Tijuana Pie....

[thoreau]

My Mom made this when I was a kid and it's one of my favorite winter dishes. I've altered it a little from my Mom's recipe - but - then - I'm trying to watch what I eat these days. I chose lowfat versions of everything but the cheese - superlean ground beef, etc. Cheese is meant to be fatty - it is why we love it so much. so with that - I give you my Mom and I's "Tijuana Pie" recipe....

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pound ground beef
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
3/4 pound Cheddar cheese, grated
1 can (10 oz.) enchilada sauce
1 can (8 oz.) tomato sauce
2 cans (16 oz.) chili seasoned beans
1 can (16 oz.) corn, drained
1 chopped green bell pepper
1 chopped yellow bell pepper
1 chopped red bell pepper
6 ounces pitted olives
6 corn tortillas

Directions:

Brown beef and add taco seasoning (see below) mix and set aside. Brown onion with garlic in skillet with just enough butter saute the onions properly. (in other words - don't over do it missy!), Once you have a nice golden brown colour on the onions and garlic - put the onions and garlic in a food processor and pulse till fine and add to the meat.

Dave is "anti-onion" and doesn't like "chunks of onion in my food" - so you can feel free to skip this step if chunky onion is your thing - but marital bliss is mine, so I process them into "fine" teensy chunks of oniony goodness.

Wipe the inside of crockpot with oil. Place a tortilla in the bottom of the pot and spoon some of the meat mixture onto it with a little sauce and cheese. Top with another tortilla and layer on a bean, cheese, peppers and corn section. Drop in a few olives. Continue layers of filling, sauce and cheese and olives finishing with cheese and olives on top. Cover and cook at low 5-7 hours.

I serve it with a side of refried beans (nonfat with some crumbled goat cheese) and tortilla chips. Oh - and Grapefruit Izze. :)

TACO SEASONING:

One of my complaints with most packaged taco seasoning is the serious salt level they have. (scary in fact, the taco bell "brand" in the store is 1/3 salt. yikes!) - so here is my recipe for Taco Bell style meat seasoning w/o salt. It always comes out first rate:

1 tbsp. chili powder
2 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. powdered oregano

Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl. Makes 3 tablespoons of seasoning mix or so.

The other recipe I made up was my smooth guacamole... I do love avacado! David had never seen it served smooth made in the food processor - had always seen it chunky at restaurants. I love how ripe avacado needs nothing to be just moist and smooth. So how do you like it? chunky? or smooth? or do you have a favorite recipe?

Comments

[cuboz.livejournal.com]

I never thought of using the blender for guacamole - I use a fork to mash it, with a little lemon juice and some finally chopped Spanish Onion...

Thanks for the tip!

[low-fat-muffin.livejournal.com]

well not the drinks blender but the food processor. :) putting guac in a blender would be a bit messy.

[cuboz.livejournal.com]

I'll have to get me a Braun stick-blender, coz I don't have a food processor... :-(

[low-fat-muffin.livejournal.com]

don't go buying kitchen gadgets on account of my recipes! :) LOL!

A little kitchen grinder is about $25 here in SF - like my little food processor. a blender 'd work fine.

[r-pity.livejournal.com]

You should try avacado ice cream. It is the BOMB!

[low-fat-muffin.livejournal.com]

I am not so sure about avocado ice cream :)

[r-pity.livejournal.com]

It really is good. It kind of reminds me of green tea ice cream. I don't have a recipe, but my friend Janice has made it for me before and it comes out very smooth and creamy. Not too sweet, either. I loved it.

[tonethbone.livejournal.com]

Looks delicious Robert...and I like the crock pot part
Have most of the ingredients..will definitely try

[musicbearmn.livejournal.com]

Keith is the reason I started eating guacamole again. He makes it chunky, and better than any I've ever had.

[jeffnuma.livejournal.com]

Looks and sounds really good. :-)

Chunky guac here...Tim makes it...not me.

[wescobear.livejournal.com]

Sounds nice, actually like a lot of the casserole type dishes my Mom made when I was a kid. Although as a good Boston Irish wife, there would have been no enchillada sauce and no tacos in her recipe! ;^(

Not thrilled at the prospect of avocado ice cream, but it made me think of cinnamon ice cream. I've never seen cinnamon ice cream sold commercially, but it's orgasmic on hot homemade apple pie.... nummmmm!

[r-pity.livejournal.com]

Hagen Dazs makes a few flavors that have cinnamon ice cream as the base. Their Hawaiian Lehua Honey ice cream is very subtle and good, too.

[danbearnyc.livejournal.com]

Seek and ye shall find.

[wescobear.livejournal.com]

I'll have to see if any of my local grocery stores carry this. Thanks!

[danbearnyc.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't eat the smooth, though I might consider using it as a facial mask.

[low-fat-muffin.livejournal.com]

I knew I could count on you for the right advice - thanks Madge!

[altf4ljdrama.livejournal.com]

I'm a fan of chunky guacamole, although I also have a green chile avocado dip we used to call "guacamole" that is delicious (about the same, but adds cream cheese).

