Late New Years Recipes...

....well, maybe you can use them for a football game or something? :)

Mexican Lasagna:
1 lb taco meat (however you prepare it)
1 can black beans
1 can corn
1 container of cottage cheese (if you're a purist, use ricotta...but if you're cheap and have a million hungry mouths to feed, use cottage cheese!)
2 jars salsa
2 packages tortillas, cut into strips to mimic lasagna noodles
1 package colby jack cheese

Mix the first 4 ingredients. Spoon in a bit of salsa onto the bottom of a 9x14 pan. Layer just like lasagna (no way is a wrong way!)...meat mixture, salsa, cheese, tortillas...repeat ending with a meat mixture topped with salsa and cheese. Bake 350 for like 45 min. (everything is cooked, just until it's melty and bubbling)

Accidental Taco Dip:

Originally I was going to make PW's artichoke dip from her cookbook (DELISH!!!!), but I forgot the artichokes...then I was going to make jalapeno popper dip, but I had forgotten the can of green chiles. Soooo, in desperation I went to the pantry and found a can of tomatoes with chiles and a can of refried beans. The basic recipe for both of the forgotten ingredient recipes have the same just to it....so here we go...my flubbed version:

1 block cream cheese (softened)

1 cup mayonnaise

1 can diced tomatoes with chiles

1 cup parm cheese (the real stuff)

1 can refried beans

a handful of bread crumbs and more parm cheese

Combine the cream cheese and mayonnaise (it's a bear to do this by hand..I just throw it in the stand mixer and away we go!). Add in the tomatoes and cheese. In a glass baking dish (mine was a 12" round pyrex) spread the
refried beans. Top with the cream cheese mixture. Sprinkle with bread crumbs and parm cheese. Bake 350 until bubbling. (about 25 min.)

Chocolate Eclair Cake:

Super easy recipe when you don't feel like making 1200 birthday cakes!

2 small pkgs vanilla pudding, prepared

1 box graham crackers

1 small tub cool whip

chocolate frosting

Prepare vanilla pudding as directed, fold in cool whip. Lay down a layer of grahams in a 9x13 pan. Top with half of the pudding mixture. Layer another set of grahams. Top with the rest of the pudding. Make a batch of chocolate frosting (or...microwave a container of the store bought stuff)...should be the consistency of the pudding. (spreadable) Put this in the fridge for 3 hours or overnight. The longer you let this set, the better (the grahams get all cakey as they soak in the pudding).

There you have it birthday feast part one!