Apparently, I’m on a Mexican food kick this week (not to worry, we’ll close out the week with fresh margaritas)! We love fast and easy weeknight meals. Getting home from work, feeding the crew, and then back on the road for soccer, baseball, and/or softball is a crazy time. What we will not due is go through a drive-through. Accomplishing this just takes planning. Having a weekly menu prevents you from coming home, open the fridge, feel overwhelmed, and then make a poor dinner choice for you and your family. We love to prep on Sunday evenings for the week so we can have healthy ingredients on hand, ready to go. This is one of those meals that throws together in a flash. In under 30 minutes, you have a full meal. This meal can even be eaten on the run. We ate ours at our son’s baseball game. While we make our own beans*, canned beans are fine to use. If you want to make a lentil based dish, here’s a recipe for a fully vegan lentil bolognese I can’t wait to try.
*Why we make our own beans: much better flavor, no added sodium, no BPA lined cans, purchased organically in bulk/less expensive. It only takes 20 minutes in a pressure cooker from start to finish to make your own beans. Just soak overnight or in the morning (8 hours), and toss into a pressure cooker, cover with water, and bring to pressure for 12 minutes. Allow to pressure to drop, drain, and eat! Great thing to do on a Sunday.
Ingredients:
- 4 cups of black beans, drained and rinsed, or 2 cans (could use a combo of red and black, be sure to get no salt added)
- 1/2 cup of salsa; plus 1-2 tbsp per tortilla for assembly
- 3 tbsp chili powder (more or less to your taste, start with 2 if you have little kiddos)
- corn tortillas
- Toppings: green peppers, scallions, spinach/other green, jalapeno or Monterrey jack cheese, tomatoes (after and/or before baking), nutritional yeast (vegan), avocados (after baking), siracha (or course!)
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 375
- Mash beans in a bowl
- Add salsa and chili powder to beans, and mix
- Place bean mixture onto tortillas (we used between 1/3 and 1/2 cup of mixture per tortilla; made 9 for us)
- Top each tortilla with 1-2 tbsp salsa
- Continue with toppings of choice, ending with cheese if using. I omit cheese for myself, however my family hasn’t given up cheese yet. I like my nutritional yeast uncooked, so I sprinkle on top after pizzas are heated in oven. Could also warm tortillas with beans, salsa, and cheese, adding remaining ingredients raw afterwards.
- Bake for 10-15 minutes, until tortillas slightly brown, and cheese melts if using.
- Sprinkle with nutritional yeast if desired, and top with fresh tomatoes, avocado, and siracha.
Top With Cheese If Desired
With Cheese-Baked
Vegan-Topped With Nutritional Yeast, Avocado, and Siracha
Nutritional Benefits:
- Virtually fat free; excellent heart healthy meal
- High in fiber; 9 g in 1 pizza! Helps to maintain feeling of fullness, regulates blood sugar levels, maintains digestive health, prevents many forms of cancer
- Low in calories
- Gluten Free and Vegan (if cheese is omitted)
- Anti-inflammatory; fiber and veggies help to decrease diseases of inflammation like arthritis, diabetes, circulatory issues, and other autoimmune conditions
- Packed with potassium: 473 mg; helps to maintain kidney function, improves heart health, blood pressure regulation, decreases bad cholesterol, helps nerve conduction
- High in antioxidants: Vitamin A: 67%: great for skin, eye, bone/dental healthy, blood pressure regulation, Vitamin C 33%; boosts immunity, Iron 16%; helps with oxygenation of blood
- Nutritional Yeast (if using): PACKED with nutrition! 3 tbsp=80 calories, 1 g of fat, 9 g of protein, 5 g of fiber, high levels of many B-Vitamins, 310% of folic acid, 370 mg of potassium, provides a cheesy taste and is VERY low in sodium-5mg
- 4 cups of black beans, drained and rinsed, or 2 cans (could use a combo of red and black)
- ½ cup of salsa; plus 1-2 tbsp per tortilla for assembly
- 3 tbsp chili powder (more or less to your taste, start with 2 if you have little kiddos)
- corn tortillas
- Toppings: green peppers, scallions, spinach/other green, jalapeno or Monterrey jack cheese, tomatoes (after and/or before baking), nutritional yeast (vegan), avocados (after baking), siracha (or course!)Mexican Pizzas with Peppers
- Preheat oven to 375
- Mash beans in a bowl
- Add salsa and chili powder to beans, and mix
- Place bean mixture onto tortillas (we used between ⅓ and ½ cup of mixture per tortilla; made 9 for us)
- Top each tortilla with 1-2 tbsp salsa
- Continue with toppings of choice, ending with cheese if using. I omit cheese for myself, however my family hasn't given up cheese yet. I like my nutritional yeast uncooked, so I sprinkle on top after pizzas are heated in oven. Could also warm tortillas with beans, salsa, and cheese, adding remaining ingredients raw afterwards.
- Bake for 10-15 minutes, until tortillas slightly brown, and cheese melts if using.
- Sprinkle with nutritional yeast if desired, and top with fresh tomatoes, avocado, and siracha.
