Recipe of the Week - Taco Casserole

Anyone who knows me can tell you that I'm a bit of a Taco Bell junkie.  I really can't get enough of it.  So, obviously, I was very excited when I found a recipe for a healthy taco casserole.  It let me get my Mexican fix without going, spending that much money, or eating too many calories.  Like last week, my husband seemed to love it, and it made enough that we had leftovers for at least two more meals.  If you're only cooking for a couple people, and you do not want a lot of leftover, you might want to shorten up my recipe a bit.  It's really not that tricky of a recipe, and I got to try some new things with it.  Here's what you need:

1 lb of lean ground beef
1 tbsp of olive oil
1 can of black beans
1 cup of salsa
minced garlic
taco seasoning
shredded cheese
tortilla chips

I know a lot of those ingredients didn't have measurements with them, and that's because I just used as much as I wanted to get the taste I desired.  My mom always taught me that for the most part, you don't really need to measure much while cooking.  

Here's what I did.  Before you get started on the stove top, preheat the oven to 350.  Then, I heated the olive oil in a skillet, and then I added the garlic to sautee it for a couple minutes.  Then add your beef and cook until it's brown.  I had honestly never considered adding garlic to my Mexican food, and I'm sad that I've been missing out all of these years.  It gave it such an amazing flavor, so I would really advise against leaving out the garlic.  After the meat is browned, add as much taco seasoning as you would like, as well as the black beans and salsa.  Mix them all well.  

While that is heating and thickening for a few minutes, prepare a casserole dish by placing tortilla chips on the bottom and pressing down to break them up.

Once you have an even layer, pour the mixture from the skillet over it.  Then, add a few crusched chips to the top (or skip this step), and finally sprinkle your shredded cheese in an even layer on the top.  Place the dish in the over and bake for about 10-15 minutes.  You want the cheese to be melted and bubbly.

After it's finished, feel free to serve it with some lettuce, tomatoes, or sour cream.  All of that sounds really wonderful to me, but I would have been the only one eating it, so I just opted not to buy it.  I ate this dish on its own.  

Not the best finished picture I could have taken, but I forgot to take a picture while it was still in the pan!  Despite my forgetfulness, this meal was delicious and really easy.  Please go try it for yourself.