Yep, another post

Beef Taco Bake
Ground Beef Recipes Copyright 2009

1 pound ground beef
1 can (10 3/4 ounce) tomato soup
1 cup chunky salsa or picante sauce
1/2 cup water
6 flour tortillas (8 inch) or 8 corn tortillas (6 inch) cut into 1 inch pieces
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Cook beef in skillet until browned. Pour off fat.

Add soup, salsa, water, tortillas and half the cheese. Spoon into 2-quart shallow baking dish. Cover.

Bake at 400 F for 30 minutes or until hot. Sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Makes 4 servings
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Okay, first of all, catch your breath. I know, posts from me two days in a row? Craziness.

This recipe is from one of those small paperback cookbooks that taunt you in the checkout line. The recipes are usually good but the price tag is usually a bit steep - around $4.99 for one of these little guys. I'm pretty good at resisting these for the most part but I do give in occasionally. I may have picked this up somewhere where an additional discount is taken (Costco?) but I still consider it a splurge. Even though I have a few other ground beef cookbooks, I'm always looking for more ideas.

I think that I only needed to pick up the can of soup to make this. I had all the other ingredients on hand already. I happen to like tomato soup - I like the smooth, sweet tomato flavor it has - but you could use more salsa or something else to make this. This isn't the kind of recipe that needs to be followed to the letter.

This reminded me of Jamie’s Mexican Chicken and Tortilla Casserole which uses tortilla chips and I debated using tortilla chips which I also had on hand. I think those would work well too but they would add fat and calories. This recipe isn't too bad if you use the lower sodium version of the tomato soup and lean ground beef. You could use a lower-fat cheese too but there's only 1 cup of cheese in the recipe, about half what you usually see in a recipe like this (Jamie Deen's recipe calls for 3 cups!) You could even use a healthier tortilla.

For me though, this recipe was about using up what was in the house. That is how I operate these days. I think I used the last of a $1 30-pack of corn tortillas in this recipe, the lean beef was probably picked up on clearance, and there is almost always cheese and salsa in our fridge.

Similar recipes I've made:
Beef and Tortilla Casserole (Chilaquiles)
Beef Tamale Skillet Meal
Jamie’s Mexican Chicken and Tortilla Casserole
Quick Tamale Casserole