Layered Mexican Pizza

This is a scrumptious recipe that you can really play around with in the kitchen.

We don't have pinto beans
so we improvised with "foul beans"
(pronounced "fool").

You'll need:

• 1/2 a medium sized onion
• 2 (ish) tablespoons of butter
• 1-2 cloves of garlic, pressed
• 1 can refried beans
• 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can pinto beans, drained (really, you can use any combination of these beans... even 3 cans of black beans)
• 1 small can of corn, drained (Let's not get too specific here, use as much or as little corn as you prefer.)
• 1/2 bell pepper
• 3 tomatoes
• 2 cups (ish) of shredded cheese of your choice
• 1 package of taco seasoning (or this recipe)
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro (about a handful unchopped)
• salt (to taste)
• 6 (8 inch) tortillas
• sour cream
• 1-2 avocados, chopped

Now on with it!

1.  Chop your onion and mince or press your garlic (basically you want your garlic to be in the tiniest pieces possible).  Melt the butter in a small skillet over medium-high heat and add the garlic and onion.  Cook until the onion it is done (taste it to test it).

2.  Meanwhile, chop your bell pepper (as small as you like) and tomatoes.  Set them aside.

3.  In a saucepan, mix together beans, corn, peppers, salt, and taco seasoning.  Heat them together until warm.

4.  Stir in the garlic-butter-onion concoction and the cilantro (the cilantro was a last minute addition to ours, so we just sprinkled it on each layer).  

5.  Grease two round 9 inch cake pans.  

Here's a shot of one set of layers.

6. Layer in the pans starting with a tortilla, then bean mixture, then cheese, and lastly, tomatoes.  Finish with a tortilla and cheese on top.  You'll use three tortillas per pan.  So, it'll go like this: tortilla-beans-cheese-tomatoes-tortilla-beans-cheese-tomatoes-tortilla-cheeeeeeeeese (we like cheese).

7.  Repeat with the second pan.

8.  Bake at 350 F for 15-20 minutes until lightly browned on top and the cheese is all delicious looking.

9.  Top with sour cream and chopped avocado pieces, cut into slices (we used a pizza cutter, naturally), and eat!

What's nice about this recipe is that you can easily make it your own.  Add or take out whatever you prefer!  Try some lettuce, chives, salsa, etc., and tell us how you made yours!