Mexican Lasagna

I made this meal the Friday after Thanksgiving, but I was too busy chasing kiddos (my niece and cousin and cousins-in-law. Not mine. Good Lord, not mine.) to write about it. So I'm writing about it now, instead of doing my homework. I blame Iowa State for my current lack of scholarly enthusiasm. They really shouldn't put a whole week break into the schedule three weeks before finals. They should just start classes earlier and then end at Thanksgiving. That's what I would do if I was the Dean...How am I not in charge of anything? I have so many great ideas.

Meanwhile, back on the topic. Friday my mother- and sister-in-law apparently took a vote that I wasn't invited to and voted for me to be in charge of dinner for everyone.
That's fine. I picked the easiest thing on earth, because I was still in quite the food coma.

I don't know if I have mentioned this on here, but I love Mexican food. American Mexican. Not the authentic kind from Mexico. The kind you get when you mix taco seasoning, hamburger, cheese, and tortillas in any kind of order. And salsa. And guac. And whatever else you like in your Mexican food.

The order that I chose this time was the order that makes it Mexican Lasagna. It's like a taco and lasagna put together. With beef and cheese and onion and cheese and beans and corn and more cheese and CHEESE.
Did I mention it has cheese?
Mmmmm....cheese.
All that stuff in layers separated by flour tortillas.
Yes, ma'am.

I had to make two separate lasagnas - one for the ladies and one for the menfolk. That is what is so great about this "recipe." It's more of a concept than a recipe. You can use whatever you like and leave out whatever you don't like. It's flexible. And tasty. And you'll think so too, because you only use the ingredients you want.

For the men, it was just layers of meat, cheese, and tortillas.
The ladies version also featured black beans and corn. And more cheese.

My wonderful sister-in-law made fresh guac, so I had a heaping helping of that and even put some on top of my lasagna.

I topped my helping(s) with guac, sour cream, more cheese, lettuce, and tomato. It was divine.
I want more now.



Oh, look! A recipe! 

Mexican Lasagna

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
1 package taco seasoning
8 ounces cheese, shredded - cheddar, American, nacho, pepper jack, Monterey, etc
Salsa or Enchilada sauce
8 - 8 inch flour tortillas

Optional Vegetables
Green peppers
Tomato
Onion
Black beans
Corn
Anything you would like in a taco

Optional Toppings
Guacamole
Vegetables (see above)
Lettuce
Sour cream
Salsa
Cilantro
More cheese


Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375F. Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
2. Brown ground beef in a large skillet.
3. Drain ground beef.
4. Add taco seasoning to ground beef. Mix well. Set aside, but keep it warm.
5. Prepared vegetables (optional) by cutting into 1/2 inch cubes.
6. Shred cheese.
7. Spread 1/4 cup of salsa or enchilada sauce in the bottom of the baking dish, making sure that entire surface is covered.
8. Place two tortillas in the bottom of the pan, cover as much surface as possible with as little overlap as possible. Cut to fit if desired, but if it curves up the side of the pan a little, that's ok.
9. Layer in 1/3 of meat, vegetables, and 1/4 of cheese
10. Repeat layer 3 times, ending with another layer of tortilla (tortilla, filling, tortilla, filling, tortilla, filling, tortilla).
11. Cover surface of top tortillas with 1/4 cup of salsa or enchilada sauce and remaining cheese.
12. Bake until cheese has melted through, about 15 minutes.
13. Top as desired.

Devour.
Fall in love.
Devour more.

Beef Bites

Today is a very exciting day for me. I am at a photo shoot for my first professionally developed recipe. As an intern for the NCBA, I have been involved in the recipe development and testing process throughout the summer. A couple weeks ago I was finally given my own recipe baby. The concept is a beef version of the McNugget, but using beef cube steak instead of chicken...whatever-nuggets-are-made-of. This recipe will soon be up on http://www.beefitswhatsfordinner.com/, after testing and nutritional analysis have been completed.

Beef Bites

Ingredients:
1 lb cube steak
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt (optional)
1 tsp pepper
2 whole eggs or 3 egg whites
3 cups crushed potato chips - I recommend ruffle-style chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400F
1. Cut cube steak into 1''x1'' pieces. Set aside.
2. To crush potato chips: put chips in a gallon ziplock bag, leaving a small opening to vent air. Crush using a rolling pin, mallet, or large vodka bottle...whatever you have on hand, to about the size of bread crumbs.
3. In a wide shallow dish, combine flour, salt, and pepper.
4. Put egg and potato chips into seperate wide shallow bowls.
5. Dredge cube steak pieces in flour mix, then egg, then potato chips until fully coated. Place on a greased or parchment lined sheet tray.
6. Bake for 7-10 minutes, until internal temperature reaches 160F.
Pictures will be up soon.