I'm picking out a Thermos for you...

Last night for dinner I made Layered Tortilla Casserole with Guacamole (except I just realized this morning that I forgot the guac-I had a lot going on last night-oops!). The directions/amounts in this recipe aren't exactly descriptive/correct. 

-1 (4 oz-according to the recipe which would require some wacky form of math to get that much from 4 oz, but I needed, and luckily had, a 16 oz) jar tomato salsa (divided use)
-8 flour tortillas (divided use)
-2 (16 oz) cans refried beans
-1 c. shredded soy Monterey Jack cheese (divided use)
-1 ripe avocado 
-1 Tbs. freshly squeezed lime juice
-Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spread a thin layer of salsa in a lightly oiled shallow baking dish. Arrange 4 or the tortillas on top, overlapping as needed.
2. In a bowl, combine refried beans with 1 c. of salsa (SEE?!), stirring to blend well.
3. Spread bean and salsa mixture over tortillas and top with 1/2 c. of the shredded cheese.
4.Arrange remaining 4 tortillas over cheese and top with layer of salsa. Sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup cheese on top. Cover and bake until hot, about 30 minutes.
5. To make the guacamole, halve and pit the avocado, and spoon the flesh into the bowl. Mash the avocado with the lime juice and salt and pepper to taste. Serve with casserole.
Makes 6 servings.

***My notes on this recipe: I'm hoping it was a misprint about the amount of salsa. 1 c.+extra out of a 4 oz jar? When I put the tortillas in the dish (I used my lasagna pan), I put one in each corner, and adjusted from there to cover the bottom. I hadn't worked with soy cheese before, but this stuff (I used Tofurella)was pretty darn good. It grated really easily. I ended up using more than the recipe called for because, well, I had it, and I ran out of salsa (someone had used part of the jar designated for this meal to go with his tamales) before the top layer. On the top layer of tortillas, I sprinkled a little bit of my Day of the Dead Habanero hot sauce (very good Christmas present), put one jalapeno slice on each serving, and sprinkled extra cheese. This was really good, but also very simple. It did lack depth, but as I said, was still good.

Next: Tonight's dinner- Chap Chae