A Nice Hot Meal to End a Busy Day

Today was a busy day in the Williams household. I got started on those closets I mentioned on Monday and I made wonderful progress! The main linen closet is all finished, as is the closet in my bathroom. Now the one in the kids' bathroom....well, let's just say that will be tomorrow's project. It deserves a day all its own. Egad!

Anyway, with all that work taking place around here today, I needed something quick and easy for dinner. I also wanted something hot and filling. I ended up making a Mexican recipe I first discovered more than 15 years ago. It's a Mexican torte that is not only delicious, but also really easy to adjust to your family's tastes. I've made it many different ways over the years, depending upon who I was feeding. Nowadays it is a little more bland than I used to make it because the two kids living in my house at the moment don't like hot and spicy much.

Sure hope they grow out of that soon.

Here is a little peek at tonight's dinner, as well as the recipe and step by step instructions. Really easy, really delicious!

First you lightly grease a pie plate. I have skipped this step in the past and always regretted it. It tends to make the bottom tortilla get a little tough during baking. So get it greased (lightly) and drop in a flour tortilla. Then you start to layer:

First layer (sorry, forgot to take the pic until I had the second layer on.) is a can of refried beans.

Press a tortilla onto the beans, then add 1/2 pound of seasoned taco meat. I browned and crumbled ground beef and used Old El Paso taco seasoning. I have used other brands but this is the one we tend to like best.

Chop about half of a small onion and sprinkle that on the meat.

Then add another tortilla. At this point, if you have a spicy-food loving family, you should spread on a can of chopped green chilies and some shredded sharp cheddar. But if you have my family, you just add more meat and LOTS of shredded sharp cheddar.*

*If you do the chopped green chilies layer, continue to add the meat/cheese layer on top of it. The top layer should always be meat and cheese.

Then you bake it in a preheated 350* oven for about 25 minutes, or until the cheese is all melty and the edges of the tortillas are starting to turn a little golden.

Now comes the hard part.

Let it sit there, untouched, for about 5 minutes or so. It's difficult, I know. At this point you're wanting to dig in and devour, but trust me...it's worth the pain it inflicts. It'll stay together much better when you serve it and not turn into a huge mess on your plate.

And this is the end product.

After you've add some shredded lettuce, a few diced tomatoes, some taco sauce and two or three (or TEN) jalapeno slices.

Oh. And a dollop of Daisy. :) That's the best part.

Served with a little Mexican rice and lots of love. :)

If you're really on the ball, you'll have already browned and seasoned taco meat in the freezer that you can just thaw and use at the last minute. I do that often, but of course I had none ready today and had to start from scratch.

However you have to do it, it's still quick and easy and makes a hot and satisfying meal on a cold winter's evening. :)