Wednesday, February 24, 2010

What to do with tortilla chips?

My husband Andy loves all Mexican and Tex-Mex foods.  I could make tacos and burritos every night of the week and he would be in heaven.  However, our daughter Celia, wouldn't like it very much.  You can imagine Andy's surprise when his daughter did not pop out of the womb wanting some nachos.  In fact, it took her three and a half years to find something on the Taco Bell menu that she actually likes besides cinnamon twists.  Lucky for Andy, they started selling cheese roll-ups- melted cheese and a tortilla, which Celia loves.  So now, we can regularly visit Taco Bell again. 

Last night, when I started to make dinner, I wanted to make something Mexicany for Andy, but I was tired of tacos.  I had a few tortilla chips at the bottom of the bag that I wanted to use, so I made a Tex-Mex Meatloaf for dinner.  It was really good and moist!  The best thing about it is, if you have any leftover, crumble it up, throw in some taco seasoning and beans and have tacos the next night. 

I did not make the meatloaf very spicy so Celia and Charlie would eat it.  Add some red peppers and use spicy salsa to heat it up.

Tex-Mex Meatloaf
Ingredients:
1 lb Ground Turkey
1/8 Cup Dried, Chopped Onions
1 TBSP Dried Green Peppers
1 TBSP Dried Red Bell Peppers
2 Eggs
1/2 TBSP Southwest Seasoning Mix (I used a Pampered Chef one)
3/4 Cup Crushed Tortilla Chips (divide into 1/4 Cup and 1/2 Cup)
1/4 Cup Bread Crumbs
3/4 Cup Salsa (divide into 1/4 Cup and 1/2 Cup)
3 Slices Colby Jack Cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, mix together ground turkey, onions, peppers, eggs, southwest seasoning, 1/4 cup crushed tortilla chips, bread crumbs, and 1/4 cup salsa.
3. Spray a glass bottom pie pan.  Form meat mixture into a log and place on pie pan.  I did this by making two large balls.  I placed them next to each other on the pan and filled in between them with the rest of the meatloaf mix.
4. Spread 1/2 cup of salsa on top of meatloaf.  Place in oven and bake for 20 minutes.  After 20 minutes, place cheese slices on top of meatloaf, bake for another 10 minutes.  When timer goes off spread 1/2 cup of crushed tortilla chips on top of melted cheese.  Bake for another 15 minutes.
5. Let cool for 5 to 10 minutes after you take out of oven.  Serve with salsa.

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