7 Layer Mexican Casserole Idea
Posted in: Casserole Ideas, Dinner Ideas, Food Photos | 21 Comments
I’m calling this an “idea” because the recipe needs some work. Then again, all my recipes are just ideas (and they probbaly all need some work). Do with them, as you will.
This one was the product of leftover spaghetti squash and some fresh ground beef I was separating and storing from my weekly grocery trip. I just got this vision of a Mexican inspired comfort meal.
The flavors were dead on but there was just nothing to hold every thing together. Which is all right by me but you may be expecting a more traditional ooey gooey type of casserole.
I made this one just for me. It was an afternoon experiment. The husband wouldn’t touch it with a ten foot pole (he’s like that with all of the my spaghetti squash meals). The toddler had a few bites of the beans and corn but he’s not a fan of the squash texture either. As I always say, oh well, more for me! Now I have lunches for the week!
This is exactly how I made it, have fun!
- 8 oz lean ground beef (at least 90%)
- ½ of a sweet onion diced
- Taco Seasoning (entire recipe)
- 2 cups (310g) of prepared spaghetti squash
- 1 can (15oz) Black Beans drained and rinsed
- 1 can (15oz) sweet corn drained and rinsed
- 1 red pepper diced
- 1 green pepper diced
- ½ ounce tortilla chips crushed
- 2 oz fancy shredded Mexican cheese blend
- Non-stick cooking spray
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
Brown the beef over medium heat with the onion and taco seasoning. Set aside.
Spray a casserole dish with non-stick cooking spray. Spread the squash along the bottom of the dish, top with black beans, corn, cooked beef, diced peppers, tortilla chips and then cheese.
Bake for about 30 minutes. Serve!
| Servings | Amount per Serving | Calories | Fat | Fiber | WWPs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | ~2 cups (1/6th of the dish) | 350 | 10g | 9g | 7 |
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man that is PRETTY!
my husband would adore.
my toddler might eat?
me, Im such a bad rolemama, as I do not love peppers (and living where I do that’s not a good thing! Might be time to ‘learn’)
how do you do all that you do?
the posts? studies? life? wife? babymamaing?!
M.
Wow, that is quite possibly the most colorful and pretty meal I’ve seen in a long time. My husband would be beyond thrilled if I made this.
The flavors of this sound wonderful! I wonder if a can of Healthy Choice cream of chicken soup would serve to bind it all together? I think I’ll give that a try . . . Thanks, Roni, I love your website and you never fail to post great ideas!
I haven’t enjoyed cooking for several years because it has been hard for me to cook healthy meals. My old ways were potroast and meat and potato type things. Now, because of your site, I am so excited to cook. My family is loving it! I am loving it!
PS-my family feels the same as your husband about spaghetti squash, but I love it!
as an ardent fan of the spaghetti squash AND mexican flavors, i think you’ve hit it out of the park with this one. i’d fight you tooth and nail for the last helping! :)
Sour Cream (FF)….every good mexican meal needs some sour cream….and if you added Salsa…you could ge a nice low fat sauce going…:-)
Anyone know what the equivalent of spaghetti squash is in the UK? I really want to try out a lot of these recipes, but I’m being foiled by strange English vocabulary.
You can’t go wrong with those ingredants!!!??
A beautiful dish!
Mexican is our family’s favorite dishes!!
Last summer,
I had a spaghetti squash vine grow up a gate and grew a squash on top of our chicken house. Took pictures, its still there all dried. Should get it down and use it for seeds to plant. Its a squash of HIGH places. LOL
Love your web site!
Christina I will send you seeds if I had an address
Or do you mean you don’t know what amount of the squash to use in a recipe?
Karen–I can’t find spaghetti squash anywhere, so I assume if it exists in the UK at all that it is referred to by another name. Anyhoo, I’m stumped. Thanks so much for the offer of seeds, but I currently live in graduate housing and would have no where to plant them. :(
Oh Roni this looks so yummy!! I can’t wait to try it. I too have a husband like yours who always turns up his nose at a few of my ideas (and anything with the word casserole in it – insert eyeroll here – LOL), but even he is super excited about this one!!
On a side note for Christina, as per Wikipedia here is what they say that it is called in the UK….
(also called vegetable spaghetti, vegetable marrow, noodle squash, Spaghetti Marrow (in the UK). HTH.
Roni keep up the awesome job with these amazing recipes!! I just love every evening coming on and seeing what you cooked up for us!! Also my little 3 year old Auden has a MAJOR crush on Ryan and everytime she watches the videos she says “play him again” – he he. She even made me buy the Ikea items so that she could be like “that little boy”. Kids are so funny!!! Thanks again for inspiring us all with all that you do and all that you have accomplished!!
I am not a fan of beans, but a can of refried beans might just hold everything together. Maybe put everything in the pan once the meat is browned and stir, it wouldn’t be as pretty though. I love how pretty your food is :)
Jennie – I thought of that too but I knew it wouldn’t look pretty so I skipped it. I loved it even though it didn’t hold together! :~)
Thanks for the compliment!
And thanks everyone for filling in my slack. I got a little busy and couldn’t answer all the comments!!
I’m so glad you guys liked the idea!
I make a similar recipe – called Mexican Lasagna. You use layers of flour tortillas (the lowest point value ones) and one layer near the top with: 1 can reduced fat or fat free cream of chicken soup mixed with 1 cup reduced fat or fat free sour cream. It is delicious! I also add a layer of salsa.
Is it ok to freeze spaghetti squash after it is cooked?
I’m eating some right now, and man, is it good!
I was thinking maybe a little more cheese, layered throughout would help it hold together … but I used the FF stuff, and it barely melted … sour cream and salsa is a good idea, though.
Jan – I haven’t but I know others have.
kyree90 – Yeah, I kept the cheese low to keep down the calories and fat but a bit more would be wonderful. So glad you liked it!
I really did like it. Today I tried using some of the leftovers as a burrito filling, with a little added sour cream. It’s pretty good that way, too — except it adds an extra point and a half! (I used the low-carb 1-Point tortilla and 1T light sour cream.
A simple thing to help might be to use the beans WITHOUT rinsing or draining. The spanish people I know who cook with beans do not rinse the beans but use the final soaking water to cook with. It has a lot of flavor. If you want a little more of a sauce, mash up some of the beans in that water (or put some through the food processor).
Pur the entire can of beans in the skillet after the beef has been cooked and drained (this way it can “capture” the browned “goodness” from the bottom of the skillet from cooking the beef)
This is still probably my favorite recipe EVER. YUM. I get 250 calories/serving but I don’t use the chips…?
Also, I use pre-packaged packet of taco seasoning and a thing of the pre-sliced peppers (about 2 cups total).
YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.
Oh so bright and festive! Looks delish.