I don’t know about you, but I always have leftover tortillas in a pack where there isn’t quite enough for a meal.  I used to buy more tortillas to resolve the first problem, but it would perpetuate, and at the end, I would end up having to throw away some tortillas anyways.  Never fear though! I have a solution for you :).

My go-to recipe when I want to use up the last few tortillas in the pack is to use them as if they were lasagna noodles and layer up some veggies and cheese…here’s what I put together tonight.

Ingredients:

• 1 stalk celery
• 1/4 onion
• 2 small zucchinis
• 1 can black beans, rinsed well
• greens from the tops of 3 beets (or choose your favourite greens instead)
• 1-2 tbsp of Rancho Gordo Chile Powder (I bought some at the Ferry Building market recently)
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/4 tsp salt

Building the Enchiladas

My favourite tortillas these days are plain corn with a hint of lime.  I pick these up at Whole Foods fairly regularly.  My CSA have fresh tortillas as an option as well, so I generally mix it up. The ones in the picture below are the Whole Foods 365 brand.

I usually like to make a quick enchilada sauce, but I was short on time tonight, so I poured some salsa into a nonstick pan until it heated up and then soaked the tortillas until they were soft, moist and flavoured all the way through. I use this trick when making enchiladas as well – it makes all the difference.

I then placed a layer of the tortillas in a 9×9 Pyrex dish (I cut them into smaller pieces so they would cover the bottom of the dish), layered on the vegetable mix and then repeated until I used up the tortillas and veggies (in this case, it was just two layers).  I topped it off with some Daiya cheddar shreds, which in restrospect, I wish I had not used.  I can officially declare that I am not a fan at all.  The shreds have an odd smell to them, and for those who know me, they know I don’t enjoy weird-smelling dairy products…why would I enjoy weird-smelling fake dairy products?  But I said I’d give Daiya another chance, and I did…sorry Daiya…I wanted to love you just because you were Canadian…

Here’s the finished product with a dollop of avocado with lime juice and cilantro.