Casserole Night Last Night

Last Saturday evening we video recorded our set up and enjoyment of our fire pit. I have to edit the raw footage before I post it, so hopefully that will get done in the next week.

But on to last night's dinner. I loosely call it Mexican Inspired Casserole. Mondays are full of errand running and spending time with Mom. In the morning I went to Kroger for weekly fresh fruit/veggies, then on to see Mom. She wanted me to drive her around Cherry Grove to see the marsh and the lovely houses. Afterwards she wanted ice cream. Once I got her back to her assisted living facility, I headed home to start dinner and do laundry.

First up, start soaking rice. I measured out the rice needed, put it in a mason jar, added a teaspoon of white vinegar and filtered water. I let it sit for about 2 hours.

While the rice soaked, I started my (get this...) Mise en place. Hey, I watch Food Network too! Also, I put a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil in my warmed cast iron skillet.

When the skillet was hot, I added a pound of ground grass fed bison meat. Several weeks ago I came across a manger's special at Kroger, one pound of ground bison meat for $2.50, so I bought 4 and stuck them in the freezer. One pound is good for 2 meals, so at $1.25 for 2 servings of protein is excellent. Especially for higher end meat. Tips for the day; shop Monday mornings to find manager specials and keep a cooler in your vehicle in case you come across a bargain while out and about.

When the meat is almost cooked, I added the green bell pepper and onion to the skillet and continued cooking.

As the onion and bell pepper cook, I sprinkle the cilantro, parsley, chili powder, paprika and pink salt to the mixture. I can't say how much I use of each, I like flavor but not hot spicy, so I am certain that I under season compared to most people. After the onion turned clear, I transferred the meat/veg mixture into a stainless steak pot. This is because I needed to add tomato paste and I try to not add tomato products to cast iron, even though my cookware is well seasoned.

I used half a small can of tomato paste, a teaspoon of turbinado sugar and about a cup of filtered water. That's when I remembered the dehydrated mushrooms I made last year. So I put about a 1/4 cup of the mushrooms in with another 1/2 cup filtered water. It was a little too much water, but I planned to let it simmer for awhile so I didn't want it to dry out.

I set the timer to go off every 15 minutes so I remembered to stir and check on the mixture. I also added a few shakes of some garlic powder and a bay leaf, I like bay leaves..

 With the meat sauce simmering nicely for about an hour, I turned my attention to the rice. I drained and rinse the rice, put it in my rice cooker and put about 1 teaspoon of pink salt.

then the filtered water to get ingredient level up to the proper mark on the rice cooker, then set the rice to cooking.

My rice cooker is a convenient 4 cup cooker, with simple controls. No on/off switch, so I have to make sure it's unplugged after using. After the rice cooked and rested, I put a tablespoon extra virgin olive oil to my casserole dish then spread the rice over the oil to make the first layer of the casserole.

Normally I would have made re-fried beans from scratch, but I just didn't have time. So while at the store I picked up a can of organic beans.

 I spread the re-fried beans on top of the rice.

Next came the meat mixture, removing bay leaf first.

 I used a strainer spoon to control the moisture in the casserole. The leftover juice got saved for future use.

Even though I was trying to keep the layers, I will wanted some of the juice to get down to the rice, so I used my spoon to open the layers a bit. Just a few times.

By then, Joe had come home from work and we needed to go to the dreaded Wal-store....Ugh! So, I covered the casserole dish with plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator just before we left.

We bought the plastic wrap holder from a thrift store and it works so well!

1 1/2 hours later, we stumbled back home and turned on the oven to 350F. While I put purchased items away, Joe took out the dish from the fridge, removed the plastic wrap and grated white cheddar and Colby jack cheeses on top of the casserole.

We baked the completed casserole in the oven at 350F for 25 minutes to start. Then we checked it every 5 mintues. We were looking for the cheese to be melted and bubbly.

We waited about 10 minutes after taking the dish out of the oven before serving.

 A dollop of sour cream and dinner is served!

We enjoyed half and well have the other half on Wednesday. It was so good!!

Ingredients I used:

1 pound ground meat, organic

½ onion, organic

½ green bell pepper, organic

Parsley, organic

Cilantro, organic

Chili Powder, organic

Paprika, organic

Pink Salt

Garlic Powder, organic

½ of a small can of tomato paste, organic

1 bay leaf, remove before eating

Mushrooms, dehydrated, organic

Filtered water

1 teaspoon turbinado sugar

Cooked rice, organic

Can of re-fried beans, organic

Cheddar cheese, organic

Colby jack cheese, organic

Sour Cream added as a garnish