Paul and Penny

This is a recipe that Tiffani likes alot. Her mother used to make it for the family when she was growing up and now she makes it.  She made it for me once and I really liked it.  It’s a main dish rather than a side dish.

• 2 lb ground beef
• 3 cans french style green beans
• 1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
• 1 can condensed cream of celery soup
• 1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
• 1 2lb bag of tater tots
• 1 big can of Durkee fried onions

Brown the ground beef and drain. Spread in the bottom of a cake pan (9 x 13?). Drain the green beans and layer on top of the ground beef. Mix the soups and pour over the beans and beef. Make one layer of tater tots on top of this mixture. Cover and bake for 45 minutes at 350. Uncover and spread Durkee onions on top. Bake for 10 more minutes or until the Durkee onions begin to brown.

I’m a little late getting this put up but I wanted to brag on Tiffani a bit.  In December she graduated from Texas State with a Bachelors of Science in Dance and with honors!!  Above is a shot from the night of graduation and another of her a few weeks later wearing the pendant that Penny and I bought for her and had engraved.  In February she passed the test for a Teacher’s Certificate, so she’s now ready to take over the reigns of some school’s dance team!  We are praying that she will find the perfect job.

Oh, and Richelle is just a couple of years away from completing her degree too.  She’s currently studying Spanish and is also planning on being a teacher.  Not sure what I did to encourage this whole teaching thing, but if that’s what floats their boat, more power to them!

This is a dish I found one day when I was looking for something a little more complicated than my usual extravaganza of Sloppy Joe to make for the kids. -Paul

The way it’s written

1 lb ground beef
1 med onion chopped, 1/2 cup
1 jar 8oz green Mexican salsa
1/2 cup diary sour cream
1 can (10.75 oz) condensed cream of chicken soup
1 jar (2 oz) sliced pimentos drained
6 corn tortilla cut into 1 inch strips
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (8 oz)

Cook and stir ground beef and onion until beef is brown, drain. Spread 1/2 cup of salsa in bottom of ungreased square baking dish, 8×8x2. Mix remaining salsa with sour cream, soup and pimentos. Layer half of the tortilla strips, beef mixture, soup mixture, and cheese on salsa and repeat. Bake uncovered in 350 degrees oven until casserole is hot and bubbly (30 mins), let stand 10 minutes, garnish with olives if desired.

The low-carb way that Penny and I do it

We use medium red salsa, a little more than called for. We skipped the pimentos and olives. We used egg crepes instead of corn tortillas. Of course, that means it’s not really a tortilla casserole anymore, but it still tastes great.

The way I used to do it

I use mild red salsa, no pimentos, and flour tortillas. I had a pretty big family so we usually go a bit heavy on all of the ingredients. I particularly enjoy it a bit soupy. The bottom line is that you can adjust this recipe to fit your tastes without ruining it.

Paul’s family bean recipe.

Okay, I’m letting the cat out of the bag here. This has always been a top-secret recipe, but I’m going to break all the rules and let you in on it…
1/2 lb of bacon
1/2 medium onion, chopped.
4 cans of Van Camps Pork-n-Beans
1/2 cup of mild salsa
1/2 cup of ketchup
Soft fry the bacon with the onion, drain half of the grease. Add all ingredients in a crock pot and simmer for an hour or so. Stir a couple of times, gently, so as not to mash the beans.

There seems to be some debate about the quantity of the ketchup and salsa. The ritual is to use a wooden spoon full of each ingredient for each can of beans.

½ c margarine, softened

1 c. sugar

2 eggs

2 bananas, mashed

2 c. flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

¾ c. chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 °. Cream margarine and sugar, add eggs, add dry ingredients. Add nuts. Fill greased loaf pans ½ full and bake for about 1 hour.  Check after 30 minutes.