Pintesting In The Kitchen - Taco Bake

While my parents visited I knew I would need to manage to feed them more than once (duh) and taking hours and hours to prepare food was just not anything I was feeling up for. I needed something quick, tasty, and not too time consuming.

Today's pintest comes via this pin and the info found here.

I started with some hormone and anti-biotic free ground beef (2 lbs of it.)

Put it in a large pan and brown it.

We stopped using taco seasoning packets when I stopped to think of the needless extra expense and then shortly after that I found out about how those packets contain silica. I used my own, pre-mixed taco seasoning.

My father made the suggestion that once our meat was browned that we add a little beer, "to mellow the flavor". Beer you say? LET'S DO IT! (This is the part where I had to explain to my father why I was now taking a picture of his beer).

We didn't have salsa con queso but it's nothing my husband would have been interested in eating anyway so we didn't use it. Once the meat was fully cooked it was ready to be added to my formspring pan lined with a tortilla.

I used a perforated spoon to drain the beef before adding it to the pan.

"Don't be stingy with the cheese" - my father was kind enough to offer his opinion on the matter.

After that you just keep layering making sure the top is beef and cheese.

It says to cook it for 15 - 20 minutes. I cooked it for 21. I was busy with a lot of things and trying to figure out what degree of melty everyone wanted their cheese to be.

My father put some hot sauce on one of the sides. I was going to cook the hot sauce into the meat but he said he'd noticed the meat ends up tasting saltier if you cook the hot sauce in.

How did it go over?

Really well. It was enjoyed by everyone including my little picky lamb. By the end of the night there was only one slice left. My mother even asked for the recipe.