You all know how much I like Mexican food, right? OK, well maybe you don’t, but I want to assure you that it is a regularly eaten food at our house. In addition to loving Mexican food, I also really like to cook with ground beef. Why? Because it’s one of the least expensive meats to cook with. In order to save money on my overall grocery bill, I often find myself buying the ground beef with the higher fat content. But that means I have to be sure to drain it as nobody likes greasy food!
This particular batch of meat was 73% beef, 27% fat, as you can see. It seems to be swimming in grease. Typically, I try to prop up my pan and get all the grease to go to one side, while scooping it out with a spoon. But this time, I had this nifty little colander called an Easy Greasy ™.
This recipe is sponsored by Easy Greasy™ . All opinions are 100% my own.
This particular colander is perfect because it has a little bowl that fits directly below it to catch all the grease. It also has a lid that you can put on the bowl until you have a chance to let it harden and scoop it into the trash. It has a handle, so you can easily hold the colander with one hand AND it has a pour spout. Pretty cool, huh?! I asked my husband why we didn’t invent this one…haha. It’s the perfect kitchen tool that makes my life easier in the kitchen!
And what I really love about it, is that after all the grease has been drained out into the bowl, I can easily grab the colander by it’s handle and run the cooked ground beef under the faucet for a few minutes to make sure that I get any extra grease out of my meat, cutting back on any unwanted fat calories! I usually use hot water, so that the grease stays heated and will hopefully wash way down, not stopping in my pipes to gum them up.
Now, this recipe is unique. It calls for fresh spinach, corn, black beans, onions and green peppers. They look so nice and colorful there, don’t they?
After I pulled out the correct amount of vegetables, I mixed them all up in the bowl. I then set aside the 2 cups of cooked meat that I would be needing for this meal.
After that, my layering process began.
It started with a can of diced tomatoes on the bottom.
Then I put in the next layer of corn tortillas. I tore one of them to fit, as you can see below…..
Next, sprinkle on some of your ground beef.
Follow that with your Veggie/Bean Mixture as it’s own layer.
Finally, add cheese and then repeat those layers twice.
You will finish with another can of diced tomatoes, topped with a layer of cheese.
Cook on low for 4 hours and you’ll finish up with an amazing Mexican lasagna that looks like this….
We served this meal with sour cream and cilantro on top and with tortilla chips on the side. Personally, I thought it was delicious to dip my chips into the lasagna and eat it kind of like a dip. It tasted a lot like enchiladas.
Now, I know you are going to want to try it, so let me share the recipe with you below. If you try it, come back and let me know if you liked it!
Slow Cooker Mexican Lasagna - Delicious and Simple!
Ingredients
- 2 15 oz cans diced tomatoes
- 12 corn tortillas
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 onion diced
- 1 package taco seasoning
- 24 oz shredded cheddar or Mexican style cheese
- 1 15 oz can black beans drained
- 3 oz fresh chopped spinach
- 16 oz salsa
- 2 cups corn
- 2 cups chopped mushrooms optional
- 1 bell pepper
- 8 oz sour cream
- 2 avocados optional
Instructions
- Brown ground beef with taco seasoning
- Dice onion, spinach, bell peppers and mushrooms.
- Pour a layer of diced tomatoes in bottom of slow cooker
- Mix together black beans, salsa, corn, spinach, onions, peppers and mushrooms.
- Layer ingredients in bottom of slow cooker in the following order: tomatoes, tortillas, ground beef, bean/veggie mixture. End with layer of tomatoes & cheese
- Cook on low 4 hours
- Top with avocados & sour cream
Freezer Bag Instructions:
- Brown ground beef with taco seasoning.
- While that’s cooking, chop onion, spinach, bell peppers & mushrooms.
- Place ground beef into freezer safe gallon size bag
- Mix together black beans, salsa, corn, spinach, onions, peppers and mushrooms.
- Put in another gallon size freezer safe bag.
- Label both bags and lay flat to freeze
- Get bags out of freezer the night before you plan to assemble this meal so they are able to be layered in the morning.
- Layer ingredients in bottom of slow cooker in the following order at a time: tomatoes, tortillas, ground beef, Vegetable/bean mixture, cheese.
- End with layer of tomatoes & cheese
- Cook on low 4 hours
- Top with avocados & sour cream
Nutrition
Buy an Easy Greasy™ Colander
Easy Greasy™ colanders come in four different trendy color options. As you can see, mine is red and I love it. Other colors are blue, green and purple, pictured above. If you’d like to purchase one, go here to see the different options at Amazon. If you’d like to learn more about the company, please visit them at their Easy Greasy company website.
Enter to Win Your Own Easy Greasy™ Colander
To get entered into a giveaway for an Easy Greasy colander, leave me a comment here on this post telling me what your favorite ground beef recipe is and what color of colander you would prefer. It’s that simple. I will pick a winner using Random.com on March 16th and will inform the winner by email.
