I’ve been looking for meat-free entrees that my daughter will eat – not so easy! But she does love beans and Mexican seasoning, so I melded together a few different versions of Mexican lasagna in the hopes that she would eat it – and that it would provide some nutritional value.

And it worked! The thing I like best about this is that the next day, the corn tortillas soaked up the juices and became almost tamale like.

Vegetarian Mexican Casserole

1/2 cup quinoa
1 cup water
Bullion, dried cilantro, avocado oil

Cook the quinoa with water, bullion, cilantro, oil. Let it cool.

1 onion, diced
chopped garlic
Taco seasoning
1 zucchini, chopped into thin slices then into 4 pieces
3 cups diced tomatoes – basically 3 very large tomatoes
1 15 oz can of pinto beans
30 oz can of refried black beens
Lime juice
Mild salsa
1 cup corn
Enchilada sauce
1 pound grated cheddar cheese
10 corn tortillas

Turn oven onto 375 degrees.

Cook the quinoa with the water, bullion, dried cilantro and a half a teaspoon of avocado oil.

Fry 1/2 the onion with some chopped garlic and avocado oil, add the chopped zucchini and some taco seasoning, stir, add some water. Cook off the water, but don’t let the zucchini get mushy. Pour the zucchini into a bowl, use the same pan for:

Fry 1/2 the onion with some chopped garlic and avocado oil, then add the diced tomatoes and taco seasoning. Cook down the tomatoes, add a dash of corn starch to thicken. Let boil, then take off the heat. Pour the tomatoes into another bowl, use the same pan for:

Add the refried beans, head up with some lime juice, add some mild salsa.

Mix the corn and pinto beans in a microwave safe bowl, add some salsa and dried cilantro, head in the microwave to cook the corn to firm but not mushy.

Pour a small amount of salsa into the bottom of a lasagna pan. Layer corn tortillas onto the bottom, rip the tortillas to pretty much take up all of the bottom of the pan. Put in all the quinoa in a layer. Add a thin layer of the tomatoes on top, then the corn and pinto beans. Then 1/2 the grated cheese. Then another layer of corn tortillas, the refried beans, the zucchini, the rest of the tomatoes, then some enchilada sauce, then the rest of the cheese.

Cover with foil, bake for 20 minutes, take off foil, bake for another 20 minutes.

You can top it with sour cream, or yogurt (which is a good choice since it has probiotics, which are beneficial bacteria or other macrobiotics that may be good for your gut health).