Bean Pie

OMG, you guys. It rained in the desert today. That only happens like 4 times a year, so this is a pretty big day. If I were a weaker person, I would use it as an excuse to have some totally cheesy, non-vegan nachos. But only if I were a weaker person. I'm saving that particular weakness for Friday, as a celebration for keeping the children alive for another week. But I did enjoy the rain, I had a cup of tea with the last of my soy nog from Christmas, I thought I would try and read some of "The Hunger Games", but instead, planty kid 1 wanted me to read with her. So we enjoyed "Little House on the Prairie". All in all, a good rainy day. And now food is on my mind (when is food NOT on my mind?). This is a really good recipe. Remember when I confessed my closet love of cheese? Well, this recipe has cheese. You could make it with Daiya if you are really, really, committed to being a vegan, but I don't believe a little cheese is that big a deal. Bring on the hate.

Bean Pie

• 1 package of tortillas (this one had 11 in it. Weird.)
• 2 tomatoes, chopped
• 1 cup of chopped chilantro
• 1 cup of salsa
• 1 can of pinto beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can of corn, drained
• Cheese 

How to make it...

• Preheat your oven to 350. 
• In a large bowl, mix the black beans, cilantro, tomatoes, and corn, and mix it all up. 

I took this before I added the corn. Just to keep you on your toes...

• The dump the salsa into the pinto beans, and mix that all up. 

Ta da!

• Now, in a round baking dish, you want to layer it, tortilla, black bean mix, cheese, tortilla, pinto beans, cheese, repeat. Got it?

It should look like this when you're done. 

• Then bake it for about 30 minutes, or until the cheese is nice and melty, and gooey and good. I mean, if you're going to do a vegan cheat by eating cheese, don't burn it for goodness sakes. 

My attempt at fancy food photography... 

Planty kids 1 and 3 loved this. Planty kid 2, the one who won't eat anything other than PB&J, and really, really, hates beans, well, she didn't want anything to do with it. But that's pretty standard. Planty Dad was in a very happy place after dinner, so much that he didn't even complain when I served him vegan brownies for desert.