Adaptable Mexican Casserole
Tortilla chips
1lb ground meat
2 cups salsa
1 can of beans (drained and rinsed)
Veggie mix-ins (see below)
2 cups of sour cream
Veggie toppings (see below)
Shredded cheese
1. Crush a layer of tortilla chips on the bottom of a 13x9 casserole dish. (Good job for the kiddos- and easy snaking for them as well.)
2. Cook ground meat. After meat is cooked add salsa and beans. At this point, I throw in whatever veggies I have around that sound good- onions (I add when cooking meat), bell peppers (I add when cooking meat), corn, spinach, shredded carrots, etc. When cooked through, layer meat mixture on top of crushed tortilla chips. (My two year old, Finnan, has also started to help me chop. He can't get very far with the dinner knife I give him, but he enjoys being part of the process and will pop a few veggies in his mouth in the process.)
3. Layer sour cream on top of meat mixture.
4. Layer fresh veggies- I use tomatoes and green onions (if I have them).
5. Top with cheese.
6. Cook in the oven at 350 for 30 minutes.
You can make this dish as basic or complex as you want and as healthy or unhealthy as you want. And Natali's guacamole would make the perfect dip for the pre-meal tortilla snackers!
I made this last night and it was awesome! I am looking forward to the leftovers tonight. Jarrett and I both really liked it, and Elsa ate a decent portion for lunch this afternoon without much complaint (she was not fond of the texture of the fresh tomatoes and orange bell pepper I used).
ReplyDeleteI used ground turkey and added a packet of taco seasoning to the meat/onion/bell pepper mixture (Jarrett then doctored the seasoning a little more, though I'm not sure exactly what he added). I added some spinach, a grated carrot, and some frozen corn, and put fresh chopped tomatoes and scallions under the grated sharp cheddar on top. Yummy!
This is sure to become a staple meal in this family. It's easy to make, and I had most of the ingredients on hand.
Right after I dumped the 2 cups sour cream into the casserole, I remembered that Lucas does not like sour cream! I left him to eat with Daddy and when I went downstairs to teach class, he was just smushing and pushing the food around in his bowl, happily. But when I came up after class, I saw that he had eaten 2/3 of his portion and he just now requested the rest in his bath. So it's a winner!
ReplyDeleteI loved it too! I used zucchini, chopped fresh spinach and portabella mushroom cap for the veggies, tomatoes and chives for the topping veggies. The sour cream really added to it.
I labeled it Finnan's favorite meal which got Lucas excited about it. Now I'll have to call the chicken pot pie Finnan's other favorite meal.
Thanks Alison. I'm going to get seconds...
This casserole became even MORE adaptable when I made it to adhere to my current gluten-/dairy-/soy-/egg-free diet. I used the goat milk yogurt I made here at the house in place of the sour cream and used goat milk aged cheddar for the cheese. It was just as delicious -- if not even more so -- as the first time I made it!
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