Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Melexican Taco Casserole


My fabulous friend, Melissa, asked me if I would teach her how to cook, and of course, I said yes. One night we were bouncing culinary ideas back and forth and we eventually came up with this recipe. It's SO easy and delicious, just like Miss Melissa. You should try it!



2 lbs. ground beef
1 onion, diced
tiny bit of butter or oil for saute pan
1 large can Manwich sauce
1 small can Mexicorn
1 packet taco seasoning
1 1/2 cups sour cream
1 1/2 cups cottage cheese
shredded cheddar cheese
shredded mozzarella cheese
tortilla chips

Preheat oven to 350.
In a large skillet, saute diced onion in butter or oil over medium heat until softened. Add ground beef and break it up using wooden spoon. Meanwhile, in a small mixing bowl, combine cottage cheese, sour cream and half of taco seasoning packet. set aside. When beef is completely browned, drain off the fat. Add the other half of the taco seasoning packet, Mexicorn and Manwich sauce. stir together making sure there are no browned bits on the bottom of the skillet.

Butter a 9x13x2 glass casserole dish on the bottom and up the sides. Crush a few handfuls of tortilla chips and place them in an even layer covering bottom of casserole dish. Cover chips with half of beef mixture, spreading to the sides forming an even layer. Do the same thing with half of the sour cream mixture, then half of the cheddar cheese and then half of the mozzarella cheese. Repeat all layers using all remaining ingredients. Place in oven and bake about 30 minutes or until bubbly. Let it stand for about 10 minutes allowing it to set up making it easier to cut into squares as one would do with a lasagna. Serve with additional sour cream, taco sauce and salsa. For added crunch, top with additional crushed tortilla chips.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, another low-fat recipe by Joey, I see. You're killin' me, brudder!

Anonymous said...

OMG YUMMMM!!!! I swaped out the beef and used chicken. When I sauted the chicken and onions I also added green n red peppers for some festive color =). I didn't get a chance to pick up the mexicorn so I just took yellow canned corn and added it to the saute pan. I also didn't have manwhich gravy so I substituted bean dip I had. This turned out GREAT! Thx so much Joey!