November Meal-Mexican Dinner Dip - by Becca

Mexican Dinner Dip - by Becca

This works well as a dinner or as an appetizer for a party!

Ingredients:

• Deep square aluminum pan OR deep round Corning Wear dish OR shallow 9x13 pan.
• 1 lb. of ground beef
• 1 pkg. taco seasoning
• 1 bag shredded cheddar
• 1 can refried beans
• 8-10 oz. of your favorite salsa
• sour cream
• large bag of your favorite taco chips
• Optional: chopped tomatoes and shredded lettuce
• Optional: substitute taco shells for the taco chips

Procedure:

1. I used a deep square pan for a thicker dip. You can also use a 9x13" pan for a shallow dip -- either works fine!
2. Grease your pan!
3. Spread out the refried beans to be the bottom layer.
4. Brown and drain the ground beef. Add in taco seasoning and water according to taco pkg. directions.
5. Spread out the ground beef on top of your refried beans.
6. Spread the salsa out on top of the ground beef.
7. Spread out whole bag of cheddar cheese on top of beef.

To Bake Immediately: Bake at 350 for 10 minutes covered with aluminum foil. Then bake for 10 minutes uncovered until cheese is melted.

To Freeze for later: Cover with a couple layers of plastic wrap and foil, and freeze. On cooking day, thaw first, (remove any plastic wrap!), then bake at 350: 10 minutes covered with foil and 10 minutes uncovered until cheese is melted.

Add globs of sour cream on top of dip - or you can have people add this to their own plates. Scoop out big spoonfuls of the meal (be sure to get all of the layers!), and use your taco chips to dip.

You can also add chopped tomatoes, onions, or shredded lettuce to make taco salads. You could scoop up the mixture into taco shells for a fancy taco as well.