Collins local biz, Roberto’s Salsa’s and Sauces