Cheesy Enchilada Casserole, Sweet Potato Corn Bread and Caramel Toffee Popcorn

Our baby girl is almost one.  To celebrate her birthday, we threw a Giraffe Themed Birthday Bash.  The food needed to be kid friendly and this Mexican fare menu was a hit. 

Cheesy Enchilada Casserole

Makes 2 – 9x13 pans

3 pounds lean ground beef (90% lean) 

3 large onions, chopped
5 cups salsa 
2 cans (15 ounces) black beans, rinsed and drained 
1 can (15 ounces) great northern beans, rinsed and drained 

3/4 cup reduced-fat Italian salad dressing 
6 tablespoons reduced-sodium taco seasoning 
3/4 teaspoon ground cumin 
18 flour tortillas (8 inches), cut in half
1 (16 ounce) bag frozen corn  
16 ounces reduced-fat sour cream
4 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend 
To serve:  sour cream 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  In a large skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain.

Stir in the salsa, beans, dressing, sour cream, corn, taco seasoning and cumin. Coat 2 – 9x13-inch baking dishes with cooking spray.  Spoon a generous layer of meat mixture on bottom of both baking dishes.  Sprinkle with grated cheese.

Place 3 tortillas on top of meat mixture. Layer with half of the meat mixture, and cheese. Repeat two more times for both baking dishes.  The last & final layer should be a healthy dose of shredded cheese. 


Cover with foil that has been sprayed with cooking spray.  Freeze one casserole.  Bake the other casserole, covered, for 25 minutes.  Remove foil and bake an additional 15 minutes or until hot and bubbly.    

Let stand for 5 minutes.  Top with sour cream.

Sweet Potato Corn Bread

Serves 15

3 large sweet potatoes

1/4 cup yellow cornmeal

2 cups milk

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/4 cup light-brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup honey

4 large eggs

1 cup heavy cream

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Bake sweet potatoes until soft when pierced with a knife, 40 to 45 minutes. Let cool. Peel, and discard skins.

Reduce heat to 350 degrees. In a medium saucepan over medium heat combine cornmeal, milk, butter, brown sugar, spices, salt, and 1 cup water. Cook, stirring, until slightly thickened, about 10 minutes. Let cool.

Coat a 9x13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.  Working in batches, if necessary, place cornmeal mixture, sweet potatoes, flour, honey, eggs, and cream in a food processor. Process until smooth; pour into dish. Bake until golden brown, about 45 minutes. Serve.

Caramel Toffee Popcorn

3 bags microwave popcorn, popped

1/2 cup butter

2 cups brown sugar

1/2 cup corn syrup

1 tsp salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon baking soda

Place popcorn in a LARGE bowl.  In a medium pan, combine the butter, brown sugar, corn syrup and salt.  Over medium heat, bring to a boil.  Allow to boil for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, measure the vanilla and baking soda.  Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.  

After 5 minutes of boiling, stir in the vanilla and baking soda, making sure there aren’t any clumps.  Then, working quickly, pour the caramel mixture over popcorn.  Use a large wooden spoon to carefully stir the popcorn, coating it in the caramel. Continue stirring until all the popcorn is coated with caramel.  

Spread the popcorn onto two cookie sheets. Place in the oven. Bake for 1 hour. Halfway through, turn the popcorn with a spatula and stir it around a bit. 

Remove from oven and allow to cool.

Once the popcorn is cooled, you just break it apart and store it in an air tight container.