Tortilla Pie

I saw this recipe somewhere and actually wrote it out in a little book that I was carrying around with me at the time (I always have a little book with me and I make sure I keep them when they're full because there is almost always something of interest in them that I need later). Anyway, why I wrote it out and didn't print it, I don't know. Pretty sure it didn't have spinach in it then. Maybe because we had a desktop and no printer and I needed to have the recipe in the kitchen. Or maybe because we had a laptop and no counter space (hello pink ghetto).

Anyway.

I printed this and decided to make it for dinner tonight. We were supposed to have leftovers from last night's yummy dinner, but, well, there just weren't enough. No way it was going to feed three people, so I took it for lunch and it was just enough for one person.

So, I needed a solution.

And this is it. Except, well, I think it's a different recipe. It's the right picture and it's almost the same, but I'm sure the original one I made had black beans in it. Actually, I'm positive it did. And I think it had beer in it too.

ANYWAY. None of that's important because I'm really just using the recipe as a guide - I'm going to do my own thing. Like substitute chili powder for cumin and add Black beans....follow along and you'll see.

EDIT: I was right, THIS is the actual orginial recipe I used. See. Black beans and beer. No spinach. I'm not losing it completely, just partially! Or something. I'm finding it very interesting that the meat version serves four, but the vegetarian version serves six. Hmmmm....

My parents brought some yummy Papa Billy vegetables down a few weeks ago and in one of the boxes I discovered some Avtar garlic. Avtar is the foreman at the nursery and has been in charge of the garden for a while (and now that Papa is no longer with us and Avtar is in charge completely, maybe I should start calling them Avtar vegetables...anyway...) and he grows this yummy garlic that has really stiff, purple casings. I have no idea what kind of garlic it is, but it's so good. So, Avtar garlic went in with the onions and the house smelled heavenly. I only used three cloves and it smelled like I used a whole bulb. MMMMMMmmmm....

After the garlic and onions were nice and soft, I divided them up between a small pot and the frying pan.

The beef went in the frying pan and sizzled away for a bit...

And the beans (with some water, not beer) went in the pot. I seasoned both with cumin and chili powder and mmmmm....I'd use more chili powder the next time (I used all the chili powder we had)

I trimmed the tortillas while the meat cooked and the beans simmered.

I made three layers with four tortillas - one beef, one bean, another beef. I only used 1 1/2 cups of cheese...

And then we cooked it...make sure you put it on a cookie sheet (I'm not sure if the recipe tells you to do that, but do it!) or you'll have big mess to clean up. It looks a bit shorter than usual, but that might just be my modifications.

Let it sit for about ten minutes so it doesn't totally fall apart when you cut it. If I used more cheese, it probably would have stayed together better. Also, I couldn't get it off the bottom of the spring form pan - it was too heavy and would have crumbled everywhere. So, I just cut it carefully on the bottom piece. It survived.

Oh, and note to self: cut the top tortilla slightly larger than the pan to compensate for the shrinkage.

Trying to keep the falling-apartness to a minumum. It sure looks yummy!

So, there you have it, a wedge of tortilla pie. Can you see what I forgot to add? Which is why it was short?!?!