Posting hasn't been a priority, although I'm cooking 2-3 times a day, every day as usual. I have gone to the store a couple times in order to get sour cream, and also, coffee! Food storage sour cream is horrible and unless we truly are in dire straights but must have sour cream for some reason, I will gladly go to the store for that one. Other than I think (2???) small grocery trips - once to Sam's and once to Walmart (maybe a 3rd trip in the last almost-six-months... I can't recall) I haven't actually gone grocery shopping since November, 2023. Today is May 9, 2024.
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As I work to use up as much of the glass home canned good as I can, I'm happy to report the last jar of homemade salsa went into tonight's dinner. Speaking of tonight's dinner....
The plan tonight was to use up some of the homemade sausage in the freezer, the last glass jar of homemade salsa, a half round of my favorite queso that I had food sealed and in the fridge as well as some cheddar from the deep freezer that tastes great, but cheddar does get 'crumbly' after frozen. I added to that some refried beans, black olives and was able to empty the last of the homemade taco sauce.
I originally got this recipe when I was 14 years old and was babysitting for a woman who made it and had me bake it for her 3 kids while I was babysitting. I loved it so much I had her write down the recipe for my Mom. She then made it regularly as we all loved it - and I continued making it for my own family once I grew up and married and had kids.
It's a casserole and/or a dip for tortilla chips. You can also put it in a flour tortilla. Since I'm trying to use UP groceries and not BUY ANY... I don't have tortilla chips so we are having it as a casserole - which is my favorite way to eat it anyway!
Mexican Casserole or Dip
1 lb. ground beef browned with 1 small onion, chopped
1 can refried beans
1 c ground and browned sausage
4 c shredded cheddar cheese
1 small can green chilies, chopped
1 - 16 oz. container sour cream
1 jar salsa or taco sauce
*optional - black olives, green olives, sliced
*optional - 1 1/2 c guacamole or avocado dip
Spread the refried beans on the bottom of a sprayed casserole dish for a
meal or if you are using this recipe as a dip, spread it thinly on the
bottom of a larger pan of your choice - (pizza pan, 9X13, anything you
wish!) Brown the ground beef and/or sausage with the onion. Place half
into a greased casserole dish or if you are using for a dip, use all of
it over the refried beans in the larger pan. Sprinkle with half the
cheese. Add the chilies and/or jalapenos, the sour cream, the
salsa/sauce and the rest of the cheese in layers. Top with olives if
you love them!
Bake at 350 for 20 minutes for a thinner pan and bake 45 minutes if you
have a thick casserole dish. When the cheese is melted and it's hot all
the way through, remove and serve as a dip or let set for 5-8 minutes
to 'set up' when serving as a casserole. It may be more runny when hot
straight from the oven and it sets up (like lasagna does) when left to
stand and cool a bit. We can never wait and don't care - we dig right
in!
Here are photos of what I think might be the first (1st) time I posted the recipe on An American Housewife - these were from March of 2011. You can see what it looks like when it's not all mixed up and dished, ready to eat.
