Adventure #8: Oven-Baked Frito Pie

            Last weekend Garrett and I teamed up to tackle adventure #8. We wanted to make something fairly simple at a reasonable price and after searching for about an hour, we finally found something that we agreed sounded pretty tasty. We decided to make an old classic with a twist, oven-baked Frito pie.   

            Luckily for us, we already had almost every ingredient. Nevertheless, we still had to complete step one, shopping. We set off for the store in search of 1 can of chili beans, 1 package of taco seasoning, and 1 bag of shredded cheddar cheese.

The complete list of ingredients is as follows:

1 lb. lean ground beef

1 can (16 oz.) chili beans
1 can (8oz.) tomato sauce
1 can (15 oz.) diced tomatoes
1 package taco seasoning
1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
3 ½ cups corn chips (Frito’s)
1 ¼ cup sour cream  

            Step one of adventure #8 was not much of a challenge. For the first (possibly the second) time, we entered the store and found everything we needed without any problems. The adventure was off to a good start, so we purchased the items and headed home to embark on step two, baking.

            When we arrived home, we gathered all of the ingredients and began putting the dish together. Garrett, who is now a master at browning hamburger, started with the meat. While the meat was browning, I opened the chili beans, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, and taco seasoning which were eventually added to the hamburger to make the chili.

            A layer of chips was added to a baking dish and topped with the chili. This was baked for 20 minutes at 320 degrees. Sour cream, additional chips, and cheese were then added to the dish which went back into the oven for 5 more minutes.

            The timer soon sounded and Garrett and I removed the dish from the oven, allowing it to cool for several minutes before fixing our plates. When we finally tried the dish, we agreed that it was very good and a recipe that we wanted to keep.

 

 

 

The only drawback to oven-baked Frito pie is that it does not keep well. After refrigerating the dish, the Frito’s become soggy, so the dish doesn’t make for very good leftovers. This, of course, was my opinion. Garrett, however, said that he would still eat it, but to be fair, he would eat almost anything.

            Nevertheless, adventure #8 was a success! Since we have made mostly dinners and a few desserts, we decided that the next adventure would be something in the breakfast category. Check out the blog next week to hear about adventure #9, fresh cherry & dark chocolate chunk scones!

The full recipe for oven-baked Frito pie can be found here http://www.sweettreatsmore.com/2011/10/oven-baked-frito-pie.html