Me No Miss No Meat Chilaquiles

Here in the Midwest, we're starting to see more decent fresh produce, even some local produce. Days are longer. People are blinking in the sun and moving their pale bodies outside. I start to see my appetite perk up. I'm interested in something besides mashed potatoes, mashed potatoes, donuts, and mashed potatoes. Perhaps something green. Perhaps something grilled.

Well, the next recipe has nothing green or grilled, I fear, but we had it this week and it was good. It was a fair success with the kids, although I think if I'd come up with a catchy name like, "Ola nacho lasagna" they'd have been easier to convince. As it is, this is an easy pantry meal thing to throw together as soon as you walk in the door. It has to cook about 40 minutes, so there's plenty of time to unwind and play with kids, open mail, change clothes, etc.

1 package tortillas (corn or white okay, any size)
2 jars of salsa (largish jars)
2 packages low fat cream cheese (would be fine to mix one package with Greek yogurt, too)
2 or 3 eggs
2 T cornstarch
2-3 cups of frozen corn (thawed if at all possible)
2 cans drained and rinsed black beans
2 cups grated sharp cheddar, Monterey jack, or whatever is around

1. Turn the oven on to 375.
2. Get out a large baking pan. A 9x13 is fine, but you can easily make this into a 11x14 pan, too.
3. Rip up the tortillas into quarters, sixths, whatever is a manageable size. Throw them into the pan, then throw the pan into the oven while it is preheating.
4. Put cream cheese (or cream cheese and yogurt) into the bowl of a food processor. Add one jar of salsa, eggs, and cornstarch. Let 'er rip until blended.
5. Take the tortillas out of the oven and throw them on to a clean dish towel.
6. Add 1/2 a cup (or a little more) of the salsa to the bottom of your baking pan, freshly emptied of tortillas. Add about 1/3 of the tortillas to the bottom of the pan, on top of the salsa.
7. Spoon half the egg/cheese mixture on top of the tortillas.
8. Spread the corn over the eggs/cheese, then spread the beans over the corn.
9. Drizzle another generous 1/2 cup salsa over the corn/bean combo, then top with another layer of tortillas. Press those tortillas into the veges to compact a bit.
10. Put the other half of the eggs/cheese on top of the tortillas, then top with the remaining tortillas. Top the whole thing with salsa.
11. Cover with aluminum foil (spray it with non-stick spray if you like) and put in the oven for 40 minutes. Pour a glass of wine, exercise, sort the mail. Just take a break.
12. After 40 minutes check the center. If it's hot, then cover with the grated cheese. Put the whole thing back in the oven without the aluminum foil and bake until browned, about 10 minutes. If it's not hot in the center, put it back in the oven and check again in a few minutes and proceed with cheese step whenever the chilaquiles are ready.
13. Serve hot. Makes a mountain.

Note: Modified this recipe from the delightful Crescent Dragonwagon's encyclopedic cookbook Passionate Vegetarian. It's a GREAT cookbook to peruse. Chatty, happy, enthusiastic, and chock full of great ideas and nutritional information. A seriously painless education in vegetarian cooking and HUGE.