$5 Dinner: Black Bean and Corn Wraps

These corn and black bean wraps are a real hit with my family.  Sorry, I forgot to take pictures while I was cooking these last time, so you’ll have to just use your imagination!

Black Bean and Corn Wraps
(Based on a recent recipe from ALL YOU magazine, but I’ve made my own changes.)

The prices listed below are what I typically pay per the amount needed for the recipe.  Depending on your location, your prices may vary.

Serves 3

Ingredients:
1 14.5 oz can whole kernel corn, no sugar added, drained (frozen corn works well too)- 50 cents, on sale
1 14.5 oz can of black beans drained and rinsed (Sometimes I use two cans just to stretch the meal a bit farther, like if we’re having company for dinner or extra hungry.)- 60 cents, on sale
1 small onion, chopped- 40 cents
1 cup halved grape tomatoes- $1
Cilantro, to taste, chopped (I typically use about 3 tablespoons of fresh cilantro- about a quarter of a medium size bunch from the grocery store.)- 15 cents
Juice from one lime- 25 cents  (Bottled lime juice works just fine too!)
1-2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 ounces bar pepper-jack cheese, thinly sliced (40 cents on sale)
3 wraps, large tortillas, or flatbreads (I use lavash bread from Trader Joe’s which costs $1.10 for the half-pack used for this meal.)  If your wraps are on the smaller side, you may find you’ll have leftover filling or want to use additional wraps.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Wrap tortillas or flatbread in aluminum foil.  Place directly on rack in oven.  Let warm for 10 minutes.

In a large skillet, heat oil on medium-high heat.

Add onions.  Saute for 3 minutes.

Add tomatoes to skillet.  Saute for an additional 2 minutes.

Reduce heat to medium.  Mix in corn, cilantro and black beans.  Heat for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add lime juice.  Heat for 2 more minutes.

While skillet mix is heating the final 2 minutes, remove wraps from oven.  Unwrap carefully as foil will be hot.  Place one wrap on each plate.  Divide cheese three ways, and lay slices in the center of each wrap in a single layer.

After skillet mix is heated, spoon onto each wrap evenly.

Fold the wraps.  First fold up the bottom end of the bread, then fold in the two sides.  To complete, fold down the top end.

I typically serve these wraps with some rice (40 cents) and some fresh in-season fruit ($1).

Final cost of meal, including suggested side dishes:  $5.80

Something to note:  My family eats very little meat, so most of the recipes I share here don’t include any.  If you want to include meat and shop good sales for it, you should be able to add it for just an extra $1 or less, assuming you aren’t making the meat the main attraction, but rather a small addition to the recipe I’ve shared.  (If you want to know more about saving money on meat- and my family’s decision to eat very little of it- click here.)

If you have a frugal meal idea you would like to share with Frugal in Virginia readers, please let me know!