Ryan's go-to meal of the year, this dish works well for an everyday dinner as well as a dinner party. It's an extremely flexible dish, so you don't have to stick too closely to the exact recipe. Add or omit ingredients to your taste and make it all your own.

Begin by preparing rice with chicken broth/stock. Once prepared, salt to taste. Chop up tomatoes, onions, and garlic as small as you prefer. Saute in pan with a tablespoon or so of butter. Add approximately 3 tablespoons chili powder, and 1 ½ tablespoon of both paprika and cumin. Stir until nicely combined. Feel free to add beans if you like them… no need to drain. Mix cooked rice together with tomato/onion/garlic mixture. Brown the ground beef using about 3 tablespoons chili powder, 1 ½ tablespoon, paprika and 1 ½ tablespoon of cumin and salt to taste with about 4-6 ounces of water to create the taco beef. Spread one container of salsa verde in the bottom of a large casserole or baking dish. Layer on tortillas covering salsa verde. Some overlapping is expected. Divide your rice mixture in half and spread it over the layer of tortillas. Divide cheese in half and layer it on top of the rice layer. Approximately 24 ounces of cheese per layer. Add another layer of tortillas on top of your cheese layer. Pour enchilada sauce over the tortillas and spread it out evenly. Add layer of browned ground beef. Add 3 cans of corn (drained) on top of beef layer. Then the remaining amount of rice mixture on top of corn layer followed by the remaining jar of salsa verde, on top of which you will add the remaining cheese (approximately 24ounces) to the top…this is our final layer of ingredients. Sprinkle top with some taco seasoning or cayenne pepper. Bake at 375º for 25-35 minutes until cheese has melted and begins to brown a bit. Enjoy!

This ingredient shopping module is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content on their web site.

can (to 2 Cans) Black Or Pinto Beans (up To You)

1 can (to 2 Cans) Black Or Pinto Beans (up To You)

Hello PW peeps. It’s Ryan, and I’m so excited to share this recipe with you because this has truly been the go-to meal of the year for me. It works well for an everyday dinner as well as a dinner party. Everyone LOVES this dish. Well, I’m sure there are people out there who don’t, but I haven’t met them…and I’m not quite sure I’d want to. It’s got a good number of ingredients, but it’s really quite easy.

Something to keep in mind is that this is an extremely flexible recipe. You can add or omit ingredients to your taste and whatever you do, this “Lasagna” will surely be amazing. I’m using a full-sized pan for this (something that will feed 20+ people) so keep that in mind and cut the recipe in half if you’re just using a regular casserole dish. Be on the look out for quantities such as “some”, “A few”, or “A good bit of”…just remember, this is flexible. Don’t stick too closely to my exact recipe. Make it all your own.

Here’s what we need:

I’ve got Paprika, Cumin, and Chili Powder to make up my own “Taco Seasoning”. Some onions, tomatoes, and lots of garlic. Corn and black beans, white rice (I’m using Basmati), Chicken broth or stock, ground beef, Mexican cheese blend (aka Monterey Jack & Cheddar), Salsa Verde and Enchilada sauce.

Note from PW: Also, Flour Tortillas! (I’m so glad I’m not the only one who forgets ingredients in the Cast of Characters. Gives me hope in the world.)

Got all that? Awesome.

Let’s get started by preparing our Mexican rice. I’m not going to show you how I go about preparing white rice. It’s very simple and I have confidence that you can do this with the basic instructions included with your rice. I can tell you that I prefer Basmati rice and I cook it in chicken broth instead of water. It makes quite a difference in flavor.

Here’s 4 cups (that’s a lot!) of unprepared rice. I be sure to use low sodium chicken stock so I can control how salty it is. Then I simply salt it to taste. When it’s done, you’ll have more than twice the amount of dry rice you started with.

Next we’re going to want to chop up our tomatoes, onions, and garlic. The finer the better for picky eaters.

I like to toss this mixture into a pan to cook it down a bit. You don’t have to do this, but it will help to make everything blend together without that raw onion crunch that some find unpalatable. A couple tablespoons of butter help with this.

This is a good spot to add our spices. I like to use 2 parts chili powder, 1 part paprika, and 1 part cumin. In my case…with the large amount I’m making, this would be 3 tablespoons chili powder, 1 1/2 tablespoons paprika and 1 1/2 tablespoons cumin.

Give it all a stir.

If you like beans you can toss some of those in there, too.

And once that’s all cooked down a little, you can mix it in with your rice. (And by the way, this Mexican rice is awesome as a side dish. Mmm…)

Now that we’ve got an empty pan, we can start browning our ground beef. There’s something so satisfying about being able to use the same pan multiple times. Anyway, I like using the leanest ground beef I can get my hands on for something like this. It’s a little healthier and it also allows me to be lazy as it doesn’t create a bunch of grease I have to drain off.

Once the beef has browned, we can add some more of that “Taco seasoning” mix. I’m tossing in another tablespoon or so of the chili powder, paprika, and cumin. You may need to add a little water to this to get it all mixed up.

This will be a good time to get started with our layering process. First, I’m going to pour a jar of Salsa Verde into my pan as a base. If you haven’t used Salsa Verde before you may need to take a deep look inside yourself and find out what’s been holding you back for so long. Maybe it was pride”¦perhaps fear. One thing’s for sure: it’s time.

Spread it around to get a thin layer.

Next, we’ll layer on some flour tortillas. lay them out like lasagna noodles. It’s okay if they overlap.

Once you’ve got the tortillas laid out, you can spread on a layer of rice. Use half of it.

After the rice is spread out…layer on some cheese. 1/2 of the cheese goes here.

After the cheese, throw on another layer of tortillas.

Then, this is where I like to add some enchilada sauce.

Spread it out…

Now toss your ground beef mixture on there.

If corn has a home…it’s here. Go home corn, go home.

The other half of your rice will go nicely here.

Our remaining cheese goes on top of everything…including the other layer of Salsa Verde that I forgot to take a picture of. Trust me—it’s under there, though. I like to sprinkle the top with something spicy. Cayenne pepper and paprika work well here.

Now, slide this puppy into a 375º oven for 25-35 minutes until all the cheese has gotten melty and crusty and delicious looking. You will not believe how good this is.

Serve it up with sour cream on the side and some cilantro on top. Bliss I tell you…bliss. Try it tonight!

Love Wins,

Ryan