Black Bean "Chilaquiles". Sort Of.

A bag of fresh tortilla chips from my local latin market gave me the inspiration to throw this together. I didn't have any vegan cheese so I made a creamy sauce made from plain soymilk, onions, garlic, pureed dried chilies and nutritional yeast. I layered the chips with the sauce, black beans cooked in a zesty tomato sauce and corn kernels and baked in the oven for 20 minutes. Came out tasty!


With a dollop of Vegenaise on top. Yummeh.

VeganMoFo: Nachos

Quick dinner of homemade nachos with refried beans, jalapenos and fresh salsa. I used the Nacho Cheez recipe from The Ultimate Uncheese cookbook. It's very smooth and creamy with a nice kick from the cayenne and other spices in it.

Chilaquiles Casserole

I was so impressed with the chilaquiles that I made the other day, I wanted to do it again but this time make much more of it. Because I like food in casserole form, I decided to try it that way and bulk it up with more tortilla chips, more sauce and corn kernels. It was so delicious and something that would be an easy weeknight meal. I know that I used a lot of canned stuff here so please feel free to use fresh ingredients if available. I needed dinner quick on the table tonight and I didn't have any fresh produce so I had to resort to my pantry.


We were such in a rush to eat that I forgot to take a photo when it came out of the oven! So here it is after being dug into several times. It doesn't look that bad actually.

Chilaquiles Casserole

2 TB olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1 28oz. can diced tomatoes
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. sugar
salt and pepper to taste
1 15oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 15oz. can sweet corn, drained and rinsed
tortilla chips
2 cups vegan cheese (I used the cheddar style Daiya vegan cheese)

1. Saute onions, garlic and green pepper in olive oil until soft.
2. Add tomatoes and spices. Bring to a boil and then simmer on Low for about 10-15 minutes.
3. Spray a medium baking dish with oil. Spread a small amount of tomato sauce on the bottom of the dish. Spread a layer of tortilla chips. Add half the beans and half the corn evenly over the chips. Ladle half the sauce and sprinkle half of the cheese. Repeat with another layer of chips-beans-corn-tomato sauce. Save the other half of the cheese for the end.
4. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes.
5. Remove foil, turn oven up to 400 degrees F. Sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top, return to oven and bake uncovered for 5 more minutes or until cheese melts.
6. Serve with avocado chunks and a dollop of Vegenaise or vegan sour cream.

Black Bean Chilaquiles

I've never made authentic chilaquiles before so I asked one of my coworkers for tips. She gave me a quick rundown and I came home and pretty much followed her instructions. (Though she did say to make a lot of sauce which I should have done!) It was super easy and delicious! I used Daiya vegan cheese which didn't melt well in the skillet so I had to stick it under the broiler at the end. That worked just fine. It was sooo good with some avocado on top. Some of the chips were soaked in the spicy chilaquiles sauce and some were still a bit crispy. Definitely going to make this again.


Simmering the sauce.


Just out of the broiler.

Black Bean Chilaquiles

olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalapeno pepper, chopped
1 15oz. can diced tomatoes
1 15oz. can black beans, drained
1 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. oregano
a pinch of sugar
salt to taste
2 cups tortilla chips
2 cups vegan cheese

1. Heat a bit of olive oil in a skillet on medium high heat. Saute onion, garlic and jalapeno for about 5 minutes or until soft.
2. Add tomatoes and half the beans.
3. Stir in spices and simmer on low for 10 minutes.
4. Add tortilla chips, the other half of the beans and cheese. Cover with a lid for 5 minutes. Uncover and transfer to broiler to further melt the cheese.
Note: You can always double the sauce part to make the tortilla chips more soggy-like.

Junk Food Alert!

I had nachos for dinner. Yes these are very junky but what the heck! I was in the mood for them so I made sure that this was on the menu tonight. I made "taco meat" out of tvp and taco seasonings and cheez sauce from 'The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook'. It's the "instant cheez-it sauce" and I added a few TB of salsa to it. With some black beans, jalapenos and a vegan mayo "sour cream" (just mix it with lime or lemon juice), I had a drool worthy plate of nachos!


There's this recipe for microwave chocolate cake on vegweb that I had made a couple of times before. I was in the mood and I needed it now. So I whipped this up in 3 minutes in my microwave. I added vegan chocolate chips and white chocolate chips. Sweet coconut on top made it a fun dessert to indulge in. This is something I will not do often because it's junk food, but when you want it, you gotta have it!


And you're wondering, is it good? Why yes. Yes it is. It's very fluffy and soft and gooey from the melted chocolate chips.