Taco Casserole

This is one of two recipes I have memorized.  When Rob and I got married, my sister had everyone included in our wedding party design a quilt square for us.  One of our host and hostess (my 2nd parents at the time) put the recipe for Taco Casserole on their square because I called her at least once a month to request it.  Then, after we were married, I'd run down the stairs at least once a month to read the recipe off our guest bedroom quilt.  I'm happy to report, I have finally memorized it.

Anyway, onto the recipe.  For what it's worth, I'm not a big taco fan, yet this remains one of my favorites.

Taco Casserole

1 lb ground beef
3/4 c water
1 packet taco seasoning
1 can refried beans
2 cups shredded cheese (I find regular works better than "finely" shredded)
1 cup sour cream
1 egg
1 pk crescent rolls

Preheat oven to 350.  In a 9x13 pan, unroll the crescent rolls and press them onto the bottom of a 9x13 pan.  Bake this for 7 minutes then set aside.  Meanwhile, brown the hamburger in a skillet.  When browned, add the water and the taco seasoning.  Mix in the refried beans and remove from heat.  In a seperate bowl, mix together the cheese, egg, and sour cream.  Now, pour the meat mixture onto the semi-baked crescent rolls, spread it out.  Put the cheese mixture on top of the meat mixture and spread to the best of your ability (never seems like enough to cover it...but it works).  Bake this for 20 minutes.  Let it cool for about 10 minutes before serving.  We usually dribble a little taco sauce on our pieces.

Finding a side dish to go with this is difficult.  We have settled on either Fritos (yes, that counts as a side dish in our house) or corn. 

Also, I split a regular recipe into two seperate square 8 or 9 inch pans.  Just divide everything in half and make two seperate pans at the same time.  Before the final baking wrap one in cling wrap, then aluminum foil, then seal it in a gallon size bag and put it in the freezer.  I thaw it out the night before I'm going to cook it for dinner and just cook it the same as the other (350 for 20 minutes).  One night of work, two nights of dinner!

Sausage and Peppers over Pasta

I'm not even going to attempt to post a picture of this dish because most pictures of food I take give me the exact opposite reaction than they should.  But, trust me, this is delicious.  It has now become my favorite meal.  Since Tuesday was my birthday, I requested our in-house chef make this for me.  I don't know where he found the recipe.  Maybe he didn't find it, maybe he created it out of thin air, he's been known to do such things.  What I do know is that this is absolutely delicious, and absolutely not fat free.  Try it today!  Or, shop for the ingredients today, and try it tomorrow.  It's probably not stuff you have lying around. 

I strongly encourage you to read this recipe through before you make it, as I am kind of a random recipe writer and probably have things out of order.  As for measurements, well, our personal chef is more of a "visual" guy so these are his best estimates.

1 lb mild Italian sausage
1/4 c onion (whatever your favorite kind is)
1 yellow pepper, cut into strips
1 red pepper, cut into strips
1 can diced tomatoes (of course fresh is always better, but a can will do)
1 pint Heavy Whipping Cream
2 cloves minced garlic (we like garlic...maybe this is too much for some)
salt and pepper to taste

In one large pot, brown the italian sausage with some salt and pepper.  When completely browned, remove from pot.  In a seperate skillet, start heating some olive oil and garlic.  Add onions to this skillet and sautee until the onions are translucent.  Add the can of diced tomatoes (juice and all) and heat this all together.  Meanwhile, in the large pot, start heating a bit of olive oil and throw in the peppers.  We do these seperately because we like our peppers a little crisp yet browned and if we added them with the rest of the stuff, they would not get browned and might be overcooked.  Add the heavy whipping cream to the tomatoes mixture and heat through.  Throw the sausage back in with the peppers (in the big pot) and add the tomatoe mixture to the sausage and pepper mixture.  Mix this all up and serve it over your choice of noodles.  We like whole wheat thin spaghetti.  We also like to serve this up with garlic bread.

Yum!