Grieving Cowboy Casserole
Sometimes I have huge blonde moments. This hair color is somewhat natural, so I blame it on my genes. a few years ago when I was still living in Corpus Christi, a friend of mine was telling me he use to work at Churchs so he would also be allowed to bring home fried chicken at the end of the day. I was thinking churchs, like buildings where Christian’s gather to worship the Lord. I was kind of confused but then I thought, “well, every time I go to a funeral, people always bring fried chicken to the family, so I guess that is what he was referring to.” I felt really dumb when he told me that he meant he use to work at Church’s Fried Chicken. That is probably why we don’t talk much anymore.. Ha!
When my grandpa passed on in 2009, my granny from my dad’s side made this casserole that is way too dangerous. I ate about half the casserole that day and I was so miserable for the rest of the day. My granny called it “Grieving Casserole” because she always brought it to people when a family member passed on. The casserole is pretty much like King Ranch Chicken casserole, but with ground beef instead of chicken. This casserole embodies Texas food: tortillas, beef, and Ro-tel.
This recipe is easy and fairly cheap. First, brown a pound of ground beef with diced onions, cumin and salt and pepper to taste.
after you have browned the beef, drain it and put it into a bowl. Mix in a can of cream of mushroom soup and half a can of Ro-tel tomatoes. You can buy any kind of Ro-tel that you like, but I prefer chunky.
Now, we’re almost done and ready to enjoy our cheesy, creamy, Mexican food! Layer a lightly-greased loaf pan with crushed up corn tortilla chips until it covers the bottom of the pan. Then, dump half of the meat mixture on top and then shredded cheddar cheese on top of that. Then, repeat so that now you have 2 layers of each! Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes or until the cheese is warm and bubbly.
You can top this dish with anything that your little heart desires such as shredded lettuce, chopped tomatoes, sour cream, more cheese, green onions, or just eat it plain and easy.
I like to keep a little meat on my bones, so I added a little dollop of sour cream ;)! I hope you enjoy this easy, affordable dish.
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