Healthy Vegetarien Mexican Casarole

I decided to try one of the recipes I found on Pinterest

This one looked nice and I had all the ingredients in the house. I made home made Enchilada Sauce using this recipe.

1/4 cup vegetable oil

Crisco Vegetable Oil Pure
$2.75 - Expires in 12 days

2 tablespoons self-rising flour

1/4 cup New Mexico or California chili powder

1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce

1 1/2 cups water

• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon onion salt
• salt to taste
• Add all ingredients to list

Directions Print

• Prep
  10 m
• Cook
  15 m
• Ready In
  25 m

1. Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in flour and chili powder, reduce heat to medium, and cook until lightly brown, stirring constantly to prevent burning flour.
2. Gradually stir in tomato sauce, water, cumin, garlic powder, and onion salt into the flour and chili powder until smooth, and continue cooking over medium heat approximately 10 minutes, or until thickened slightly. Season to taste with salt.

The Casserole before going into the oven.

Ingredients

• 2 red bell peppers
• 2 green bell peppers
• 1 jalapeno or 2 chipotle peppers (optional - just for more kick)
• ½ red onion
• 2 cups frozen corn
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 2 teaspoon cumin
• salt to taste (about 1 teaspoon is a good ballpark measure)
• 2 cups Mexican cheese (mine was a Sargento blend)
• 18-20 corn tortillas
• 1 can refried beans
• 2 cups red enchilada sauce
• cilantro, guacamole, or sour cream for topping

Instructions

1. Pan-roast the veggies: Dice the peppers and mince the onions. Heat a large nonstick skillet with a little bit of oil over high heat (**note - I used to recommend using no oil, because that's what worked best for my with my Swiss Diamond nonstick pan, but several readers have ruined their own pans doing that so I am no longer recommending that!). Add the onion and peppers, sprinkle with chili and cumin, and stir, rest, stir, rest until you get a nice browning on the outside of the peppers. Remove and set aside. Repeat the roasting process with the corn, sprinkling with chili and cumin, removing from the heat when browned and roasted on the outside. Sprinkle the roasted veggies with a little bit of salt and toss to coat.
2. Prep the ingredients: Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan and preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut the tortillas into thin strips. Put the refried beans in a bowl and mix with a little bit of water to make them easier to spread.
3. Assemble: Spread a little bit of sauce on the bottom of the pan. Layer in order: half of the tortilla strips, ALL the beans, half of the veggies, half of the sauce, half of the cheese. Cover with the other half of the tortilla strips, veggies, sauce, and cheese.
4. Bake: Cover with foil (I usually spray mine with cooking spray) and bake for 15-20 minutes, until the sauce is bubbling and the cheese is melted. Serve with guacamole, fresh cilantro, sour cream, or anything in the world that you want.