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Top 4 Mexican-inspired Recipes
In the mood for some Mexican-inspired dishes? Try these wonderful slow cooker favorites!
Slow Cooker Recipe
Casserole Verde
There is something down-right delicious about melted cheese, creamy sour cream, and tangy cottage cheese combined with a just-right mixture of browned ground beef, mushrooms, olives, and chilies.
We can’t stop eating this Casserole Verde. It’s the perfect weeknight meal after a long day. Bet you can’t stop with just one serving either!
Casserole Verde
Fix-It and Forget-It Christmas Cookbook, page 126
Prep. Time: 35 minutes
Cooking Time: 2-3 Hours
Ideal slow cooker size: 4-qt.
1 lb. ground beef
1 small onion, chopped
⅛ tsp. garlic powder
oil
8-oz. can tomato sauce
⅓ cup chopped black olives
4 oz. can sliced mushrooms, drained
8 oz. container sour cream
8 oz. container cottage cheese
4 ¼ -oz. can chopped green chilies, drained
12-oz. pkg. tortilla chips, divided
8 oz. Monterey Jack cheese, grated, divided
1. Brown ground beef, onions, and garlic in skillet, in oil if needed. Stir frequently to break up clumps. Continue cooking until no pink remains in meat. Drain off drippings.
2. Add tomato sauce, olives, and mushrooms to meat in skillet.
3. In a separate bowl, combine sour cream, cottage cheese, and green chilies.
4. In slow cooker, layer in one-third of chips, followed by half the ground beef mixture.
5. Follow with a layer of half the sour cream mixture and half the shredded cheese.
6. Repeat all layers, except reserve the last third of chips to add just before serving.
7. Cover. Cook on Low 2-3 hours.
8. Ten minutes before serving time, scatter the reserved chips over top and continue cooking, uncovered.
Any ideas for a yummy substitute for green chilis? I love them…but my nursing baby’s tummy does NOT. ;(
Try some roasted red peppers
Pepperocinis ?
>Maybe just some mild salsa? I think you could also try some red, yellow, or orange pepper added when you saute the meat and onions.
Try pimento;s instead (they come already diced in a jar), more mild and lots of flavor… just red, instead of green.
> As for a substitute for the green chilis…I would use a mild salsa or a little extra onion in the meat. It’s not worth dealing with the tummy ache in your little one.
> Oh I love the idea of using a jar of pimentoes….I love the flavor. I might even add the chilies and pimentoes..more color and flavor!
Rebekah, my husband, son, and I are all “pepper haters”, and I agree that this casserole sounds yummy otherwise.
I just leave the chilis out of recipes like this, and they really aren’t missed. If it seems a bit mild you can add other spices at your discretion.
P.S. Years ago a roommate of mine tried to impress a South American friend by adding twice as much taco seasoning as required for a taco pie (my recipe from a Bisquick box) – the poor guy looked kinda ill after one bite.
This sounds yummy but I don’t like the chips cooked in the cooker. I have tried that before and the chips turn to mush. I’d keep the chips out and just add them afterwards.
>Good idea Tracy. Nothing worse than soggy chips.
> I wonder if you could use soft flour tortillas instead of the chips?
> The chips are supposed to turn mushy. The only ones that are crisp are the ones you add at the end. The chips are used for flavor (corn) and as a thickener instead of flour or cornstarch! If you think about them that way, you won’t be disappointed when they are “mushy”.
I would substitute Salsa Verde, the green salsa with a tomatillo base instead of the chile’s. But I also wouldn’t experiment with my baby’s belly
Nothing worse than a baby with a bellyache….
What does anyone think of using Fritos instead of Corn Tortillas? I have bag left over from Superbowl that need to be used and am looking for ideas.
> I think Fritos would be great. As posted above, I wouldn’t put them in the crock pot. I’d put them on afterwards.
Oh my gosh this looks so yummy! Comfort food! I will have to try it after we move!
wow think i will have that for supper.thanks my hushand loves mexican food any way
This sounds really good! I grew up on green chili – everything. However my boys do not like cottage cheese. What could I substitute for that?
