This Baked Enchilada Casserole recipe is an easy, everyday example of how to apply the principles of The Mediterranean Diet into your own home.
Family Friendly Dinner Ideas
A big part of the Mediterranean Diet & Lifestyle is trying to find time to sit down and enjoy meals with others. During the week at my house, this means sitting down for dinner together as a family. No phones, no tv, just good old fashioned chit chat.
One of my goals is to share more realistic, everyday examples of how to fit the Mediterranean Diet principles into your lifestyle. Last month, I shared this Farro Salad as an example.
This month I wanted to share something a bit more family friendly, so this Baked Enchilada Casserole was created.
Making it Mediterranean Diet Inspired
You might be saying to yourself – enchiladas are not mediterranean. No, they aren’t. However, since the Mediterranean diet isn’t a set of rules on what not to eat, I believe anything can become a Mediterranean diet inspired recipe with a few little changes. For example in this recipe, I used –
- Whole wheat tortillas
- Ground turkey in place of ground beef
- Added black beans
- Cut back on the cheese by half
- Topped with tomatoes, olives, scallions, cilantro and avocado to add more flavor, vegetables and heart healthy fats
These definitely aren’t traditional enchiladas by any means, nor is it a traditional mediterranean diet recipe..but who says we have to be traditional?
The Domestic Dietitian
Baked Enchilada Casserole Recipe
The best part about this casserole is that it can easily be customized. For example, my son doesn’t like tomatoes, onions, avocado or cilantro (#pickyeaterchallenges). So I just leave a corner for him without any garnishes on top.
Baked Enchilada Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground turkey
- 8 whole wheat tortillas (soft taco size)
- 1 cup enchilada sauce
- 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 – 1.5 cups shredded cheese monterey jack and/or cheddar
- 1 cup black olives, sliced
- 2 roma tomatoes, diced
- 3 scallions, sliced
- 1 avocado, diced
- 2 tbsp cilantro, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
- In a large skillet, over medium heat, saute the ground turkey until browned and just cooked through, breaking it up into small pieces while cooking. Remove from heat and set aside
- Layer 4 tortillas on the bottom of a 9×13 inch baking dish, it's perfectly fine if the tortillas overlap
- Drizzle 1/2 of the enchilada sauce over the torillas
- Top with 1/2 of the cooked ground turkey, 1/2 of the black beans, and 1/2 of the shredded cheese
- Top with the remaining 4 tortillas and top with remaining 1/2 of enchilada sauce, ground turkey, black beans and shredded cheese
- Cover the pan with foil and bake for 30 minutes.
- Remove the foil and return pan to hte oven for an additional 5-10 minutes, until cheese is all melted
- Remove from oven and top with olives, diced tomatoes, scallions, cilantro and avocado
