I'm going to a park to play volleyball with some friends, and we will grill and have a picnic afterwards. Everyone brings something to share. I wanted to make something different from your typical hot dogs and chips type food, and anything taco-related is always a hit, so this is what I came up with. Since I already had the majority of ingredients, only needed to buy the lettuce and tomato, this was super cheap. Even if I had to re-buy everything, for a party of 10 or so people this is a cheap side/dip. It is nearly filling enough to count as a meal!
Ingredients.
1 pound ground beef
1/4 cup taco seasoning
8 oz cream cheese
8 oz sour cream
1 can refried beans
1/4 cup salsa
1/2 cup shredded cheese
1/2 ripe tomato
1/4 head of lettuce, shredded (about 1 cup)
1/4 cup sliced black olives
Step 1: Brown the ground beef in a skillet. While cooking, layer the cream cheese on the bottom of an 8x8 pan with a spoon.
Step 2: Spread the sour cream on top of the cream cheese. Now you have 2 layers of cheesy goodness to build your mexi-masterpiece on top of.
Step 3: Open the refried beans and mix it up in the can. You can heat this first, I just scooped it right out of the can and layered it on.
That's 3 if you're counting.
Step 3: Once beef is cooked, add the taco seasoning and 1/4 cup water and cook until the water boils off. The beef should now smell tangy and reminiscent of Taco Bell. Pour that over the beans and spread evenly.
Step 4: Add as much salsa as you like on top of the beef. I just put about 1/4 cup since I'm adding real tomato as well.
Step 5: Add a healthy handful of shredded cheddar or whatever type of cheese you like. We're up to 6 layers now...
Step 6: Cut the lettuce into small strips and cover the cheese with crunchy green goodness.
Step 7: Dice up a big fresh red tomato into small chunks and add those on top.
Step 8: Sprinkle the sliced black olives on top to complete the pretty picture.
And there you have it, 9 layers of tasty chip-read dip! You can of course omit any layers you don't particularly like, and it's also an option to toss this in the oven or microwave for a few minutes after the cheese layer to warm up the meat/beans/cheeses before topping with the fresh veggies if you like it warm.
Labels: beans, beef, cheese, cream cheese, easy, fast, ground beef, hearty, lettuce, mexican, no-cook, olives, party, picnic, salsa, side dish, sour cream, taco, tomatoes