> Merry – My family doesn’t eat cottage cheese, either. So, I use Ricotta cheese instead.
they won’t even know there is cottage cheese{use small curd} in it. by the time you mix it well with sour cream and it is cooked they won’t even know it is there>
>Agreed Darlene – my son will not eat cottage cheese by itself, but he has never complained about me using it in lasagna (I have yet to actually buy ricotta) or a baked macaroni & cheese recipe the included a layer of cottage cheese. And yes, he know they’re there.
How many calories per serving
Hi – it sounds and looks delicious! Any way to find out the nutritional breakdown? My hubby is on a strict diet. Thanks!
Just put the cottage cheese in. when mixed with sour cream and cooked they will neve know it is there
can fat free sour cream and fat free cottage cheese be substituted in this recipe?
> Yes, I use those all the time in other recipes and there’s really no difference.
I would use green chilli sauce with pork. Sounds good but agree leave chip out until you serve it and may top it with medium salsa.
I would suggest as a green chile substitute, if you don’t care about color would be some canned crushed tomatoes or green tomatillos to match the color.
I’d just leave the chips out, because they are too high in refined carbs. I never worry about protein, fats and the lower carb veggies with whole-foods fiber. As you can see, I follow an ATKINS diet philosophy. As for those green chiles, use any kind of fresh, milder chile substitute, and never something processed with any added sugars, especially high fructose corn syrup.
My kids loved this but I made a few changes. I added fresh garlic and lots of cumin to the beef. I also added fresh mushrooms towards the end of the browning, yummy! Then I added a can of black beans, drained, and some frozen corn, and I replaced the tomato sauce with a mild picante. I used organic blue corn chips and they were soggy inside the casserole but added a nice flavor much like corn tortillas would. We also added fresh avacado and jalapenos to the finished product. Delicious!
I was going to suggest adding ground cumin as well as black beans, and maybe substituting cooked, shredded chicken breasts!>
Sounds yummy to me too, but how do you think it would be without the olives? I’m not a fan of them. I love everyone’s substitution ideas! Thanks.
> Ginny, in most recipes vegetables can be considered “flexible” – unless it’s something where a particular vegetable absolutely has to be there (i.e. stuffed peppers are just a pile of stuffing without the peppers, and you can’t have tomato soup without tomatoes), you can usually substitute something better or leave it out altogether.
I make something very similar but I use corn tortillas instead of chips (lower fat, so I won’t change that) and black beans instead of meat. I will try adding in the sour cream… I think that will be a nice change!
This was good. Next time I’ll add a can of corn, drained.
I put the ingredients in Master Cook software and let it calculate nutritional data. Comes out to 4863 calories for the entire dish. So you can figure 1215 calories for 4 servings or 811 calories for 6 servings. Sixty-one percent of calories come from fat. So I changed to extra lean ground beef, low fat sour cream and 2/5 cottage cheese and that brings it down to 717 calories for six servings.
>That should say 2% cottage cheese.
I’m planning on making a large batch of this for a dinner get-together I’m having this weekend.
I don’t have a slow-cooker large enough, so how I would I cook this in a regular over? Degrees & length of time?
Tracie” I think you could do a 9X13 dish or a deeper casserole dish.
I would cook it at 325 for like 1hour and 15 minutes covered. To check if its heated all way thru just stick a table knife down the middle. The knife should come out hot.
> Thanks Sandra! I thought that may work, but wasn’t sure if the length of time would affect it. Excited to try it!
I found this recipe a few months ago and thought it looked…haven’t tried it yet, but have most of the ingredients.
http://foodwishes.blogspot.com/2010/02/king-ranch-casserole-revenge-is-dish.html I also has a video to show you how to make it…looks very easy,
Instead of the onions, red pepper and green pepper, I would just use a jar of salsa. I also didn’t put the cayene pepper, as I do not like things to spicy.
> I AGREE FROM LAST STATEMENT I DO NOT LIKE SPICY FOOD EITHER I ALSO WILL BE USING SALSA INSTEAD. THANKYOU FOR THE RECIPE ADVICE.
Just made this for dinner tonight using low or no fat options for the sour cream, cottage cheese and shredded cheese…I also used lean ground beef and baked tostitos. I have a healthy delicious dinner! Thank you for the recipe!