Mexican Lasagna

We had Mexican Lasagna for dinner last night, but I was not able to post because someone was playing video games on the laptop all night :-). Here's the recipe, one day late.

Mexican Lasagna
Ingredients
1 garlic clove (guestimate $.10)
1 medium onion, chopped ($.40)
1 can diced tomatoes with juice ($.49)
1/2 teaspoon chili powder (guestimate $.10)
2 teaspoons cumin (guestimate $.10)
8 oz can tomato sauce ($.35)
16 oz can black beans, if they are not low sodium rinse and drain ($.79)
1/2 cup frozen corn ($.15)
1/2 cup Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP) ($.17) You may substitute .5 lb ground beef or turkey if you wish!
12 soft corn tortillas ($.40)
4 ounces low fat or vegan cheddar cheese($1.00ish, I can't remember how much our vegan cheese is; I just know it's expensive!)

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Spray a large skillet with cooking spray.
3. Add garlic, onions, tomato, cumin, and chili powder.
4. Cook on medium heat until onion is tender.
5. Add tomato sauce and cook 5 minutes more.
6. Stir in beans, TVP, and corn. Cook until TVP has rehydrated and resembles ground beef.
7. Spray a 9 inch square baking dish with cooking spray.
8. Cut tortillas in half so you can lay flat edges against the baking dish. Layer 4 tortillas, 1/3 cheese, and 1/3 of the bean mixture; repeat 2 more times.
9. Top with reserved 2 tablespoons of cheese.
10. Bake 20 minutes, covered, then 10 minutes uncovered or until bubbly. Vegan cheese will not get bubbly. It becomes more crunchy as it cooks.
11. Top with sour cream if desired.

Total Cost: $4.05-This will feed us dinner and two-three lunches

Nutritional Information
Calories 344, Total Fat 6.8g, Saturated Fat 0g, Cholesterol 0mg, Sodium 700mg, Total Carbohydrates 55.3g, Dietary Fiber 12.8g, Sugars 9.0g, Protein 20.8g

The nutritional breakdown of the meal I prepared is a little different than that listed. The source I use to calculate the information doesn't let me selected low sodium. If you use low sodium veggies, your sodium will be cut in half at least.

One of the great things about this meal is all the substituting you can do. Don't have meat or TVP, or corn, just leave it out. Only a little cheese left? Put cheese only on the top; it still tastes great! I found out last week that you can leave the tomato sauce out and it still tastes okay. I forgot it when I was cooking this meal for my in-laws! This would also be a good meal to make ahead of time to heat up and eat on a busy day. Hope you enjoy!

Vegan Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

My Father-in-Law went into the hospital two days ago with blockage in his heart, so we had to rush away from home rather quickly. He ended up having to get a stent put in his heart. He is doing fine now, and he gets to come home from the hospital today. We are still away from home, so I haven't been able to make or blog about any yummy food recently. I thought I would share with you my new favorite cookie recipe. This cookie is vegan and follows the migraine diet; however, it is NOT light. It has a lot of sugar, peanut butter, and best of all, chocolate. I found this recipe here.

Vegan Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookies
1/3 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup unsalted peanuts, chopped
2 tablespoons oil-you may substitute applesauce to lower the fat in this recipe
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup soy milk (regular or vanilla flavored) dairy, rice, or oat milks would work just as well
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup whole-wheat flour, Use half white, half wheat if you aren't used to whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup rolled oats
2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips — use non-dairy chips to keep it vegan

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. In a large mixing bowl, stir together first five ingredients.
3. In a small bowl, thoroughly stir together flour, soda and salt. Stir into batter.
4. Stir in oats and chocolate chips.
5. Drop batter by rounded tablespoonfuls onto parchment lined baking sheet. It is important to use parchment paper, or the cookies will stick to the baking sheet.
6. Bake for 10 minutes. Do not over cook. They may not look completely done at ten minutes, take them out any way and let them rest for a minute.
7. Remove cookies from the cookie sheet. Place on wire rack to cool.

The recipe makes about 18 cookies depending on cookie size.

If you cook the cookies for too long, they become very crunchy. I like my cookies better if they are a little chewy. I tend to modify recipes as I make them. I ended up adding probably a tablespoon of brown sugar and 1-2 tablespoons of cocoa powder. I'm not sure if this addition changed the taste dramatically. I might add more cocoa powder next time to make double chocolate oatmeal cookies! yum!

Nutritional Information
One cookie made with oil: 175 calories, 7.2g fat, 130 mg sodium, 24.8g carbohydrates 1.3g fiber, 3.7g protein, 15.1g sugar

One cookie made with apple sauce: 162 calories, 5.7g fat, 130mg sodium, 25g carbohydrates, 1.4g fiber, 3.7g protein, 15.3g sugar

These cookies have a decent amount of protein, so if you are going to eat a cookie anyway, this one will at least provide energy and some satiation.