Meal: taco pie
Cooking time: about half an hour prep, 25 minutes baking
Cost per serving: about $2
Local ingredients: beef
Organic ingredients: flour
Leftovers: two lunch servings

Everyone has their own version of taco pie, Mexican lasagne, or whatever you want to call it, and our standard version is as simple as it gets: Cook up 1 pound of ground beef. Make up a batch of tortillas. Shred some cheese. Layer it all together, along with enchilada sauce (you can either take tomato sauce and heat it with a little water and taco seasoning, or you can cheat and use the jarred stuff. This is one of the few things we still cheat on.) Throw it all in the oven for 20 to 25 minutes at 350 degrees, until the cheese is melted and starting to brown just a touch.

The variations on this are, of course, endless, starting with the kind of cheese you use (we used a mixture of Monterey jack and cheddar), adding beans (unfortunately, I don’t like beans), changing the type of protein (chicken, TVP, or tofu would work just as well), using corn tortillas if you have them on hand, adding vegetables… whatever suits you. This also makes ahead well, and reheats well.