Serious Goodness Casserole

Recipe Author: Simmie Sinow

 

Number of Servings    8-9

In a large pan on your stovetop: brown the following
2 lbs lean ground beef or ground turkey
1 large onion chopped (I use my Ninja to accomplish this)
2-3 green bell peppers, diced
1 can (13.25 oz) mushrooms (or fresh mushrooms)
Garlic, garlic, and more garlic! I didn’t have any fresh, so I used garlic chips today (optional)
Crushed peppers (hot) to taste!

In a separate pan, sauté the coleslaw mix until it is tender and has cooked down in volume. Generally this will take 5 minutes or less, depending on how high the heat is turned up on your stovetop. Make sure to use some olive oil in your pan to prevent sticking.

Drain the liquid out of the ground turkey mixture.

Add to the ground turkey mixture the following and mix well:
1 can (24 oz) Salsa (recipe calls for 38 oz, but I like a little bit less liquid)
2 tsp chili powder
1/3 cup coconut aminos
1 bag of coleslaw mix (16 oz bag)
5 cups spinach (optional) – reduced down by your food processor, blender, or hand chopping small, to about 2 cups. Add this at the very end of mixing.

Place the mixture in a baking dish (I use a large one) and bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes.

Notes:

I don’t like salsa. Do I have to use it?
I have made this using marinara sauce and it is a nice dish, with the flavor being more on the sweet side due to the marinara, rather than spicy when using the salsa.

Can I use different vegetables in this casserole?
You can add any number of other vegetables to this as well – I’ve made it with green beans; asparagus doesn’t work very well as they got a bit soggy.  In C3, adding zucchini or squash to it is a nice way to bulk it up. Using broccoli slaw instead of coleslaw will give it more “oomph.”  Definitely more filling—not that it needs to be.

Can I freeze the portions I don’t use right away?
This freezes really well.  When reheating, I sauté more coleslaw and use that underneath the casserole and put the casserole meat dish on top.

Today’s casserole was made with less liquid in terms of salsa or tomatoes; the original called for 38 ounces and that was just a little bit too much liquid for my tastes.