Yum

For my bridal shower many moons ago, one of the things the organizers did was have all the ladies bring recipes to put in a book for me. I confess that I got rid of a lot of them because I knew I would never, ever make them - but I won't say which ones, so if you were at my shower 7 years ago and brought a recipe, you'll never know if yours was one that didn't make the cut! Ha! But I kept a lot of them, too...it's actually a very cool idea for a bridal shower, especially when the bride (like I was then) is very young and just starting a household.

This is one that I still make fairly often, and also make for friends on occasions when the nice Midwestern girl in me knows you should "bring a covered dish" - like surgeries, or births or deaths or whatever. I just made it yesterday and I've decided I shouldn't keep it to myself any longer. Props to my friend Lisa from high school for this one:

Taco Casserole

2 c. crushed tortilla chips
1 lb. ground beef
1 small onion, chopped
1 packet taco seasoning
8 oz. tomato sauce
8 oz. cottage cheese
8 oz. sour cream
8 oz. bag shredded cheese (cheddar-jack is really good)

Preheat oven to 350. Brown the ground beef, remove from heat and drain. Stir in onion, taco seasoning and tomato sauce. Set aside. In separate bowl, combine sour cream and cottage cheese. In 2 qt. casserole dish (greased or sprayed with cooking spray), layer half the chips, half the meat mixture, half the sour cream mixture and half the shredded cheese. Repeat layers. Cover and bake for about 30 minutes or until heated through.

It is SUCH good comfort food. What I especially love about it is that you can go buy all the stuff for it in the pre-packaged quantities you need, so you don't even have weird amounts of leftover ingredients. Delicious AND efficient. Yum, yum, yum.