Mexican Lasagna

Tonight I tried a new recipe and the first from a blog that I follow. I borrowed it from the Pioneer Woman blog. The picture I "stole" from there as well! I highly recommend this recipe and here is the link to it: Mexican Lasagna. I will, if I may, suggest a slightly altered version of the recipe for those of us that aren't feeding an army of cowboys (although that could be quite fun!) I made my own smaller version tonight for my husband and I and we still could have had about 6 extra guests help us finish it off. Here would be my version if you were going to make it for 2-4 people.

2 cups of unprepared rice
2 1/2 cups of low sodium chicken broth/stock
3 tomatoes chopped small
1/2 onion chopped small
5 cloves of garlic (minced)
1.5-2 lbs of ground beef
2 (16oz) bags of mexican cheese blend
1 can of corn (drained)
1 can of black beans
2 (16oz) jars of salsa verde
1 (16oz) jar of enchilada sauce
2 Tbsp chili powder, 1 tBsp of paprika, 1 Tbsp of cumin
1-2 Tbsp of butter
Flour tortillas
cilantro
Sour cream (if you like for garnish)

Begin by preparing the rice with the chicken broth/stock. I used my rice cooker. Saute tomatoes, onions and garlic over med-high heat with a 1-2 Tbsp of butter. Add 1 Tbsp of chili powder and 1/2 a Tbsp of each the paprika and cumin. Let this cook down a bit and beans. Mix cooked rice together with this mixture. This makes your Mexican rice for the dish.

Then in the same pan you just used, brown the ground beef using the remaining 1 Tbsp of the chili powder, and the other 1/2 a Tbsp of the paprika and cumin. Drain the fat and add a little water if neccesary to create taco beef.

Assemble the lasagna: Spread one container of salsa verde in the bottom of the casserole or baking dish. Layer tortillas covering the salsa verde. Some overlapping is expected. Divide the rice mixture in half and spread it over the layer of tortillas. Put one bag of cheese over the rice layer. Add another layer of tortillas. Pour enchilada sauce over the tortillas and spread it evenly. Add layer of ground beef. Add can of corn. Then the remaining rice mixture. Add one last layer of tortillas and then top with 2nd jar of salsa verde and then the 2nd bag of cheese goes on last.

Bake at 375 degrees for about 25-35 minutes until cheese has melted and begins to brown a bit. Garnish with cilantro and sour cream when you serve it.