Beef and Tortilla Casserole
By: Carrie Long
Published: Saturday, April 2, 2011 - 2:01pm

Ingredients




1 pound Lean ground beef (I use 93/7)
I small onion diced
8 ounces of frozen corn
1 red pepper, diced
1 can of tomatoes and green chilies, drained
1 pound Taco seasoning amount needed for of meat (1 packet or in the case of McCormick ¼ cup)
2 cups of salsa, divided (you can use all of one kind or do like I did use 1 cup tomato and 1 cup 12 corn tortillas
2 cups 2% Colby and Monterey jack cheese (or any cheese blend), divided

Preparation

1 Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 2 In a large skillet, cook and crumble the ground beef on medium-hi heat until browned. Remove to a plate lined with paper towels to drain. A small amount of fat should remain in the pan. If you do not use as lean as ground beef as I do, you may have more so drain it out of the pan until just enough to sauté the vegetables remains. 3 Add the onion and pepper to the pan and sauté about 5 minutes. Add the corn and cook another 5 minutes. 4 Add the tomatoes and green chilies and cook another 2-3 minutes. Add the ground beef back to the pan and add the taco seasoning. Be sure to mix the ingredients well in order to incorporate the seasoning and cook another 5 minutes before removing from the heat and setting aside. 5 Spread one cup of salsa on the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Layer 6 corn tortillas over the salsa. I found it easier to put the two tortillas on each end of the pan before adding the ones in the center to ensure they were evenly spaced. Spread ½ the meat and vegetable mixture over the tortillas. Sprinkle with one cup of the cheese. 6 For the next layer, start with salsa again. At this stage it is easier to dollop the salsa strategically across the pan. Add the final 6 tortillas, then the rest of the meat and top with the remaining cheese. Bake for 20 minutes.

About


You could certainly spice this dish up with the addition of jalapeños to the vegetables and/or higher heats of salsa. I also think ground turkey or shredded chicken would make a great meat substitution and if you are a fan of beans, you could add that as a layer. You can also experiment with a variety of cheeses depending on your preference.