Mogwai Soup Blog Taco Beef and Rice Casserole

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Yesterday dinner time somehow creeped up on me and I was caught clueless as to what to do for dinner and it was already after 6 PM. We usually eat before 7 PM so I felt I really needed to figure it out, and figure it out soon!
Luckily, my mother-in-law came over for an hour or two to visit with us, so I asked her what she was making for dinner. She said, vegetable stir fry or taco rice. Taco rice. That sounded good. Mexican-anything always goes well with my boys and we haven’t had rice for a while. So I immediately put my rice to cook and while that was doing I prepared everything else. Twenty more minutes in the oven and we had our selves a great nutritious casserole dinner. I am on a casserole kick here. I just wish they were more photogenic! 🙂

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This recipe was one of those ‘whatever I have in the pantry/fridge will work’ my favorite kind of recipes. If it was planned more in advanced I would probably use different products, so feel free to make any additions you like, everything works!
For this recipe I used a smaller casserole dish, about 8×10 inches, 2 inches deep.

Taco Beef Rice Casserole

1 1/2 cups rice (I used brown because we love brown rice, go ahead and use whatever you like)
3 spring onions
1/4 cup diced roasted red bell peppers
1 small can of mild diced green chilies (I didn’t use the whole can)
1 T. plus 1 t. of taco seasoning mix
2 T. tomato paste
1/4 cup sour cream
1 lbs of ground beef
salt and pepper
1 can Cuban beans
grated cheese, about 1 1/2 cups
pickled jalapenos for topping (if you don’t like spicy you could replace these with black olives)

Taco seasoning mix

1 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 tablespoon cumin

You will have a little of this seasoning left over since the recipe calls for just a little more than one tablespoon of it, but if you double the recipe you can save it in a little container for next time. Or to make your life easier, you can always buy a bag of taco seasoning mix. I would probably have done that if I planned the dinner in advance.

Start by preheating the oven to 400 degrees. Cook your rice on the stove top. While rice is cooking brown the ground beef with 1 teaspoon of your taco seasoning mix, a tablespoon of tomato paste and a pinch of salt and pepper. Set aside.
Cut the spring onions very finely and saute them with finely diced roasted red bell peppers.
When rice is cooked add to it the spring onions and bell pepper, diced green chilies, sour cream, tomato paste and the rest of your taco seasoning. Mix well and taste before adding salt and pepper.

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Butter your casserole dish and layer the rice mix on the bottom of it. Then spoon Cuban beans on top of the rice and then layer the beef on it. Top with some cheese and diced pickled jalapenos or olives.
Put in the oven for 20 minutes or until the cheese is melted. Done.

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This is a really simple dish and allows for a lot of improvisation. We ate it with sliced avocados. I could have made guacamole to go with it, but I just felt like I wanted some plain good and simple avocados.
I think I just might make it again for Cinco De Mayo since my husband had four (4) helpings of it and my son didn’t complain about it at all. Well, he doesn’t eat beans, so I had to pluck those out for him, but other than that, he ate a full plate too!
Happy Cinco de Mayo 🙂