If a southern woman can’t make a casserole out of it, it’s not worth eating. This holds true even for vegetarian dishes. In that spirit I give you Black Bean Burrito Casserole.
I know I’ve been yammering a lot lately about the ethics of eating locally. This dish does not apply. Most of it comes from cans. It does, however, consist of ingredients I already had on hand before I took up the cause of local produce. It seems to me that eating what you already have is its own kind of ethic. Who wants to waste food?
Thus we have this casserole constructed from ingredients I rummaged from my cabinets and my freezer.
First, I took some whole wheat tortillas and filled them with refried black beans. You should pick whatever kind of tortillas and beans you have on hand and/or prefer should you try to copy this. Once the tortillas were rolled up with the bean filling, I spread them out in a Pyrex casserole dish. I topped the burritos with a can of Amy’s vegetarian chili. Then I topped that with a layer of onions, garlic, and spinach sauteed in olive oil. Next, I spread a pack of Colby-Jack cheese on top and sprinkled that with black olives. I put it in the oven at 375 for 30 minutes and finally topped it off with freshly sliced avocado, which I believe was shipped to Mississippi all the way from the country of Chile.
All in all, the result is delicious.
I’ve already divided what I can’t eat today into individual serving sized containers that I can take for my lunch this week, thereby avoiding Lean Cuisines which do not come in reusable containers.
I’m also making Crock-Pot Potatoes.
This is the best way in the world to cook a potato. You just jab a knife into it a couple of times for whatever reason it is people do that to potatoes, and stick the thing into the Crock-Pot for, you know, hours like you generally do with Crock-Pots. It will come out moist, tender, and wonderful.
I’m going to warm these up for supper probably every night this week. I eat for one, but I don’t know how to cook for one because I grew up in a ginormous family. Also, I only have time to cook on weekends because I work too hard all week. Therefore, life is better for me when I cook enough on Sunday to divvy out for the whole week.
That’s my story, and these are my game day picks…for whatever they are worth.
**Addendum: Geaux Saints! (with deepest apologies to Brett)