It's Back!
Yes, that's right. After a brief hiatus, Grandpa Gotta Cook is back and on HIVE.
And, even more importantly for everyone else who gotta cook, 
This is the first week of the renewed contest, so I hope everyone has something food related to share to kick off triple-Fs new home in style.
I mean, someone's going to have to make up for the mess I'm about to create.
And on that note...
Easy Mexican Casserole
Sometimes, you just want something different.
Or maybe, you want to do something you know, but in a different way. Same old same old gets boring after a while, even if you really like it and it brings you some semblance of comfort in an otherwise troubled world.
Well, if you like Mexican food, even what I like to refer to as Americanized Mexican, I think I have a suggestion for an evening meal that you and yours might enjoy.
Simple Recipe
One of the main things I constantly struggle with when it comes to cooking is time management. Tasks that are only supposed to take a short while end up ballooning into two or three times as long. With this Easy Mexican Casserole, somehow, I was able to stay on time.
Part of it is, there's not a whole lot of preparation that you need to do before you do something else, and I could do some of it while something else was cooking.
As you can see from the image above, the ingredients were fairly simple:
- 2 cups of salsa
- Can of beans (the recipe called for chili beans—I figured that could be kidney)
- 2 ounces of sliced olives
- 1/2 cup of chopped onion
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh tomato
- 2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
- 2 cups sour cream
Also a part of the recipe to be pictured later:
- 1 pound of ground beef
- 3 cups of crushed tortilla chips
I've been trying lately to come up with recipes based on what we actually might have in the house. In this case, I largely succeeded. I did have to substitute a Mexican blend of cheese for the cheddar (which seemed appropriate, given what I was making, although I honestly think the cheddar cheese would have upped the taste even more). I also didn't strictly measure things. I like olives, but green onion not so much. So, I adjusted accordingly.
Cook The Meat And Chop The Veggies
As is typical with recipes involving some kind of meat, I needed to get the ground beef going first. In it went to a pan on medium heat while I turned some of my attention to getting the tomatoes, onions and olives chopped.
I say some, because, of course, I was turning back to the meat to make sure it was browning all the way through. However, by the time it was ready for the next step, I essentially had the vegetables ready to go.
Pour In The Salsa
I'm not a big fan of canned salsa, but the salsa making expert of our household (my wife) was at work. Since we had a couple of small cans of salsa verde, I went with them. The recipe doesn't specify what kind of salsa, so I would say, you can get creative. I think even a chunky salsa would work, especially if you incorporated the tomatoes you were chopping up anyway into it. Otherwise, some kind of blended salsa would be best.
The idea with the salsa was to let it simmer into the meat for about 20 minutes.
Next Comes The Beans
Twenty minutes was more than enough time to get other things ready. Since this is a casserole, ultimately, there was some baking to do, so I was able to get that going while the simmering took place. I'll loop that part in below.
In the meantime, once the simmering was done, the kidney beans went in. There wasn't a time for this, just until the beans were cooked through. I don't think I spent anymore than 10 minutes on that.
Prepare Baking Dish
For me, this is where things start to go from good to really good.
The recipe calls for a 9 x 13 baking dish. I have no idea if that's what I ended up with because I couldn't find the measurements on the bottom like they used to put there. So, short of hauling out a ruler or tape measure, I guessed. I think I came pretty close.
Next was spraying the bottom of the pan with a cooking spray. The reason for that was (this is the really good part), crushed tortilla chips go on the bottom of this casserole. Instead of having them fuse to the dish, I guess. Thus, I sprayed and I crushed tortilla chips.
After that, the mixture of ground beef, salsa and beans were ready, so I loaded that up on top of the chips.
The Really, Really Good Stuff
The next layer, as far as I'm concerned, is what makes this meal. Sour cream, olives, tomatoes, onions and cheese. I think I got liberal with the sour cream and the cheese. I think I actually could have been more liberal with it, especially the sour cream.
Once that was in the dish, into the preheated oven (350 degrees F) it all went. Baking time was 30 minutes, or until hot and bubbly.
It Never Got Bubbly
I think I ended up calling it at 25 minutes, since the cheese was melted and there wasn't much else that needed to really cook.
I think my hunger level also played into it, which was not helped by the wondrous odor of deliciousness that had been wafting from the oven over those 25 minutes.
The last thing I did was throw together a salad, just to add some greens to it. I don't know that it was particularly needed, but I give it to you as an option.
Testing Of The Taste
I really enjoyed this. The combination of flavors (tomatoes, salsa, sour cream and cheese), a creamy texture versus the crunchy chips—everything seemed to play off one another extremely well.
I had to go back for seconds, and would have honestly eaten more if there weren't three other people to stop me.
The rest of the family did not seem nearly as enthusiastic as I was. I was told it was good, but I can tell when they really enjoy the food. This wasn't one of those times.
Oh, Well
Sometimes, all you can do is please yourself. Since they all ate their share and none of it was tossed away, I will chalk it up as a win. As far as I'm concerned, you take your culinary victories where you can.
Even if it is with a simple but very pleasingly flavorful meal like Easy Mexican Casserole.
I need to make this again.
Soon.
Until then, though...
...Enjoy!
All images courtesy of Glen Anthony Albrethsen
This edition of Grandpa Gotta Cook is once again published in conjunction with the friendly folks behind Food Fight Friday. All are welcome to participate. If interested, simply write a post about food, drop it on a Friday, and make sure to use the #fff tag. Then it would be good to go and take a peek at the fare of other participants because we all get to choose who wins the contest for that week. Sound cool? Cool!