Maxine's Mexican casserole

A few weeks ago, I heard about Maxine, a cow that escaped slaughter in Queens, New York, and made news because she was found running through the streets of the city. Fortunately, this cow's story had a happy ending- she was captured by animal control, and sent to live out her days in Farm Sanctuary. Like the other animals there, many of whom have similarly escaped slaughter, she reminds us that animals are sentient creatures and have a strong will to live. They don't want to die, period.

Since VeganMoFo in a lot of ways is about getting back to basics, I want to make sure I visit the "why vegan" issue. Veganism is great for health, great for the budget, great for the environment, great for learning to cook, hell, it's even done wonders for my skin. But the real reason that I went vegan is because of animals like Maxine. One look in any animal's eye, one day spent with any animal, is enough proof that they don't want to be your dinner. They don't care if they're grass-fed, open-pasture, super duper happy humanely raised animals. They still don't want to be your dinner.

Today I saw this video about Maxine on the Luminous Vegans blog. It literally made me cry. This is the reason for going veg. This is the reason for VeganMoFo.



Of course because it's VeganMoFo, I will tie this back to food. Here's a dish that could easily have beef in it. But it can just as easily have no beef (or dairy, or any other animal products) in it. The taste is there, the texture, the nutrition, the looks. Why eat beef when you just plain don't have to?

Maxine's Mexican Casserole

serves 4 (I am not going to give a recipe with exact measurements, because this is flexible and actually a great way to use up what you have or what you prefer, so just mix it up as you see fit)

Take:

• a bunch of corn tortillas (even better if they're stale, because smothering and baking them makes them delicious)
• some leftover tomato sauce or enchilada sauce or any red sauce. or green sauce. just sauce, ok? (we used leftover pasta sauce, the flavor was just fine)
  
• a bunch of black beans, or whatever beans you have in your kitchen
• a bunch of tofu, tofu feta, tofu ricotta, or whatever seasoned tofu crumbles you have
• some lightly steamed kale (or any greens, perhaps leftovers from last night's dinner?)
• some chopped onions or scallions
• other assorted goodies- we used pickled jalapenos, but you can use olives, corn, whatever sounds good for some added crunch and flavor
  
• some hot sauce and/or chili paste
• some seasonings- we used cumin, coriander, oregano, black pepper, chili powder, and dried jalapeno pieces

Then get to work layering them in a small, deep casserole dish while your oven pre-heats to 375 degrees. (Our dish was about 6 or 7 inches in diameter and 4 inches deep)
Start with the tortillas, then layer in beans, sauce, and greens to your liking. We made about 4 generous layers. Top your final layer with remaining tortillas, a bit of sauce, and some chunks of your tofu cheese.
Bake for about 45 minutes, covered with aluminum foil. Take the foil off for the last 5-10 minutes to the the top nice and crunchy.
Serve topped with tofu sour cream or whatever you like.
Eat, and raise your glass in honor of Maxine and all of her brothers and sisters who weren't as lucky.

P.S. I'm working on downloading and sorting NYC photos - I'll post about my trip soon, I promise!

Maxine's Mexican casserole