Happy Birthday Elizabeth and Marie!!!

Tonight Nathan's sister Marie came over for dinner. It was her 23rd birthday. I served refried beans, Mexican rice, and enchilada casserole. For desert-- Devil's Food Cake with triple fudge chocolate chip icing. I think I gained about 5 lbs. from this meal! Anyway, enchilada casserole is so simple to make, I thought I'd share my recipe.

Easy Beef Enchilada Casserole

1 lb. browned ground beef seasoned with a taco seasoning packet

.5 lb. shredded cheese (I like Colby and Monterrey jack)

12 corn tortillas (more if using a larger pan)

2 small cans of green chilis

1 large can of red enchilada sauce (I use Wal-Mart brand because I am cheap and too lazy to make my own) ;p

Spread enough sauce to lightly coat bottom of 13 x 8 pan. Layer tortillas, sauce, meat, chilis, cheese. Continue layering until top of pan is reached. Cover with aluminum foil and back at 400* until bubbly. Garnish with lettuce and sour cream.

(If you have the time and energy, frying each tortilla for a few seconds makes this dish taste even more delicious-- I don't, and that's why I call it Easy Beef Enchilada Casserole!)

One other tip: When frying ground beef, I usually buy and fry 2 lbs. at a time and then either freeze one lb. or store in the refrigerator for later. Doing this takes the same amount of effort as cooking 1 lb. and really comes in handy on days when I'm in a hurry. I used one of my frozen ziplocs of beef for tonight's meal and it made things so much easier.