Tater Tot Casserole With Zip

I have been remiss in posting on this fabulous food blog because I've just been so darn busy lately. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of this dish, because by the time I was going to take a picture it was all gone. So, I guess you'll just have to make it and see it for yourself. This is super fast and easy to make, but when you pull this out of the oven you'd better grab some quick because if you turn around it's going to be gobbled up!

Tater Tot Casserole With Zip
1 lb. ground beef
1 teaspoon seasoned salt
1 14oz can cut green beans
2 cans Campbells Fiesta Cheese Soup
1 package frozen tater tots

In a skillet brown ground beef. Add seasoned salt and mix well. Add green beans and soup. Spray a 13 x 9 dish with cooking spray and add beef mixture. Top with frozen tater tots. Bake for 35 minutes at 400°, or until tater tots are nice and crisp.

Enjoy!

Sausage, Sauerkraut, and Noodle Bake

I told Annie I would post some recipes from when I was "being good" on a diet. This is one of my favorites. Of course, low fat sausage does not taste quite as tasty as regular sausage, but it beats carrots and celery with a stick!

Sausage, Sauerkraut, and Noodle Bake

1 16 oz package of low fat cooked smoked sausage or kielbasa, cooled and sliced
2 cups of cooked noodles, rinsed and drained
1 16 oz can of sauerkraut, drained
1 can of Cream of Mushroom soup (Healthy Request or 98% fat free)
1 small can of mushrooms, drained
A dash of black pepper
A dash of paprika (I know! Finally! You know, it's not like we could have put it in an Apple Pancake....)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together the sausage, noodle, and sauerkraut in a bowl. Add mushroom soup and black pepper. Mix well. Pour into an 8x8 covered casserole dish sprayed with cooking spray. Cover. Bake for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake for 15 more minutes.

Ramen Noodle Beef Toss

Since Annie brought up Church in her last post, I thought I would take the opportunity to mention I am Catholic. Why is that significant? Because I need to confess: I got this recipe from a Church cookbook from when I was a kid, and I tweaked it a bit to my family's liking. (Yeah, if you think I am cheating Annie, I understand if you want to delete this, but I will move it to my blog. This recipe turns out to good not to share.) It kind of remind me of Jop Chae (Korean beef lomein).
Ramen Noodle Beef Toss
1 lb. lean ground beef
2 T soy sauce
2 pkg. Instant Ramen noodles (Oriental Flavor works best, but I couldn't find a stock photo of it)
2 c. of frozen Asian vegetable mixture
1/8 teaspoon of ground ginger
2 c. of water
2 T. of sliced green onion

Brown beef over medium heat in a nonstick skillet sprayed with cooking spray. This should take about 8 to 10 minutes. Remove the beef from the skillet after the meat is browned into a large bowl. Mix the soy sauce and one of the seasoning packets from the Ramen into the ground meat. In the same skillet, combine water, vegetables, noodles (broken into several pieces), ginger, and the left over seasoning packet. Bring it to a boil, then reduce heat. Simmer for 3 minutes, or until noodles are tender, stirring occasionally. Return beef to skillet, and heat thoroughly. Stir in green onion before serving.

Annie's Mexican Casserole

My husband grew up in a Mennonite family. If you know anything about Mennonites it's that the women can cook and throw one heck of a potluck. When I was growing up, during the summers my oldest brother worked on a grass seed farm owned by Mennonites. I loved to visit them and I had the awesome pleasure of attending one such potluck. Those women could make a mean casserole and marionberry pie.

Imagine my delight when I threw together this little casserole and after a few bites, Jon looked at his son and said, "I just had a flashback of sitting at the dinner table and eating something my mom made. This tastes just like it." That is a big compliment, to have my cooking compared to that of Jon's mother. So, of course, I wanted to share this easy to make dish with all of you.

Annie's Mexican Casserole

1/2 lb. lean ground beef
1/2 lb. ground pork
1 small white onion, chopped
1 medium zucchini, diced
1 medium squash, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes
1 19 oz. can black beans, drained
1 1/2 cups corn, frozen or fresh
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
15 corn tortillas, quartered
1 large can mild green enchilada sauce (you can also use red enchilada sauce)
1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

In a skillet, brown beef, pork, onion and garlic. Add zucchini, squash, tomatoes, black beans, corn, cumin, chili powder and salt. Mix well and let simmer, covered for 5 minutes.


In the bottom of a greased 13" x 9" casserole dish, spread 1/2 of the tortillas.


Then top with 1/2 of the meat and vegetable mixture.


Next, pour 1/2 of the enchilada sauce over meat mixture and top with 1/2 of the cheese. Repeat, layering the rest of the ingredients.



Cover with foil and bake at 400° for 15 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 10 minutes until the casserole is bubbling around the edges.

**Variations**

Vegetarian - Omit ground beef and pork and add a can of pinto beans.

Lo-Carb - Use lo-carb tortillas such as Mission Brand.