If you can't get South of the Border...

Stay north and try this easy tortilla pie! We'd had chili and quesedillas recently, but this was a delicious twist on similar ingredients. I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly it came together. Dinner was ready in less than 20mins!

Easy Tortilla Pie

3 whole wheat tortillas, 10" size $.51
1 can 15oz black beans (or beans of choice) $.79
1/2 C frozen corn $.17
1/2 C frozen diced onion $.23
1/2 C frozen diced peppers $.23
1 -2 fresh diced roma tomatoes $.50
1 C shredded cheddar cheese $.75
salsa, to serve (optional)

Total Cost: $3.18
Servings: 4 (generous)
Cost Per Serving: $.80

To Make:

1. CAUTION: Before proceeding further, make sure you have either a deep dish pie plate or a round cake pan. The whole pie will be about 2" deep, so you pan needs to be that deep.You could probably modify this to make it work in a brownie pan, but I haven't tried it yet!
2. Preheat the oven to 400* In a medium size mixing bowl, combine the diced peppers, onion, corn, and beans (drained and rinsed). Dice the tomato and add it as well.
   
3. Grease your cake pan/pie plate and place a tortilla in the bottom. If it curls up a bit around the edges, that's fine. Layer about 1/2 of the filling on top of the tortilla, then cover it with half the cheddar cheese. Top with another tortilla, and repeat with the second half of the filling and cheddar cheese. End with a tortilla. If you want, you can sprinkle some more cheddar cheese on top of the completed pie.
   
4. Bake, uncovered, in the 400* oven for 10-15 minutes, or until the edges have turned crispy and the cheese has melted.
   
5. Slice into pie wedges and serve with salsa. At this price, you could afford some mango/pineapple salsa (Newman's Own makes an excellent one) which complements the black beans wonderfully.
   

Frugal Hints

• I chose black beans because I like them - but you could also substitute kidney beans, pinto beans, red beans, or refried beans if you'd rather. I always buy the largest size can of beans and use half. The rest can be mashed up and made into veggie burgers, or sprinkled onto salad for extra protein.
  
• If you can, use fresh tomatoes for this recipe. It keeps the tortillas from getting soggy and tastes SO good. If, however, they are just too expensive, or hard to get decent ones in your area, canned diced tomatoes will also work. Just place them in a shallow bowl, press a slotted spoon against them, and drain out the extra liquid before mixing them into the filling. (If you are feeling REALLY frugal, save the extra liquid to use in soup!
  
• This pie may be a bit squishy to cut when it is still molten hot. Allow it to cool slightly, and it will slice better. It is also fantastic at room temperature the next day.

Enjoy!

It's been a while....

Turns out doctoral degrees are bad for your extracurricular life (read: this blog). Last semester was horribly busy, in part thanks to a part time job I worked on the weekends, and the great number of family events that had us running back and forth to my parents' house and my inlaws' house. Neither of those trips is a hop skip and a jump either!

But I'm beating around the bush here. A lot of things changed since the last post. We had a break in employment, which meant government assistance and a shift in the way we ate. Thankfully things are getting back to normal now, and I'm back to experimenting with healthy and frugal things to eat. Here's the latest!

....because although we can't live by bread alone, life would certainly be sad without it. :-)

Homemade French Bread

1 1/4C warm water (drinkable but hot temp) $0
1 T sugar $.01
1 tsp salt
3 1/2C flour (I used all white since I was bringing this to a party, but a mix of 1:3 whole wheat to white would be tasty!) $.35
1 1/2 tsp yeast $.16
1 T cornmeal

Total Cost: $.52
Servings: 2 baguettes, 18" each.
Cost per Serving: $.26

Note: I made these as an appetizer, to go with a fantastic date & olive spread, and it served 6 people comfortably.

To Make:

1. Make the water warm from the tap. Microwaving water always makes it too hot or too cold, and you NEVER want to microwave water once the yeast is in it! It will kill the yeast! Add the yeast and the sugar to the water. Cover with a towel and leave it in a warm place for a few minutes. The yeast should form some bubbles/foam. Note: if you have rapid acting yeast, you can skip this step and just add it with the dry ingredients)
   
2. Add the flour and salt in a large bowl, then pour the water/yeast into the flour. Use a firm spatula/wooden spoon to combine roughly. Once it is a sticky dough, flour your hands and work the dough like the woman does in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeOYvPchd_E. If you flour your hands well, you can knead the dough right in the bowl! It may take several minutes of kneading to look elastic like the dough in the video....if it is too sticky, add a tablespoon or two more flour. Too flaky? Add a tablespoon warm water.
   
3. When the dough looks good, form a ball and dust the top with flour. Then cover with a clean dish towel and allow it to rise in a draft-free location. I often turn my oven on to "warm" for about 1 minute, then put the bread in, close the door, and turn the oven off. Of course, I have a gas oven, so it heats up quickly...Allow the dough to rest for about 45min.
   
4. After 45 min have passed, the dough should be doubled in size. Take the dough out and divide it roughly in half with a sharp knife dipped in olive oil. Then shape the dough as shown in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxnHFWavt4I Transfer the baguette to a cookie sheet sprinkled with cornmeal (or simply greased with olive oil). Repeat with the other half of the dough.
5. Allow the baguettes to rise, covered by the towel, in a draft-free location for another half hour. While you are preheating the oven to 375 degrees, you can take your sharp, oiled knife and make little diagonal cuts along the top of the baguettes for a traditional look.
   
6. Bake at 375 F for 25 min or until they are golden tan on the top.
   

Serve with.....

Date and Olive Tapenade

2/3C chopped kalmata olives $1.50 (bought the "packed in oil" kind from the deli
1C chopped dates $1.50
1/2 C water
2T balsamic vinegar
1 clove garlic, minced (optional)
fresh ground pepper to taste
8oz bar of cream cheese $1

Total Cost: $4
Servings: 6
Cost per serving: $.67

To Make:

1. Prep the olives and dates by chopping them up. Add the dates, vinegar, and garlic to the water in a small pot on the stove. Cook 5min over medium heat, stirring occasionally.
   
2. When the mixture comes to a boil, turn it down, and continue to cook a few more minutes until it changes to a "paste" like texture.
   
3. Remove from heat and combine with the chopped olives. Season to taste with pepper. To serve: remove cream cheese from its wrapper and place on serving plate. Spoon Date/olive mix over the cream cheese and provide a cheese knife. It goes perfectly on the french bread!

Frugal Tips

• The above recipes were made for a special occasion - a party. Therefore, the dip is a bit less frugal than I would be if I were making it just for us....however, if you compare the cost to enough shrimp for 6 people, or even a pre-prepared fruit/veggie platter, it's still pretty cost effective!
• Because I did have some wine that was open, I used half water and half white wine in the dip recipe. It was delicious, but I'm sure it would be fine with 100% water!
• Because I didn't have any eggs left when I made the french bread, I left mine "dry" and didn't do an egg wash. If you want your bread to look shiny, you can brush the tops with a mixture of egg and water when there are about 10min of baking time left.