Tamal Azteca – We Love God!

No matter how terrible they may be, the hardships and tragedies of human living that often befall Christians are not the crosses of which Jesus speaks. Such things as a cruel spouse, a rebellious child, a debilitating or terminal illness, the loss of a job, or destruction of a house by a tornado or flood, may strongly test a believer’s faith; but those are not crosses. The cross of a believer is not a mystical or spiritual identification with the cross of Christ or some “crucified life” idea. Such concepts are foreign to the context, and the cross of Christ was yet future when Jesus spoke here. The disciples would hear cross and think only of physical death. A cross is the willing sacrifice of everything one has, including life, for the sake of Christ. It is something that, like the Lord Himself, a believer must take on himself when it is thrust upon him by the unbelieving world because of his relationship to God.

John MacArthur

CATEGORY	CUISINE	TAG	YIELD
Dairy, Vegetables, Meats	Tex-Mex	Casseroles, Cheese, Tex-mex, Vegetables	4	Servings

INGREDIENTS

1		28 oz plum tomatoes
		undrained
1		4 oz roasted green chilis
		chopped undrained
1/2	T	Canola or corn oil
1	c	6 oz white onion finely
		chopped
1		Garlic clove, minced
1	c	Defatted chicken stock
1/2	t	Salt
1/4	c	Chopped cilantro
8		Corn tortillas
1	c	Zucchini, diced
2		10 0z frozen chopt spinach
		thawed thoroughly
		drained
8	oz	Monterey Jack Cheese, grated
1		10 oz frozen corn thawed
1/4	c	Chopped cilantro
4	c	Azteca Sauce

INSTRUCTIONS

AZTECA SAUCE: To make sauce, combine tomatoes and chilies in a  blender
and make a coarse puree. Heat the oil in a skillet over  medium heat.
Add onion and cook until lightly browned. Increase heat  to
medium-high, add garlic and cook 1 minute. Add tomato and chili
mixture and cook, stirring frequently, until reduced and thickened,
about 8 minutes. Add stock, reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered,
stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes. Stir in salt, remove from heat
and stir in 1/4 cup of cilantro. Makes 4 cups of sauce. CASSEROLE:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread tortillas out on two baking  sheets
coated with vegetable oil spray. Lightly coat tops of  tortillas with
vegetable oil spray and place them in preheated oven  for 10 minutes.
Turn over and bake 3 minutes more. Remove from oven  and set aside,
leaving oven on. Steam diced zucchini until just  crisp-tender, about 2
minutes. Remove from steamer and set aside. To  assemble casserole,
lightly coat a 7-by-11 inch baking dish with  vegetable oil spray.
Spread a thin layer of sauce evenly over the  bottom. Cover sauce with
2 toasted tortillas. Evenly spread the  chopped spinich over the top of
the tortillas. Top with one-fourth of  the remaining sauce and
one-fourth of the cheese. Place 2 more  tortillas over the top and
press down. Spread the corn on top and  cover with one-third of the
remaining sauce and one-third of the  remaining cheese. Top with 2 more
tortillas, again pressing down. Top  with zucchini, one-half the
remaining sauce and one-half the  remaining cheese. Top with the 2
remaining tortillas and press down.  Spread remaining sauce evenly over
the top and sprinkle on remaining  cheese. Cover tightly with foil and
place in preheated oven for 25  minutes. Uncover and bake about 10
minutes more, or until lightly  browned. To serve, sprinkle 1/4 cup of
chopped cilantro over the top.  From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster
collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini

A Message from our Provider:

“Jesus Christ! The answer is on everyone’s lips”

Nutrition (calculated from recipe ingredients) ---------------------------------------------- Calories: 369 Calories From Fat: 182 Total Fat: 20.8g Cholesterol: 50.5mg Sodium: 783.1mg Potassium: 405.4mg Carbohydrates: 28.7g Fiber: 5.2g Sugar: 1.3g Protein: 19.6g