Black Bean Enchilada Casserole with Homemade Enchilada Sauce

About once a week I work later in the evening, leaving my husband to deal with the kids, animals and dinner.  I try to put together a dinner he can just pop into the oven when he gets home so it will be one less thing to worry about.  I have several casseroles I put together ahead of time, and enchilada casseroles are some of their favorites.

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Black Bean Enchilada Casserole

1 can or  1 ½ cups of cooked black beans (here are instructions on how to cook beans)

1 ½ cups corn, I use frozen organic or fresh cut off the cob

1 ½ cups diced, canned, tomatoes

1 large can or 1 ½ - 2 cups enchilada sauce (see recipe for homemade enchilada sauce below)

2 cups shredded cheese

Corn or flour tortillas to make 3 layers

Mix together drained beans, corn, and tomatoes (a little juice is ok, but drain if it’s very wet), coat bottom of 9X13 casserole with enchilada sauce, layer with tortillas, top with ½ bean mixture, drizzle with enchilada sauce, 1/3 of the cheese, repeat, layer and top with tortillas.  Spread top of casserole with remaining enchilada sauce, then top with cheese.  Cover with foil and bake at 375 for about 1 hour or until tortillas are soft and casserole is hot and bubbly. This can be layered in a crock pot, you’ll have to tear the tortillas to fit, assemble as above, cover and cook on low for approx 5-7 hours depending on the crock pot.

I used to buy canned enchilada sauce, but as I am trying to avoid canned goods due to BPA, I have started making my own, and it’s really easy and tasty. I often don’t measure things, just sort of guesstimate, so these amounts are approximate, experiment and find the taste YOU like.

Enchilada Sauce

24 oz tomato sauce (If you are like me and aren’t lucky enough to have homemade sauce, I use Pomi brand, it’s imported from Italy, and packaged in a carton which is BPA free. I find it in my local grocery store, and I know available on Amazon)

1 teaspoon cumin

2  teaspoon of chili powder (hot or mild or a mix of both or a lot more to your taste)

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon garlic powder

¼ teaspoon onion powder

½ teaspoon Mexican oregano

Mix together in a pot and simmer on the stove until slightly thickened.  If your tomato sauce is very thin, you may need to thicken in with some flour, I don't have directions for this because the Pomi sauce is quite thick, but there are many online recipes that give instructions for this.