Mexican Casserole

Ingredients:

1 - 1.5 lbs ground beef or turkey

1 handful fresh black olives

2 cups sour cream (full fat, light or reduced fat, doesn't matter)

2 cups medium or sharp cheddar cheese

1 cup corn and black bean salsa

1.5 cups freshly cooked black beans

1 bag tortilla chips

1 tbsp. chili powder 

1 large tomato or 2 small tomatoes

1/4 cup jalapenos (optional)

Cooking spray

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 350. 

2. Cook the ground beef or turkey. Drain. Stir in corn and black bean salsa and chili powder. Simmer for 5 mins on med/low heat. 

3. Spray the bottom of a glass casserole dish liberally with cooking spray. If you're a die-hard naturalist, feel free to smear the bottom of the pan with butter. Don't think you're going to be creative and use olive oil here. Trust me, it may be nonstick but it makes the casserole taste funny. The size pan you use doesn't matter. I typically use a 4 quart dish, but a 3 quart will work just as well. The smaller the dish, the thicker the mexican casserole will be. 

4. Crush tortilla chips in your hands or put them in a plastic bag and smash them with a kitchen mallet until crumbly (a good job for the kids). You don't want crumbs, just broken chips. 

Crush chips to about this size...

5. Line the bottom of the casserole dish with the chips. Your chip layer should be thick enough to prevent you from seeing the bottom of the pan. 

6. Pour the ground beef mixture into the pan. Spread it out with an icing spoon or spatula until the layer is even. 

7. Add a layer of sour cream over the ground beef and salsa layer. Spread it evenly. 

8. Chop the olives, tomato and jalapenos. Layer these over the sour cream layer. 

9. Shred the cheese. Make this the top layer of the casserole. 

10. Bake the casserole at 350 for 30 minutes or until cheese turns brown around the edges. 

Note: Yes, I know it sounds strange to actually bake sour cream, but it doesn't come out gross, I promise. This dish is even better if you crumble up some additional tortilla chips on top before digging in. And no, this dish isn't low fat. I'm not into low fat. Make it anyway. It's good.