Entrée – Red Enchilada Casserole

Contributed by:

Ramona Butler

( ramonabutler.com)

Romantic suspense & Romance

Story behind the recipe – I was born a southerner, but when my family moved to New Mexico, I immediately fell in love with everything about the state. The forever landscape. The co-mingled Anglo-Mexican-Native American cultures. The architecture. The food -- especially the food. Ahhh, those spicy dishes. My mother tamed the heat for our uneducated palates to come up with the following.

What you’ll need

- One lb of ground beef.

- One lg. can of Ranch-style beans.

- One sm can of red enchilada sauce.

- Six corn tortillas.

- One lb of Longhorn cheese, grated.

Steps to the process

- Brown ground beef in skillet. Season with salt, pepper, and garlic to taste.

- Drain grease from beef.

- Add beans and enchilada sauce.

- Place enough sauce in a two-quart casserole dish to cover bottom. Place two tortillas flat in sauce, then layer with one-half sauce, then one-third of grated cheese. Add two more tortillas and layer again. End layers with two tortillas and cheese covering the top.

- Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes.

Comments - This recipe also works in a medium-size crock pot. Simply heat layers thoroughly. It’s a hit at potlucks served directly from crock pot.

Blurb for BORDER HEAT - Red haired travel agent Caroline Cody blames a Tarot death card for her latest assignment: an on-site evaluation of a Copper Canyon tour tailored specifically for senior citizens, a trip that experiences trouble from the get-go. When her first meeting with hunky tour guide Jess Hightower ends in disaster, she suspects he isn’t an experienced tour leader, but she can’t begin to foresee the danger he represents to the tour group -- or to her heart.