Cilantro lime Mexican Lasagna

So I tried a new dish last night.... Mexican Lasagna and my version is the Cilantro Lime Mexican Lasagna. I tweaked a few things here and there to make this a little more healthy. The original recipe calls for ground pork and I used lean white turkey, I also used black beans in place of hominy, and I used Flatout Healthy Grain flatbread wraps instead of the traditional tortilla. This took some of the fat out(turkey), added more protein(black beans), and cut down on calories and unhealthy carbs( multi grain flatbread).

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 pounds ground turkey
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon ground coriander
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 (15-ounce) can black beans
• 1 large red onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, grated or chopped
• 2 jalapeno or serrano peppers, chopped- 3 or 4 for a little more heat
  
• 12 large tomatillos (14 to 16 if small), peeled (the leafy peel) and coarsely chopped
• A handful cilantro leaves- parsley leaves can be used if you are not a fan of cilantro
  
• 3 avocados
• 2 limes
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 package large tortillas
• 1 pound pepper Jack cheese, shredded
• Sour cream, to pass at table

Directions

Place rack in oven in middle of oven and heat broiler or place oven on 400 degrees F.

Heat 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, a turn of the pan, in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add turkey and crumble up as it browns. While turkey browns, season the meat with cumin, coriander and salt and pepper. Once browned evenly, stir in black beans and reduce heat to simmer.

While meat cooks heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a sauce pot, add onions, garlic and peppers, season with salt and pepper and saute until softened 5 to 6 minutes. Place tomatillos and cilantro or parsley in food processor and process until almost smooth. Pour into onion and garlic mixture and simmer to mellow, 5 to 6 minutes more. Replace the processor bowl. Pit and scoop the avocado flesh into the processor, add the lime zest and juice- careful it can get strong. Add the honey, puree until smooth and season with a little salt. Stir the avocado mixture into the green sauce and remove from heat.

Char all of the tortillas over an open flame or in dry hot skillet.This is important!!! If you don't do this the tortillas will get a little more soggy!

In a baking dish layer sauce, tortilla, meat, cheese, sauce, tortilla, meat, cheese, sauce, etc. End with a layer of tortilla, sauce and finally cheese. Place baking dish in the oven and bake for 4 to 5 minutes until bubbly and cheese is brown. Pass sour cream at the table.

I really loved this dish! I am a huge fan of lime and cilantro. NOTE: add avocado and honey and let the tomatillos cook longer to mellow out the tartness of the tomatillos! For a thicker and dryer lasagna use more meat and beans!!

A third great LOVE

#1- my personal hottie (britt)
#2- dancing
and drum roll please........

#3 cooking!!!!!!!

I REALLY REALLY love to cook. I mean REALLY! I started doing my own cooking pretty young. When I got married, I started cooking ALL the time...like tons! I would come home from work and start cooking not ever realizing just how relaxing it is for me. I love to create things and this is just one more avenue for me to do that. I like to get ideas from other recipes and then create my own versions or just give it a total makeover altogether! I also enjoy doing things for people...ok more like pleasing people, so I feel like I can do that by cooking. Since I now have DVR, I have started watching a ton of food network...which I love and is even more amazing on my 42" HDTV. The other day I was watching it and I caught myself thinking..." I could really do this for a living and really love it!" Of course having my own show would be ultimate cause I could still be an entertainment personality and a cook, but I think it would be SOOO fun to even just do catering or go to culinary school and become a top chef. If I had lots of time and money I would do just that...I would spend half of my day learning to cook and cooking and the other half training for dance and dancing....WHAT A BLAST that would be! So be looking for my recipe and experiment postings and updates!!

Today

So after about a week of my new cut, I am really loving it. I have officially decided that my hair looks best short. Maybe I'll just get a really long wig if I get an urge for length again! HA! It's cold and rainy today BLAH! Yesterday Chris brought an ungodly amount of sugary pastries to the studio so needless to say I had a day full of sugar. I mean that literally. I didn't have ANY real food yesterday..oh wait I did for breakfast. I had a bowl of cereal, a small manog strawberry protein shake,1 lg piece of blueberry pie, half of a cinnimon roll, 1 lemon bar, 1 really fat pumpkin custard bar, a dark chocolate almond zone protein bar (not bad but still), and a wheat wrap with organic (so less sugar) peanut butter and protein...this was a really yummy and not so bad for you meal. I haven't had that much sugar in a REALLY long time. Needless to say I couldn't sleep last night. I had choreography styling in my head all night. We scrapped like half of the choreography yesterday...I like to think of it as a good thing. We're at a point where we really know what we have that fits us and what doesn't...I look at that as progression. Sometimes I really realize how far behind him I am and that is frustrating but I quickly divert my mind. If I think about it too long I think I could slip into a deep depression! ha! When there's something I'm not doing correct, I want to be able to fix immediately because I hate to be the one holding us back from progressing. Poor guy...hope he doesn't give up on me! I wish I had had more proper training from the get go of my dancing. I need to find a way to practice just fundamentals and technique...it's so hard to do it on my own and NO WAY would I expect to work on that with chris. That is my mission for this week...finding a solution...and finding more students!!!

Enough about that. So in about a month or two Britt and I will be completely debt free!!! YEAH! Such a huge weight lifted! Hopefully we will get into our own home soon..so back in debt we'll be but a mortgage isn't so bad.

Random thought: I wonder if I could totally switch out my furniture on craigslist??