Recipe: Tortilla Pie (With NuVal Dietitian Elizabeth!)
As you know, I’m frightfully honest when it’s just you and me here on A Better Bag of Groceries. And because my mother occasionally reads this, I have to come clean on the cooking thing. For the record, I can cook, I know how to cook many, many things… BUT, I am certainly not known for my expertise in the kitchen. Again, does this make me a bad dietitian? Honestly many people would say “Yes!” But to the other folks who are all too familiar with microwave mastery, my cooking is also a work in progress.
Disclaimers aside now, I pretty much amazed myself (and my son) when I made this tortilla pie recipe from Good Housekeeping. It met all my requirements: it was fast, easy, tasted fantastic and has a great nutritional profile. Here’s the breakdown:
PREP: 8 minutes
BAKE: 12 minutes
Makes 4 hearty servings!
Ingredients:
1 jar (11-12 oz) medium or mild salsa [try NEWMANS OWN BLACK BEAN & CORN MEDIUM SALSA NuVal Score: 48]
1 (8 oz.) can of no-salt added tomato sauce [try DEL MONTE QUALITY TOMATO SAUCE NO SALT ADDED NuVal Score: 58]
1 can (15-16 oz) no salt added black beans, rinsed & drained [try GOYA BLACK BEANS NuVal Score: 91]
1 can (15.25 oz) no salt added whole-kernel corn, drained [try your store brand for a NuVal Score: 91]
½ cup packed fresh cilantro leaves [NuVal Score: 90]
4 (10 inch) low fat flour tortillas [Mission 95 % fat free flour tortillas NuVal Score: 23—trade up to white corn tortillas from Mission and hit a score of 91!]
6 oz shredded reduced fat Monterey Jack cheese (1 .5 cups) [try KRAFT NATURAL REDUCED FAT COLBY & MONTEREY JACK CHEESE NuVal Score: 23]
Reduced fat sour cream for garnish (optional) [try Smart Balance reduced fat sour cream NuVal Score: 37]
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 500 degrees (F). Spray jelly roll or in my case, casserole dish, with non stick cooking spray.
- In small bowl, mix salsa and tomato sauce.
- In medium bowl, mix black beans, corn and cilantro.
- Place one tortilla in the pan; spread 1/3 of salsa mixture over tortilla. Top with 1/3 of bean mixture and 1/3 of cheese.
- Repeat the layering process 2 more times and end by covering with last tortilla.
- Bake until cheese has melted and filling is hot, 10-12 minutes.
- Serve with reduced fat sour cream if desired.
Halfway there…
Done!
Nutritional Info: per servingà440 calories, 25 g protein, 65 g carbohydrate, 11 g total fat (5 saturated.) 820 mg sodium
Lessons Learned & Thoughts at Large:
- I found the tomato/salsa mixture too much liquid for my taste. Next time I will use about half as much.
- Like all casseroles, the pie was even better 24 hours later when re-heated.
- Don’t make the goofy mistake I did—use only the cilantro leaves. Turns out, they weren’t kidding when they said ‘leaves’ in the recipe. Have you ever eaten a cilantro stem? Probably not; keep it that way.
- Speaking of the cilantro—the fresh out of the oven spiciness of this herb was very intense. If you have family members skittish around spicy foods, definitely use mild salsa and reduce the cilantro significantly.
- Freaking out about the 820 mg of sodium? Please keep in mind that this is a main dish item and works nicely within the <2300 mg/day recommendation from the US Dietary Guidelines.
- Honest and true, I love this dish and will make again soon so I can freeze it and use for a quick weeknight dinner.
Posted by: Rob 4 comments
Posted in: Uncategorized
on Feb 18th, 2013 at 9:12 am
I will be trying this recipe soon — and will heed your lessons learned!
on Feb 18th, 2013 at 4:06 pm
Yum! Sounds delicious!
on Feb 18th, 2013 at 8:49 pm
Looks fantastic! I am a black bean lover, so it is perfect for my taste. Thanks for the “lessons learned” section. Very helpful info.
on Feb 18th, 2013 at 9:30 pm
For many people, that IS way too much sodium. Unfortunately, restaurant food is way over the limit also; so i guess this isn’t all that bad once in awhile.
MD
California