Does your family do a taco night, or a Mexican food night every week? I’ve contemplated doing this, and really, I think we DO do this in practice, though perhaps not on a specifically designated day. We just love the flavors of Mexican food and we eat it on a regular basis. Tortillas are almost always on my shopping list!
One thing I don’t buy regularly, though, is hard taco shells. That’s because I always find that at least 25% of the shells are broken when I open the package. They are just really delicate, and don’t handle the journey from the factory to the shelves that well. I actually found a recipe on the Ortega website that requires broken shells. What a cleverl solution to this problem! We tried it, and we liked it. Here it is!
Taco Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup ORTEGA Thick & Smooth Taco Sauce – Medium
- 4 ozs. ORTEGA Diced Green Chiles
- 1 can (2.25 oz.) sliced ripe olives, drained, divided
- 1 package ORTEGA Taco Seasoning Mix – Regular
- 1 package (4.5 oz) ORTEGA Taco Shells (12 ct), broken
- 2 cups shredded mild cheddar cheese, divided
- 1/4 cup chopped tomatoes (optional)
- 1/8 cup sliced green onions (optional)
Directions
PREHEAT oven to 375° F.
COOK beef, onion and garlic until beef is browned; drain. Stir in water, taco sauce, chiles, 1/4 cup olives and seasoning mix. Cook over low heat for 3 to 4 minutes.
LAYER half of broken taco shells on bottom of greased 12 x 8-inch baking dish. Cover with half of meat sauce; sprinkle with 1 cup cheese. Repeat with remaining shells, meat sauce and cheese. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until bubbly and cheese is melted. Top with remaining olives, tomatoes and green onions.
In addition to having an EXCELLENT array of Mexican food recipes, Ortega also has something else that I found VERY exciting: whole grain and whole wheat hard and soft tacos! Woo hoo! Try as I may, I just don’t care for corn tortillas, and I have always felt bad about buying the flour ones because I knew they were made with enriched flour. Ortega has made this a non-issue for me. Very exciting!
The next time you are grocery shopping, be sure to check out these fantastic new Ortega products. I can tell you that my family has a new tortilla of choice now, and it is from Ortega!
Win it!: In celebration of Cinco de Mayo, THREE lucky Stuff Parents Need readers will each get a Whole Grain & Whole Wheat Hard & Soft Taco Kit from Ortega! The contest will run until May 14th at 11:59pm EST when a winner will be selected via Random.org. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to winning notification before the prize is forfeited and a new winner is selected. Open to residents of the United States. Limit one entrant per household, please.
REMEMBER, TO QUALIFY FOR A GIVEAWAY ON MY SITE, YOU MUST PUBLICLY FOLLOW ME VIA GOOGLE FRIEND CONNECT (FOUND ON MY SIDEBAR)
Mandatory entry: let me know you follow on GFC and also tell me one Ortega recipe that sounds delicious to you!
My answer: The Vegetarian Tostadas look simple and delicious!
Additional entries:
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Be sure to enter my other current giveaways, found on the sidebar of my homepage.
Disclosure: I received complimentary products through the Family Review Network in exchange for my honest opinion, which I have provided.
