Vegetarian Mexican Lasagna!!

I made this for dinner tonight. Totally winged it as we had a whole boatload of beans to use!! My husband ate it, and that says a lot, as he is a super picky eater! It was delicious, if I may say so myself!

Ingredients:
Corn Tortillas* (6 for a smaller dish, 12 for a large one)
Pinto beans* (prepared according to directions on previous post) i imagine it would also work well with black beans
1/2 Red Bell Pepper*
1/2 Green Bell Pepper*
6-10 bulbs of Green Onions*
3-5 diced tomatoes* (to save time, you can use canned, but it wont be available on WIC)
1 bag of frozen corn*
1 can of green chiles
1 can of enchilada sauce
1 lb of colby jack cheese* grated

1. dice bell pepper, onions, and tomatoes. put into a large bowl with corn and chiles and mix with a large spatula, folding in so that veggies are fairly evenly distributed among the mixture
2. cut tortillas into wide strips (I cut mine into thirds)
3. begin layering your "lasagna" - i started with beans because they are nice and sticky and stay where you put them. from there i built it in this order: tortilla strips, veggies, cheese, enchilada sauce, tortilla strips, beans, cheese
4. cook at 350F for 40-50 minutes

Easy, delicious, and quite economical ;)

Since i only made a half-recipe, i only used about half of my veggies, which means...SOUP day!!! My friends <3 my soup :) my husband, not so much, but he's picky, like i said :) I always make a big batch and give some away!

Seasoning your pinto beans

here's how I made my beans...

ingredients:
dried pinto beans*
garlic*
green onions*
seasoning, herb blend, and black pepper
oh and water of course!

1. soaked them overnight 10-12 hours in enough water to cover plus an inch.
2. rinsed well and add to crock pot with amount of water specified on bag.
3. added a dash or two of an all purpose herb blend, a few sprinkles of salt free seasoning, a handfull of chopped green onions (2 or 3 bulbs, washed and chopped), four garlic cloves, and a couple or few dashes of black pepper. not real specific, as your seasonings will depend on your family's preference.
4. cook on high for 8-10 hours

voila, easy, healthy, and free thanks to WIC!

Best Banana Pudding Ever!

for this recipe, you will need:
1 box of vanilla pudding mix (I used instant)
1 or 2 bananas*
1 jar of banana baby food* (stage 1 or stage 2 depending on what you can get and how banana-y you want it)
3 cups of milk*


1. prepare pudding mix according to directions on box (for the instant pudding, all i did was add the cold milk and whisk it together)
2. add the jar of banana baby food
3. put in the fridge until it sets
4. serve with bananas sliced over the top


mmmmmm :) and a good use for the billion jars of baby food and gallons of milk!! lol

Make Your Own Yogurt

Spending a fortune on designer yogurt? Too much milk taking up your fridge? check this out...

ingredients:
1/2 gallon whole milk*
1 cup organic plain yogurt


1. put milk in the crock pot on low, covered with lid, for 2.5 hour
2. after 2.5 hours, unplug the crockpot, leave the lid on, and let it sit for 3 hours.
3. remove 2 cups of milk, whisk in the yogurt, and add mixture back to the milk in the crockpot, using whisk to make sure it's pretty well combined. (I used nancy's cream top yogurt, so before you scoop it out of its carton, you will want to stir it really well so the cream gets mixed in.)
4. wrap the crockpot in a thick towel and let it sit for 8 hours.

voila, you turned 1 cup of whole milk yogurt into enough yogurt to last for awhile! serve over fruit or blend it together for a delicious smoothie! Thank you, WIC! and thanks to my friend Heather for this recipe, who got it from crockpot365!