Chili Casserole

I was surfing around for new recipes the other day and found this one. It's a perfect "busy night" recipe - cook ahead and reheat, or turn off the oven a few minutes early and just leave it in there warming. It's very easy and inexpensive, and there are tons of possible variations.

My family must be used to being my taste-testers by now - they all said it was a keeper, and one even said "be sure to put this in your blog!"

Of course, I did not use the recipe as published! Here is exactly what I made. Keep in mind that this serves 8. You can easily half the recipe; in fact, what you see here is the result of my doubling the original to serve 8!

CHILI CASSEROLE

2 lbs ground beef
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 cans beans, drained (or equivalent in dried beans, cooked)
16 oz. tomato sauce
1 can tomatoes with green chilies
1 Tbsp. chili powder
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. ground coriander
1 tsp. salt
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Cook beef, onions and garlic in skillet until brown; drain.
Mix remaining ingredients (except cheese) with meat. Place into a large (11x14?) lasagna pan (If you're doing the half recipe, use a 9x13).

Bake at 350 for 25 minutes. Top with cheese and cook for 10 minutes more..

Tips and variations:

* The original called for salsa instead of tomatoes with chilis. It was more liquidy the way I did it - however, the kids loved it. The extra liquid was just like chili and they put it in a bowl and lapped it up!

* Ground pork was on sale so that's what I used. We loved the change of taste. Any ground meat would be great here.

* Because of the extra liquid, you could easily throw in some dry pasta. I would not even cook it first - just mix it with the rest, and maybe add a few minutes to the cook time. Or cook it first. Don't expect any extra liquid if you do this.

* You could also easily add less meat, more beans, chopped veggies, whatever you like.