Layered Mexicasserole

Since my first try on 2-20-08, I finally made this recipe again--and had better results this time. I think the first time, I had crushed the chips too finely, thus using far more than I needed. They should be crushed LIGHTLY, with your hand, leaving them in fairly large pieces. The 9 X 13 pan was still pretty full (a little above the top), but the foil over it helped everything to stay in place and the meal was delicious. A great balance of everything. Yum! We'll add it to our "regulars."

I brown my beef (or substitute ground turkey) and onions in the microwave in a pan with a colander. I can use the cheapest ground beef and easily get out all the fat, since I'm using spices anyways I don't need to fry the fat in for flavor. It's fast -- 6 minutes per pound in the average micro. and you can through all the disgusting guck away instead of eating it. I'm allergic to bell peppers, so I leave them out, but no one notices. I like Safeway's Southwest Salsa the best with this recipe, it has a lot of chunky vegetables in it. Great recipe! You can make the whole thing in the micro, but you use a little of the crunch of the chips. To figure out how long to cook it, weigh the pan before you put in the ingredients, then weigh it again when it's full, and cook it 6 minutes per pound of ingredients. Of course you have to be using a microwave safe pan.

I have no stove at the moment so I made this with my forman and the crockpot. Browned the meat & onions in the forman, then followed your directions only using my crockpot. (I have a large oval one) I have to tell you this was GREAT!!!! I love the difference the sour cream and cottage cheese made in this recipe. I used extra spices and will probably kick it up even more the next time. And ......there WILL BE a next time! Topped with fresh diced tomatoes and jalapenos. I think this is my new favorite Mexican dish. Thanks parsley, this is 5+ stars.

We really liked this recipe. I made as stated but used Salsa Verde in place of regular salsa. I really liked the cottage cheese/sour cream in it. Nice change from other Mexican casseroles. Very easy to make too!

We have Mexican lasagna often and this was a fun change from my usual recipe because of the cottage cheese layer (made it seem like lasagna) and crunchiness of the chips. I used fat free/light sour cream and cheeses, ground turkey and Guiltless Gourmet baked tortilla chips (2 g fat/oz): a 7 oz bag of blue corn for one layer and a 7 oz bag of chili lime for the other layer. YUM!