Easy Cheesy

Good day, Kitschies!  I hope you enjoyed Easter without too much of a sugar coma.  I have some great pics from Easter but I've been super duper busy and haven't had time to do much of anything other than the necessities (at home AND at work), so I'll post Easter pics soon. 

I've been a bad blogger the last couple days...but I have a good reason for that.  My co-worker is out for the next 2 weeks (!) to spend time with her daughter, SIL and her brand new grandson!  I'm so excited for her but that means I'm by myself at work to cover both docs and to say that it gets busy is an understatement.  So, if I'm not commenting on your blog as often as usual, of if you don't see as many posts from me as usual, don't think I've ran away.  I will check blogs as time permits and I will squeeze in a post as often as I can. 

It's lunchtime here at the clinic and it's pretty quiet.  I can smell lunch in the break room (thank jeebus for drug reps) and instead of sitting back there and chatting it up, I decided I'd sit here with you and share a recipe with you.

I don't know if you've seen these at the grocery store, but every time I go down the spice aisle, I stop by the McCormick Recipe Inspiration section.  I have a lot of spices, but I don't have them all.  And I don't want to buy an entire new spice for one recipe.  That's where these little kits come in handy.  Each pack has pre-measured, individually packaged spices in the amounts specific to the recipe which is included on a recipe card on the back.  Simple, right?  Right.  I picked up this pack months ago, I just never have the recipe on hand to share with you.  I finally found it online, so now I can!

Quesadilla Casserole 
by McCormick Recipe Inspirations
2 tsp chili powder*
1 tsp ground cumin*
1 tsp minced garlic*
1/2 tsp dried oregano*
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes*
1 lb ground beef
1/2 cup onion, chopped
16 oz tomato sauce
15 oz can pinto beans, drained
8.75 oz can corn, drained
4.5 oz chopped green chile, drained
6 flour tortillas
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

*included with pack

Brown beef and onion in large skillet on med-high heat; drain. Add tomato sauce, beans, corn and green chiles; mix well. Stir in all of the spices except Red Pepper. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to low; simmer 5 minutes. Add Red Pepper to taste, if desired.

Spread 1/2 cup of the beef mixture on bottom of 13x9x2-inch baking dish sprayed with no-stick cooking spray. Top with 3 of the tortillas, overlapping as needed. Layer with 1/2 of the remaining beef mixture and 1/2 of the cheese. Repeat with remaining tortillas, beef mixture and cheese.

Bake at 350F for 15 minutes or until heated through. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

NOTES:  I didn't have pinto beans on hand so I used black beans instead.  

Pre-measured and just what I needed for this recipe.  Just be sure to look at all the needed added ingredients - I usually forget to look and end up making a run for the store when I should be making dinner!

It *looks* good, but it was a little bland for my taste.  I'll definitely be adding some more spices when I make this again.  My Mom says it's because I live in New Mexico now and have singed off all my taste buds with all the green chile we eat.  LOL  And if I remember correctly, Nate ate his helping...don't remember if Mason did, or even if he was eating table foods at this point.  Either way, I will be making this again.  It's fast and it tastes pretty good (with added spices, of course). 

OK...gotta get back to work.  I hope you enjoy the rest of your day.  As a parting gift...THIS is what I'm listening to at work at the moment.  Love this song...fast forward to a little after a minute to really get in to it.