Mama’s Taco Casserole
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I have longed to bring you this casserole ever since I started Southern Plate. Longed. Yearned. Ached. Why haven’t I? Because of two reasons:
1. It’s kinda ugly
2. The ingredients are weird. In fact, there is one really odd ingredient (in my opinion) but don’t worry, no one will have a clue that its in there, they’ll just wonder how you got your casserole so incredibly flavorful and good!
So this one is gonna require a lot of trust on your part but I wanna tell you up front that if it wasn’t something I craved, if it wasn’t something that set my stomach to growling and mouth to watering just thinking about it, if it wasn’t something that everyone in my family ran to the table for when I served it, and if it wasn’t something that I still-to-this-day beg my Mama to make for me when we go over there to eat – I wouldn’t be bringing it to you.
So I’m asking you to trust me on this one because I wouldn’t steer you wrong, honest. You can even make it tonight and store it all covered up in your fridge to bake for supper tomorrow. Leftovers reheat well also, so you could make double. I hope you’ll go out on a limb with me here, you won’t be disappointed and you might just end up with a new potluck favorite that is the one recipe no one can figure out.
And now onto the rambling part of my post. Ya know, my trademark Christy-goes-off-on-something-having-nothing-at-all-to-do-with-food thing.
Today’s topic: Biblical Environmental Awareness & Silliness.
When I picked Katy up from school yesterday I heard some news that will thrill proponents of the environment (that sounds odd though, as I’m sure anyone who has to live in the environment are proponents of it to an extent). As it turns out, Jesus is going green. See the following conversation:
“Katy, what was your story at school about today?”
~blank look from Katy and then..~
“Huh? Oh, Jesus Recycles”
“Jesus Recycles?”
“Yeah…”
I looked into her backpack and pulled out a piece of paper that explained it to me. A story about “Jesus’ Disciples”. *see important note at bottom of post if you know Katy.
Which brings me to ask, have you had your silliness today? Life is far too serious on it’s own, so rather than spending our efforts making it more so, I like to throw off the balance and put my energies into injecting silliness at every possible moment. Having little ones often provides needed doses naturally but I’ve found my recommended daily allowances exceed even that and so I have to supplement with my awe-inspiring natural silliness abilities.
Oh I know some folks aren’t naturally silly but if you are a non-silly, you can attach yourself to a true-silly and have a much more lively life. I often tell my husband how lucky he is to have married me based on these grounds alone.
My preaching moment today is that you need silliness. You. Yes you. I can see you looking at your screen in confusion wondering if I could possibly be talking to you and I Want you to know that I most definitely am. You need more laughter and you need more smiles. I don’t care how many you have, you need more and you deserve more. Break out into opera at the dinner table, dance through your house as you go on a dirty laundry scavenger hunt (if its anything like mine!), pour a big old glass of iced water over the shower curtain when your beloved isn’t paying attention (this one always gives me a good giggle). Whatever you can come up with, you just need a way to break up the seriousness a bit. You need something that will cause you to toss back your head, open up your mouth, and LAUGH!
Or you might need to sing a song about yodeling veterinarians…sideways.
(Remember, I don’t sing well, I sing loud)
Yeah, that was fun. We were in the middle of a seven hour drive home and things needed livening up a bit. Did you see how Iron Man got into the song? Quite the dancer, that one.Why is it sideways? Because of an intricate setting in my iPhone that decided it should be. Other than that, I have no idea. Note: Best if viewed on a laptop…turned sideways.
Alright, that one was short and sweet, be grateful that I’m sleep deprived or you’d still be sitting in church with me.
As it is, I’m gonna move on to the eatin’ part now.
Alright so now to the cooking part of thangs…
You’re gonna need: BBQ Sauce (This is the weird ingredient but trust me on this), instant mashed potato flakes (hang in there, I’m not making mashed potatoes out of them honest), taco seasoning, milk, re-fried beans, butter or margarine, and ground beef.
Course, My ground beef has already been browned and was sitting in the freezer happily waiting on me so if you’re isn’t, give it a good cookin’ up and then start from there.
Have you noticed how some taco seasoning mixes taste drastically different from others? My favorite brand is Taco Bell brand but I’ll pretty much use anything other than Ortega because I just really don’t like the taste of it. Most likely this means Ortega is the most authentic tasting one of course..
I ain’t got the sense the good Lord gave a turnip – and I’m SO GLAD, too!
