Mexican Goulash

The 2nd entry for Dictionary.com's definition of goulash is "a heterogeneous mixture; hodgepodge; jumble."

The perfect name for this meal I cooked yesterday.

I was inspired by a recipe on The Simple Dollar, one of the blogs I regularly visit. Every week or so, Trent shares a simple healthy meal that he's fixed for his family. First, I am so jealous that he cooks for his family. If Rhett did that, even once a week, I'd think I'd died and gone to heaven. Second, the recipes are usually pretty easy and flexible, so that you can usually substitute in whatever is on hand (at least vegetable-wise).

You can find his recipe, my inspiration, for Enchilada Casserole here. I won't reprint it; I'll just give my version.

Some notes of interest (about the commenters) before I start: Brittany, being from Texas, thought that Trent's dish was "the most Midwestern enchildas" she had ever seen. I kind of thought the same, which is why I call mine goulash, though I kept the "Mexican" moniker. Julia wondered about how uncooked tortillas would work in this recipe. I use only uncooked tortillas now (TortillaLand tortillas from Coscto) because they are delicious. I mean best. toritillas. ever. So I was curious,  too. Cheryl suggested crisping the tortillas in the oven and then crushing them before putting them in the crockpot. I took the first part of her suggestion, but not the second. When I make them again, I will likely leave them out entirely, because when I served this dish I also served TortillaLand tortillas on the side, heated up in a frying pan, and then cut into quarters, and that was a nice addition.

So, without further ado, Mexican Goulash:

Ingredients (substitute, delete, and/or add whatever works for you):
1 can diced tomatoes
1 large tomato, chopped
1/2 large zuchinni, chopped (in retrospect,  I would have used the entire veg)
10 baby peppers (or one large)
1 medium onion, chopped
(Spinach is pictured here, but I actually forgot to the put it in; I would have added 2 large handfuls
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed (I like to rinse off as much of the sodium as possible)
2 tsp minced garlic (or 4 fresh cloves)
16 oz frozen corn
2 T chili powder
1 T cumin
1 T basil
1 T oregano
1 tsp cilantro
1 - 2 cups ground turkey/ground beef mixture, already cooked
Tortillas
Rice

Chop up everything except beans, rice and tortillas, and mix in a large bowl (add the beans to the bowl but not the rice and tortillas). You might notice a green bean in this picture; we had 5 lonely green beans left over from a gift from someone's garden this week, so I chopped them up and threw them in.

If using already cooked tortillas straight from a package, or not including tortillas in the crockpot, skip this step. If you're going to use uncooked tortillas, crisp them up in an oven set at 400 degrees. After 8 min, turn and cook for 5 more min. The above are before the turn. Your oven might be different, so keep an eye on them and adjust the time if necessary.

Spray crockpot with Pam or something similar. Place about a fourth of the veggie mix in bottom, place tortillas on top (or omit and serve tortillas on the side), and keep layering until the veggie mix is gone. End with veggie mix on top.

This is what it looks like before you put the lid on the crockpot and cook on high for one hour and then low for 4-6 hours (or low for entire 7-8 hours). Serve with rice and sour cream (that's Midwestern!).

I forgot to get a picture of the food plated (mostly because by that time, we had guests over). This fed 5 adults, with seconds for 2 of them, and there was still some left over. Which I had for lunch just now on a freshly cooked tortilla. Yum.

And remember that chocolate cake with coconut sour cream icing I made last week? I made it again and we had that for dessert.