Enchilada Casserole

Ok, this one is NOT healthy or diet friendly, but it is good and one my family enjoys. Some of the ingredients change based on what I have to hand and if I've thought about it far enough in advance to have made some of the other options.. (sometimes we will add sliced olives, or left over rice or shredded chicken, or make a proper cheese sauce instead of one from a can, but sometimes, we just go with it... ) This is a go with it night. We will be serving with a big cabbage salad with this tonight so as not to completely clog our arteries all in one go. A nice spanish/mexicali rice would also go well with this. One of these days I will need to work out a gluten free sopapilla recipe or something to go with this as well.

1 lb ground beef (or turkey/chicken)
@ 1 1/2 tbsp McCormick taco seasoning
1/3 -1/5 onion, diced
3 tbsp taco sauce
16 oz can of refried beans
15 oz can of nacho cheese sauce
14 oz can of diced tomatoes
4 oz jar of diced jalapenos
about 16-18 corn tortillas, sliced or torn
shredded cheese


Preheat oven to 350.

 Brown your ground beef, adding the onions and taco seasoning. While it is cooking, place beans, cheese sauce, tomatoes and most of the jalapenos into a bowl. Save a few of the peppers for later use.  Once the meat is done, add it the the mixture in the bowl. Stir to combine and add taco sauce to adjust the heat to where you want it. We're sticking with fairly mild tonight, but heat it up to where you're comfortable.

Lightly spray a 9x12 or so baking dish. Place a layer of tortilla strips on the bottom of the pan.

Add a coating of enchilada sauce.


Dust with cheese. I would normally add a bit more cheese then you are seeing here. Remember, we're still in food storage mode.

Spoon the filling mixture into the pan and spread evenly.



Top with another layer of tortillas, sauce and cheese.

Add a second layer of filling and then cover again with a final layer of tortillas.


Pour the remaining enchilada sauce over this top layer of tortillas, cover in cheese and sprinkle with remaining jalapenos.




Bake for about an hour. Lets stand to cool then serve with rice or salad or veggies

** UPDATE **
Just wanted to let everyone know how good this is.. Teenager had 2 HUGE servings of this last night. Hubby and I kept it to one, but had salad. And the left overs were demolished for lunch the next day.