Crockpot Challenge: South of the Border

Posted on | February 24, 2008 2 Comments | e-mail | print

Sunday night is Challenge Night! On the menu: Burrito Casserole. Ole!

Picture a lasagna, reimagined Mexican style, with tortillas for noodles and refried beans for ricotta. It isn’t as gross as it sounds, but I believe my intestinal tract would give me a stern talking to if I tried it for a second time.

• 1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
• 1 can (16 ounces) refried beans
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 red or green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 envelope burrito or taco seasoning mix
• 1 jalapeno pepper, minced, or use 1 can chopped mild green chiles
• 1 1/2 to 2 cups salsa
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 6 to 8 corn tortillas, cut in strips

It feels … counterintuitive to put something so lacking in liquid into a crockpot and then walk away, but that’s what I did. The result was expectedly rather mushy, though with plenty of appealing burrito flavor. Being the colossal wuss that I am, I included a mere fraction of the onion called for and none of the jalapenos. Nonetheless, the meal continues to speak to me, and I cannot wholly blame it on my ongoing medical condition; some of the fault lies squarely in my stupid decision to cook Mexican. Everyone knows what burritos will do to a body.

What you might not realize is that Burrito Casserole is an A-1 way to throw your preschooler into a tailspin of rebellion. It began the moment he caught a glimpse of his (beautifully plated yet) monochromatic meal. Seconds after being placed into his seat, a fork was brandished and several cc’s of ground beef suddenly sailed through the air, landing with a thwack several feet away. Disciplinary time-out was established out of earshot, so that his father and I could confess to one another that the meal that sat in front of us may very well have deserved a small, puddle-jumping flight such as Owen’s portion received. Nothing so fancy as a first-class ticket, or even coach, but definitely a little Cessna headed to the bin.

There was bound to be a downer in Crockpot Challenge. Perhaps it was the Mexican flavorings; perhaps it was that I attempted to cook a meal that didn’t involve an entire stick of butter or block of cream cheese. Nevertheless, a lesson has been learned, and at the very least I have saved myself six long minutes of transcribing the recipe by hand onto a 4x6” index card, to be hoarded for the day several months in the future when I might wish to repeat myself.

For that, at least, we can all be grateful. And by we all, I mean me.

Comments

• who’s there?

  Oh hey you guys, it's me, Supa. Things I enjoy: talking on my bananaphone, being a nerd, writing, sewing, writing about sewing, giving my husband high-fives, playing Nintendo with my kids, playing with technological gadgetry, knitting, and reading decorating books. Did I write down nachos? Add that in there. Follow me on Twitter! I'm occasionally funny there.

• recent flickr

  

• Free downloads

  Download, print, get things done. Here's the background.

  • SOMEDAY to-do list (because "tickler file" sounds gross) (PDF)
  • ACTIONS to-do list (concrete tasks, things to do, yadda yadda) (PDF)

• sewing tutorials

  • a patchwork kitchen towel
  • a kid-sized chef apron
  • a lunch/tote bag based on plastic grocery sack

• Word up

  Catch my hard-nosed fabric reporting (hee hee) at TrueUp.net

• Cafe Mom home tour

  

  Check out my home tour and interview on Cafe Mom!

• I tumble

  

  I collect pretty pictures at Supafab, my Tumblr blog.

• Browse by category

  Select Category Asides auto-categorized baby baltimore best of supafine blather Blogher check it out create    knitting    sewing daily grind design family unit Featured gadgets geek home and decor house journalism kids links love life me elsewhere memes minutiae motherhood nablopomo neuroses news other pittsburgh pix    video PoBCo politics pregnancy preschooler sappy crap Sew For Broke television toddler True Up Thursday

• browse by date

  Select Month December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003

• elsewhere

  • del.icio.us bookmarks
  • flickr photolog
  • ravelry knitting notebook
  • twitter tiny updates

• sponsors

  
  

  Interested in appearing here? E-mail me for sponsorship information

  
  

• FIND

  Search for:

• meta

  • Log in
  • Entries RSS
  • Comments RSS
  • WordPress.org

• Et cetera

  hosting: Meancode Media