A Recipe...

I am making an old favorite tonight. I got this recipe from a cousin of mine as a shower gift. It is very easy and really good. I am having company and it's the perfect thing to make ahead of time and then pop it into the oven so that you aren't cooking the whole time your guests are over. It is a Mexican dish and it can be adjusted to however spicy you like it. (If you're me, you like it REALLY spicy.) Yep, I get the "extra hot" hot sauce at Chipotle. The hotter the better.

Tex Mex Casserole:

1 1/2 lb. ground beef
onion (however much or little you like)
1 large can enchilada sauce
2 14 oz. cans stewed tomatoes
1 taco seasoning packet
6-8 tortillas
4 oz. package of cream cheese
2 4 oz. cans of diced green chilis
1 cup monterey jack cheese

Brown the hamburger and onion and drain fat. Add the taco seasoning packet. Stir in the stewed tomatoes, echilada sauce, and a little salt and pepper. Boil all, then reduce heat and cover: simmer 10 minutes. Warm tortillas, spread with cream cheese and green chilis. Fold tortillas in half; cut each half-moon into 4 pieces. In a 9X13 pan pour a 1/3 of the meat mixture then spread the tortillas in a layer, and repeat the process (kind of like lasagna.) Bake @350 degrees for 15 min. Sprinkle cheese over the top and return to oven until cheese is melted.

*the way I spice mine up is to add Rotel "extra hot" diced tomatoes and green chilis: substitute a can of this for the stewed tomatoes

I always say, "if it isn't easy I don't cook it" because I think sometimes things that are simple and easy to prepare, taste just as good as the really complicated recipes. Hope you enjoy this one and remember that it isn't what you put on the table for dinner, I don't care if it's peanut butter and jelly, it's who's around the table that counts!