I really would like to make the Tijuana Pie but don't own a crock pot. How long would I layer/bake something like this in a baking pan?

YUM!

Thanks for sharing.

[low-fat-muffin.livejournal.com]

he only recipe I could find - for the oven - bakes it up like a lasagna. I would use spicy salsa - and season the beef like the taco seasonings from the original recipe. (and perhaps 1/2 a cup of spicy enchilada sauce as well. but then I like things on the liquidy side - without - it might be a bit firmer of a casserole. :)

but here ya go:

Spanish Rice 1 L (4 cups)
lean ground beef 500 g (1 lb)
corn kernels 500 ml (2 cups)
salsa, mild 1 L (4 cups)
Cheddar cheese, shredded 1 L (4 cups)
corn tortillas 10 (10)


INSTRUCTIONS: Prep: 15min. | Start to Finish: 60min.
Stir 250 ml (1 cup) salsa into cooked rice. Sauté ground beef until no pink remains. Add corn and remaining salsa. Simmer for 4-5 minutes to steam off any excess liquid.

Remove from heat and cool slightly before stirring in 500 ml (2 cups) of shredded cheese. Meanwhile, spread half of the cooked rice in the bottom of a lightly oiled lasagna pan. Spread half of the beef mixture over rice, then place 5 tortillas over beef.

Spread the remaining rice over tortillas, followed by the remaining beef mixture and the last 5 tortillas. Top with remaining cheese.

Bake in a preheated oven 180*C (350°F) for 20 minutes, or until hot and bubbly. Place under the broiler for 2-3 minutes to brown the top. Remove from the oven and allow to sit for 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

[mancerbear.livejournal.com]

Can you make his without a crockpot? It sounds great, but I don't have a crockpot.

[holy13nation.livejournal.com]

I second this enquiry.

[wescobear.livejournal.com]

Actually there are some very inexpensive slow cookers out there; Bed Bath & Beyond has this Hamilton Beach one for about $20.00. But you still need somewhere to store it, etc.

[low-fat-muffin.livejournal.com]

the only recipe I could find - for the oven - bakes it up like a lasagna. I would use spicy salsa - and season the beef like the taco seasonings from the original recipe. (and perhaps 1/2 a cup of spicy enchilada sauce as well. but then I like things on the liquidy side - without - it might be a bit firmer of a casserole. :)

but here ya go:

Spanish Rice 1 L (4 cups)
lean ground beef 500 g (1 lb)
corn kernels 500 ml (2 cups)
salsa, mild 1 L (4 cups)
Cheddar cheese, shredded 1 L (4 cups)
corn tortillas 10 (10)


INSTRUCTIONS: Prep: 15min. | Start to Finish: 60min.
Stir 250 ml (1 cup) salsa into cooked rice. Sauté ground beef until no pink remains. Add corn and remaining salsa. Simmer for 4-5 minutes to steam off any excess liquid.

Remove from heat and cool slightly before stirring in 500 ml (2 cups) of shredded cheese. Meanwhile, spread half of the cooked rice in the bottom of a lightly oiled lasagna pan. Spread half of the beef mixture over rice, then place 5 tortillas over beef.

Spread the remaining rice over tortillas, followed by the remaining beef mixture and the last 5 tortillas. Top with remaining cheese.

Bake in a preheated oven 180*C (350°F) for 20 minutes, or until hot and bubbly. Place under the broiler for 2-3 minutes to brown the top. Remove from the oven and allow to sit for 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

[cuyahogarvr.livejournal.com]

I see a meal planned for the coming week. Thanks.

[low-fat-muffin.livejournal.com]

the only thing i"ll add to the recipe - is to be very careful of the liquids - it remains a bit firmer if you follow the recipe exactly. I added a "little" more enchilada sauce and it came out a bit (with lack of a better technical term) liquidy than my Mom's does. but the flavors were spot on. and its great because you can go as spicy or as mild as the tastes of the recipients go.

[bootedintexas.livejournal.com]

i make this all the time for work potlucks. you really cant go wrong, and add the things you like. sometimes i do it with summer sausage instead of ground beef. or frozen roasted corn from kroger with green enchilada sauce for the base.

Bob and I grew up with two parents who were unapologetic foodies. Father would get new cookbooks at the local library and we alas became his test subjects. Hey look kids. Dad got a wok. Look Mum got a larger crockpot. OMG a whole book of one pot meals. LETS DO IT!

and you wonder where the muffin and i get this.

[wescobear.livejournal.com]

And I generally make... reservations. Being single I usually can't be bothered to make a fuss in the kitchen. I'm more likely to make a sandwich or nuke something than I am actually bother to cook. If I have guests however, I'll rattle the pots and pans with the best of them (or try.)

[low-fat-muffin.livejournal.com]

I learned to cook for two reasons - 1) I was on Weight Watchers in 2006 and just moved to SF - and well, this can be a damn expensive place to eat out even at the cheap places; and as a result 2) I also discovered a lot of happiness making new things in the kitchen. and most foods freeze nicely for work lunches. :)