Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Everyday fast bean, bacon and red potatoes casserole

This was a staple for the kids growing up, easy, one pot, yummy and fast!
Ingredients:
small red potatoes
fresh green beans
1 lb bacon
1 medium onion
1 lb mushrooms

Cut up the bacon into about 1 inch pieces, fry in a large pot. When crispy, take out the bacon with a slotted spoon and discard the grease reserving about 2 TB of it in the pan. Add the mushrooms and onion and saute. Add the cleaned and clipped beans and the potatoes cut into small pieces. Add 2/3 cup water and and cover. Cook on medium high until all the water is absorbed and then let it sear for just a little bit until it gets lightly browned. Add the crisped bacon, salt and pepper to taste and whala, dinner is ready!

If you have less beans, only use half the lb. of bacon. If you are feeding a crowd, like my five kids back in the day, you would have like 6 cups of beans, a whole small sack of red potatoes and the whole pound. Just make sure you do the searing at the end! Makes all the difference.

Mexican casserole per Ben's request

This is an everyday fast recipe that is yummy, easy and fast.

Ingredients
12 flour tortillas,
green salsa verde or regular salsa medium size bottle, your favorite kind
1 lb. hamburger or ground turkey
1 onion
1 red peppper or green pepper chopped (if you have one)
1 can refried beans
medium cheddar cheese
-you can add a can of chopped green chiles too if you want, or any other hot things if you want it hot, like jalapeno peppers instead of green.

Cut through all the tortillas stacked on top of each other into 1 inch squares. Set aside. Chop the onion and pepper. Saute in a large pot on the stove in a little olive oil the onion and pepper, then add the ground beef or turkey and cook till cooked through. Add refried beans and mix in, then add the salsa and stir. Sprinkle in the tortillas a handful at a time mixing and folding them until they all get covered. Add more salsa as needed to keep it moist. Taste it and add more salsa as needed. Then add about two cups of cheese reserving a little for the top. Mix in. Scoop into a flat casserole dish and put cheese on top and bake in the oven for about 20-30 minutes at 350.