Melt your margarine in a large skillet
You really should wait on it to melt but that takes too long for me..
~smiles prettily~
Pour in your milk.
Add in a bit of your taco seasoning (of course the measurements are below)
Stir that up really well.
Now pour in your potato flakes
Stirry stirry
And press this into the bottom of an 8×8 baking dish or a 9 inch pie plate.
Press it all in the bottom and just a wee bit up the sides some. This is your crust.
Now, in the same skillet (you don’t even need to wash it out first), place your ground beef, refried beans, remaining taco seasoning, and bbq sauce.
My refried beans are kinda on the chunky side so this casserole might look a little different if you get refried beans that are smoother
(fewer full beans in them).
Add in your water
Cook that over medium heat while stirring, until thick and bubbly.
Again, depending on what brand of re-fried beans you use this may look a lot less chunky.
Spread the filling over your crust and bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes.
I am so hungry right now I could takea bite out of this laptop.
Serve with your favorite taco toppings! This reheats beautifully so I like to make a double batch :).
You know, you could also make two 8×8 pans and surprise a friend or neighbor with supper, too.
Ingredients
- 1/4 C Margarine
- 1 pkg taco seasoning
- 1 lb ground beef cooked and drained
- 15 ounce can refried beans
- 1/4 Cup water
- 1/2 Cup BBQ Sauce
- 1/2 Cup Milk
- 2 Cups instant mashed potato flakes
Instructions
- Melt margarine in saucepan. Add milk and 2 Tablespoons taco seasoning mix. Remove from heat and stir in potato flakes. Press mixture into bottom and slightly up the sides of an 8x8 inch baking dish. In skillet, place ground beef, re-fried beans, bbq sauce, water, and remaining taco mix. Cook and stir until bubbly. Turn into prepared crust. Bake uncovered at 350 for thirty to thirty five minutes.
- Serve with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, sour cream - whatever cranks yer tractor.
Nutrition
Mix a little foolishness with your serious plans-
it’s lovely to be silly at the right moment.
~Horace. Submit your quote here!
*If you know Katy Rose, please don’t mention this to her. She doesn’t take too kindly to being thought cute these days. I’m sure we’ll work through this with continued torture from her brother and humiliation from her singing parents. We’ll at least move her on to a new and improved psychosis.
What are families for?
This is my kind of food! My family can be sooo picky. Do you think it would be alright to leave off the toppings and just add some cheddar cheese and bake until melted? My family would eat that…just not the lettuce, tomatoes, etc. They don’t know what they are missing. Thanks for sharing!
i think that cumino is just cumin, that other spice besides the powdered chii that is in blend of “chili powder”. (someone above posted) it’s what makes it taste good but ya probably don’t want too much of it.
it is good to make your own not ony for the $ saving but lots of those mixes have too much salt or too much of something you don’t like. our town has a food co-op where u can buy just a tiny amt. of any spices/herbs & they’re really fresh in big jars u scoop & weigh.
good job Christy!
I was going to set up a weekly menu planner for my family . . . but then I realized that all I had to do was to check your emails/website. Thanks for all your help!
I stopped buying packets of Taco Seasoning and got this 24 ounce container from Sam’s Club. My area sells Ortega brand. I noticed there were other brands at different stores.
Ole!
Ok, this sounds really good but I am confused a little. In the 2nd pic, where the butter is melting, why does it look green?? It still looks green after adding the milk in the 3rd pic also. I even went back and re-read the ingredients thinking maybe it was green chilies. Am i losing it or what???
It’s yellow on my screen….maybe it’s your computer?
Thank you Peggy, that never occurred to me.
I’ve so glad I found you dear friend thanks for the silliness it’s refreshing to giggle –been a trying two days! I have not tried mashed potato crust ever — can one believe that after being marrried 29 years and a cook — I’ve missed out I think but I’ll be change that in the near future!
I am sure this is quite yummy and will have to try it soon.
On the silly note, I have three young kids so silliness is an important aspect of our family life too. One of my favorite songs my three year old sings: “The rain came down and the ‘bloods’ came up and the house on the sand went SMASH!”. Even though I’ve tried to give her visuals and explain that the floods came up, she still sings bloods because she knows it’s just so silly.
I thoroughly enjoy your blog, especially those wonderful non-food oriented tangents. They make my day! Though, the food is yummy too!
Blessings!
It looks wonderfully tasty to me! I’d probably do a masa crust, but then again I love potatoes… it’s a toss up!