As mentioned in a previous post, CJ really likes chips. One day he was sitting at the kitchen counter eating chips and salsa. The bag of chips was sitting on the counter and CJ proceeded to read the recipes on the bag. He came across one he though sounded interesting: Mexican Beef Casserole. I wasn't immediately convinced but I decided that it wouldn't hurt to try, so we tried it, and I was surprised how much I liked it.This happened the next few times we had Mission Casserole - CJ wanted to put in on the menu, I wasn't excited about but did it anyway and was always surprised how much I liked it once it was cooked up and being eaten. We've now had it enough times that I'm no longer surprised at how good it is.
As I'm sure you noticed, the bag called the recipe Mexican Beef Casserole but I'm referring to it as Mission Casserole - that is because it was on a bag of Mission brand chips. The first few times CJ and I had it we couldn't remember what it was really called so we just called it Mission Casserole and it kind of stuck with us.
If you want to see the recipe for yourself it is on the Mission brand triangle chips - not the circles or the strips, just the triangles. I think we used the triangles the first time but we get our chips at Costco in a 3lb bag that costs a lot less per ounce than buying the same brand at Walmart (technically the bag says they are Kirkland brand but the bag also says they are made by Mission, so basically the same thing). We did, however, have to go to Walmart to get the recipe off a bag of triangles once because we lost it where we had written it down before. I didn't write all the actual cooking instructions down so what I have below is paraphrased.
Ingredients:1 pound beef
1 onion
1 tomato
1 can cream of mushroom soup
8 - 10 ounces Velveeta
1 7 ounce can green chilis
1 12 ounce can evaporated milk
tortilla chips
To Make:
1. Saute meat, onions, and tomatoes until meat is cooked through.
2. Combine soup, cheese, chilies, and milk. Heat until cheese is melted.
3. Layer chips then meat mix then cheese mix in a greased 9 x 13 pan.
4. Cook at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.
My Tips:
- CJ doesn't like tomatoes and I don't like cooked tomatoes so we don't add the tomato to the meat and onion. Instead I just cut up the tomato and put it on top when the casserole is done.
- The recipe just does one layer of everything but CJ likes to do multiple layers: 1/2 the chips then 1/2 the meat then 1/2 the cheese then 1/2 the chips then 1/2 the meat then 1/2 the cheese. It works out fine either way.
- After it is cooked we'll also add different toppings: tomatoes, bell peppers, salsa, extra cheese, jalapenos, etc. It's nice that CJ can put what he likes on his while I can put what I like on mine.
Nutritional Information:
These Nutritional Facts assume that each casserole has 8 servings, that 6 ounces of chips, lean beef, 98% fat free cream of mushroom soup, and Velveeta made from 2% milk (as opposed the whole milk in the original kind of Velveeta) is used.
