For Meat Free Monday
Today’s Secret Recipe for Mexican Casserole, is a healthy and perfect meal for Meat Free Monday, which is made with handy store cupboard ingredients. It’s a recipe I found on my assigned blog for The Secret Recipe Club this month, the delightful Dancing Veggies blog, which is written by Amanda, who is a vegetarian cook who focuses on recipes that are simple and QUICK, with ingredients that can easily be found at the local market. Amanda also has a sweet tooth so shares quick and easy dessert recipes as well as some delicious savoury veggie recipes that look and sound delicious. Her recipe page has dozens of tasty recipe ideas, and she sometimes sneaks in some pescatarian recipes using fish and seafood.
As well as the recipe for Mexican Casserole, which caught my eye and which I decided to make, I have also bookmarked a few more recipes for future delectation: Eggplant Parmesan Stuffed Red Peppers; Fried Green Tomatoes; Cinnamon Waffles with Cinnamon Vanilla Apples and Buddha Bowls. I served the Mexican Casserole for an early lunch one busy day, with a bowl of layered salad and extra tortilla chips. What I really liked about the recipe, was how easy it was to make and the fact that is uses easy to source ingredients, most of which you will find in the store cupboard.
The original recipe suggests you cook the dish in a slow cooker, but I adapted the recipe using pre-cooked microwaveable rice in sachets and I baked the dish in the oven. I’ve copied Amanda’s original recipe below with my amendments, but you can see her original recipe here: Dancing Veggies Mexican Casserole. The recipe would make an ideal midweek family meal, but I can also see it being a nutritional, healthy and easy recipe for students to make – and as it only uses one pot (when using a slow cooker and when baked in the oven), so there’s less washing up to do too! That’s all for today and a very happy 4th of July to all my friends across the pond – have a great day. See you all soon with more recipes, reviews and travel stories, Karen
MEXICAN CASSEROLE
Adapted from Dancing Veggies and the Slow Cook Book
Serves 4-6
Ingredients:
2 x 250g microwave pre-cooked brown rice in sachets
1 x 400g tinned tomatoes
1 x jar of hot Mexican salsa
1 x 400g tin of black beans or mixed beans
1 onion, peeled and roughly diced
1 tablespoon jalapeños, drained and chopped
12 black olives, diced
125g grated Cheddar cheese
1/2 x 120g packet of tortilla chops, crushed
Method:
- Slow-Cooker: Add everything but the tortilla chips and cheese to the slow cooker. Stir well and cook on low for 3hrs or high for 1 1/2 hours.
2. Add the tortilla chips and cheese and cook on high for at least a further 30 minutes. Serve topped with any of the following: extra tortilla chips, sour cream, salsa, cheese, spring onions and/or guacamole.
3. Conventional oven cooking: Instead of cooking in the slow cooker, mix all the ingredients, except the crushed tortilla chips together in a large bowl and spoon them into an oven proof dish; bake in a preheated oven 200C/400F/Gas make 6 for 30 minutes. Then sprinkle the crushed tortilla chips over the top and serve with accompaniments as shown above.
More Secret Recipes on Lavender and Lovage:
American Diner style Homemade Breakfast Sausage
Freezer Breakfast Sandwiches with Ham, Eggs and Cheese
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SallyBR says
what a great write up and photos! Not that I am surprised, of course… you always write amazing blog posts, a touch of elegance and charm… 😉
I would gladly sit down to enjoy a full serving of this casserole – and shall increase my running distance just for safe measure.. 😉
Karen Burns-Booth says
Thanks Sally! I actually made this with a young house guest who is a student and she will be making it when she goes back to uni’, I hope! Karen
Amanda E says
I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe! It’s an oldie but a goodie – and one of our go-to recipes this time of year 🙂
Karen Burns-Booth says
Thanks again Amanda, it was easy to make and also very tasty too! Karen
Fiona Maclean says
I really enjoyed eating this one – just wondering if your assistant will ever make it again;)
Karen Burns-Booth says
Thanks Fiona, I am also hoping my young assistant will make it when she is back at uni’ too! Karen
Sid says
That looks wonderful, and I think I will have to make and take this to one of our many potlucks. I’ll score points with all my vegetarian friends too. Great choice. Love your blog btw.
Karen Burns-Booth says
Thanks so much Sid! Yes, you will score LOTS of points with your veggie mates if you cook this! 😉 Karen
Karen @ Karen's Kitchen Stories says
What a gorgeous and delicious looking meal! That sounds so easy and very tasty! The casserole with the salad sounds like the perfect early lunch!
Karen Burns-Booth says
Thanks Karen – yes, it was a very easy recipe and also very tasty too! Karen
Nicole @ Crazed Mom says
I should NOT be looking at this before I eat dinner. This looks SO good! I mean, drool-worthy, I am contemplating licking my screen good. This is on my t0-make list now! Great pick!
Karen Burns-Booth says
Thanks so much Nicole, it was a VERY tasty meal I have to say, Karen
Emily @ Life on Food says
This looks amazing! I love Mexican bakes like this…easy, full of veggies and delicious. You cannot ask for a better dinner. Happy Reveal Day!
Karen Burns-Booth says
Thanks Emily – I am also a big lover of all spicy bakes like this too, Karen
Erin @ Making Memories says
You casserole looks wonderful! Thank you for the slow cooker recipe also. I love cooking in my slow cooker.
Karen Burns-Booth says
Thanks so much Erin, I also love slow cooker recipes too, Karen
Trisha says
Sounds delicious … we are trying to eat more meatless meals and this one will fit right in there.
Karen Burns-Booth says
Thanks Trisha, it’s a great meat free meal and tasty too…..Karen
Bakingfanatic says
Beautiful as ever: a real flavour-packed dish that I cannot wait to make tomorrow night: it is always a joy to find really great veggie dishes when cutting down on meat!
Karen says
Thanks very much – it’s a very tasty and yet healthy meat free recipe – Karen
Katie Zeller says
Yay! A yummy slow cooker recipe for when It comes out of summer storage. Love anything Mexican!
Karen says
Thanks Katie, I am also a BIG fan of all things Mexican too!
Dorothy at Shockingly Delicious says
You are speaking my language for dinner. Absolutely GREAT SRC pick!
Karen says
Thanks Dorothy – it was an easy dish to make but very tasty. Karen
laura@motherwouldknow says
Karen, What a great Secret Recipe Club choice – and what an incredible job you’ve done with it. I’d serve this for dinner in a heartbeat. And it’s endlessly variable, add this from the fridge, get rid of that piece of leftover that (cauliflower at the moment) …:)
Karen Burns-Booth says
Thanks Laura! Yes, you could add all sorts of “secret veg” to this and that would add to your five-a-day count in a very spicy way! Karen
Graham Forbes says
Great blog, wonderful photos, mouth watering food. Married to a foodie, great cook and francophile, this is a blog I shared with her immediately.
Love your inspirations for boomers.
Karen Burns-Booth says
Thanks so much Graham, and I look forward to seeing you here more often! Karen