Emily Weeks, RDN, LD
Happy Sunday, everyone! Today we’re taking a break from Sunday Link Love for a Recipe Redux post! This month’s theme challenged us to make good use of leftovers, or show our readers how we can use leftovers to create new recipes.
Two for One
We’re all about cooking once and eating twice. In short, double dinners are better. Show us how you take a favorite recipe already on your blog – and ReDux the leftovers into a new dish. Or, whip up a new healthy recipe and give suggestions on how to make it a second meal. For example, slow cooker pot roast could become shredded beef tacos; or grilled chicken breasts might morph into chicken salad.
I decided to do a “pantry clean-out” recipe! I sometimes have so many leftover cans of beans, or frozen veggies such as corn or spinach that sit in my pantry or freezer for so long, that I need to use them to make room for other things. Sometimes I buy more canned beans without realized how much I already have in my pantry. I guess it would help if I peeked in to see how many I had before shopping, huh?
For today’s recipe, I took inspiration from one of my new fav cookbooks, Thug Kitchen. They have a recipe for baked flautas that looked amazing! I took their recipe and added some items that needed using up. I had an extra bag of frozen spinach in the freezer, two cans of pinto beans in the pantry, and a bag of pepper jack cheese slices that were approaching their expiration date. Perfect way to use all three!
Here’s the recipe!
- 2 14-oz cans pinto beans (no salt added)
- 1 can (4 oz) mild green chilies
- Juice of 1/2 lime
- 2 tsp chili powder
- 3/4 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp salt (I use Morton's Lite Salt)
- 4 tsp minced garlic
- 1 cup sweet corn kernels
- 1 10-oz package frozen spinach, thawed and drained
- 8 slices of pepper jack cheese, sliced into strips
- 8 light flour tortillas, 6"
- Salsa, sour cream, guacamole, chopped cilantro to garnish
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Coat a large baking sheet with cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, combine the beans, chilies, and lime juice. Mash with a fork or potato masher until paste forms. Add the chili powder, cumin, salt, and garlic.
- Fold in the sweet corn and spinach.
- Warm the tortillas up in the microwave for 10 seconds each, or warm in a large skillet.
- Place a few strips of the pepper jack cheese on the left side of a tortilla, then add 2-3 tablespoons of the filling. Roll the tortilla up tight and place on baking sheet. Continue with the rest of the tortillas.
- Lightly spray the flautas with cooking spray and bake for 10 minutes. Flip over, and bake for another 7 minutes, until brown and crispy.
- Serve with a dollop of sour cream, guacamole and sprinkle with chopped cilantro!
I love Thug Kitchen! These flautas look awesome. I’ve never made them at home before but this gives me the inspiration to do it :) Pinning!
Yes you should definitely try to make them at home. They’re so easy. And Thug Kitchen is such a great book, so many tasty recipes!
I love a good kitchen cleanout meal! Those are the times I get to be my most creative. And sometimes it has wielded the tastiest new staple dishes I start using again and again. :)
Me too! I always forget how much food I already have in the pantry lol!
Emily, these look amazing! *-* I love flautas but haven’t ever tried making em’. I’m gonna have to try these out!!
Thanks Farrah! :) They’re so easy, I hope you try them!
These look and sound so amazing and I love how adaptable they are!
Yes, you really could stuff any ingredient in there you wanted! :)
Baked flautas is SO much healthier than the fried version.. clearly ;) I can’t wait to try this recipe! We love making homemade Mexican food!
Yes, for sure :) Way less oil! Let me know if you end up trying this!
Fabulous! These look great! I’ve never had flautas!
You should try them for sure!
YUM!! Gonna have to make these soon!
Thanks for visiting, let me know if you do try them! :)
i love freezer cleaner meals such as this one…love the baked version of it.
meee too. I love cleaning out the freezer, you never know what you may find haha! :)
Oh, yum! This looks delicious! Definitely need to make this for a Meatless Monday meal!
Yes, for sure :) Even though it’s meatless, it’s full of protein!
I made these tonight and they were a hit! I used fresh spinach instead of frozen because that’s all I had but it still turned out great. My husband didn’t even miss the meat in the meal, they were so filling. I think these will be a regular at my house! Thanks!
Yay I’m so glad that you liked them!! Next time I make them I’m going to totally use fresh spinach!
[…] Sweet Corn & Spinach Baked Flautas (Zen & Spice)- I actually prepared the first part of this recipe in the food processor and then folded in the corn and spinach. We enjoyed it with my guacamole and salsa. This recipe fed both of us for two dinners and me for two lunches. […]
[…] Sweet Corn & Spinach Baked Flautas (Zen & Spice)– Leave out the cheese to make this vegan, or make half without cheese and use a different tortilla color to indicate this. I made this dish at my last dinner party, and my guests requested the recipe. I loved that it required no preparation once my guests had arrived. […]
[…] Sweet Corn & Spinach Baked Flautas (Zen & Spice)– Ok, so I know you’ve seen this recipe a couple times already on the blog, but that’s how much I love it! It’s an easy, inexpensive, delicious AND healthy dish! This recipe will last you a couple days, and makes a great work lunch. I sub pinto beans and add a full 16 oz bag of spinach. P.S.- The photo doesn’t do it justice- I know I need to take a new picture […]