Mexican Casserole Recipe

I made Mexican Casserole (like I acutally came up with a recipe) tonight for dinner and it was really good.  Now, it had pasta, yes, I know, go ahead and yell at me now, but I used the Barilla Plus pasta that has protein in it.  Here's the link to my blog with pictures and the recipe and as always, I welcome any suggestions.

katiedid911.blogspot.com/

Sorry, I was going to post the recipe too....I think it's time for bed LOL

Katie's Mexican Casserole  

• 1 lb ground turkey (you could use ground beef, I just prefer turkey)
• 1 packet taco seasoning (I used reduced sodium)
• 3 cups uncooked pasta (as I said, I used Barilla Plus)
• 2 (16 oz) jars of salsa (my choice was Cookie's Mild Brand...LOVE it)
• 2 cups shredded Mexi-blend cheese (I used Weigh****chers)
• 1 cup sour cream, fat-free, light or regular
• 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can whole kernel corn, drained and rinsed
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro (I didn't have any fresh, so I just used dried)

Cook pasta according to package directions and drain well.  Meanwhile, brown ground turkey, adding a small amount of olive oil (depending on your brand) and drain if needed.  Mix in taco seasoning and cook according to packet directions.

 Mix pasta, taco meat, salsa, 1 cup (4 oz) cheese, sour cream, beans, corn and cilantro.  Spray a 9x13 casserole dish with non-stick cooking spray.  Spoon mixture into dish and top with remaining cheese. 



Bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until casserole is heated through and cheese on top is melted and browned.

That looks great. I would opt out of the pasta as I gave that up with the surgery. I will try your recipe.




Linda

Thank you Linda!  I didn't know what else to use besides pasta, so if you or anyone else has any ideas I would love them.  I suppose I could have left it out and added extra beef/turkey...right?  LOL  Or maybe used torn up pieces of tortillas?  I guess I should have thought about this a little more before baking LOL 

Don't know if this would work or not but rather than pasta did you think about putting a layer of FF refried beans on the bottom and adding the rest to the top?

I think pasta is fine as long as it's low carb pasta (see link below for low carb pasta called Dreamfields- I used elbow noodles as an example) -their site has a store locator option if you've never heard of this brand.

Just to make sure I was sure what low carb was, I compared the nutrition label from Dreamfield's to refried beans and there's not much difference.  I also included the link for nutrition facts on refried beans (see below)

Anywho, I am going to make this recipe for my family tonight.  I am so sick of the same old things.

Thanks Katie!! 
Refried Beans Nutrition
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_carbohydrates_are_in_refr ied_beans

Dreamfield's Pasta Nutrtion
http://www.dreamfieldsfoods.com/pdfs/facts_elbows.pdf
Melz
HW-290, SW-288, CW-197, GW-120

Looks really yummy. post surgery I revised my favorite enchilada casserole recipe to be more WLS friendly. I use corn tortillas instead of the called for flour ones. i think it's actually better, really tastes like enchiladas and since it only takes like 3 for the whole casserole, the carbs are minimal. you might also want to consider greek yogurt instead of sour cream, just a thought. can't stand to just eat the stuff, but works great in recipes calling for sour cream. keep turning out the great recipes.

There's nothing wrong with pasta; I eat it all the time! It is the quality of the pasta (low carb and/or high protein, whole grain), the quantity and the frequency with which we eat it that can lead to problems. I can see eating this every few weeks with NO PROBLEMS. And it looks DELICIOUS.

Thank you everyone!  I never even thought of using Greek yogurt to bump up the protein even more.  I've never cooked with it, so that could be interesting LOL

When and if you all try it, let me know what you think and if you made any changes, I would love to hear about it!  Have a great weekend everyone!

Oh...I lovez da food porn!

I make a similar casserole, but I don't use pasta. Here's the link if anyone wants to check it out:

http://bariatricfoodie.blogspot.com/2010/09/taco-casserole.h tml

I also made a Mexican Egg Casserole version of this that is positively crave-worthy:

http://bariatricfoodie.blogspot.com/2011/03/mexican-egg-cass erole.html

I agree with others. There's NOTHING wrong with pasta if you can handle it. My pouch doesn't seem to like it and for me it's just not worth the fight, but I give my kids pasta all the time and believe me if I could eat it I would. I miss it!