Welcome to our first official TASTY TUESDAYS!!!

Today I'm going to share with you a recipe that is dear to my heart, mostly because it's in my stomach as I type. The amounts of the ingredients in this recipe can be adjusted at the discretion of the chef, as can the variety of seasonings.  I have put the amounts of each ingredient after the name for this reason.  I call this version the poor man's casserole.  The seasoning is very simple and consists of only salt and pepper.  I wanted to challenge myself to allow the food speak for itself.  I did well for the most part; though a little heavy on the pepper.  I would definitely try this recipe again.

Ingredients:

Ground beef (1/2 lb.)

Corn (14.5 oz can)

Two small yellow onions

Bread (3-4 slices--I used potato and Italian because it's what I had available)

Cheese (I used a shredded Italian blend with asiago because asiago makes everything better)

Olive oil

Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:

• Pre-Heat the oven to ~300 degrees F and heat a frying pan with olive oil to med-low heat (around 3).
• Dice the onions, season, and add to the frying pan.
• Cook the onions until soft and delicious.  I've discovered that if you put a cover on your frying pan, the onions soften quicker and more evenly.
• While the onions are cooking: 
• Season your ground beef.
• Rip the bread into chunks and lay them in a baking pan.  You want enough bread to cover the bottom of the pan.
• Drizzle olive oil and season the pieces of bread evenly.
• Put the bread in the oven until crispy.  Make sure to keep an eye on it.  You want croutons, not rocks.  Remove when crispiness quotient is obtained.
• When the onions are done cooking, add the ground beef to the pan and cook until brown throughout.  Again, the lid on the frying pan speeds up the process.
• When the bread is removed from the oven, empty it onto a plate and increase the oven heat to ~375 F.
• When the beef is cooked, add the corn.  Adjust seasoning as necessary with the addition of each item to the pan.  Warm the corn/beef/onion mixture throughout.
• Pour the mixture in the frying pan into the baking pan.  Cover with croutons and sprinkle cheese over top.  Return to oven.  Bake until warm and cheese is melted.

Enjoy!  I thought it was pretty good for something I just pulled out of my butt today (which is saying something).  There are an infinite number of different possible variations on this recipe.  That being said: statistically speaking, many of them will taste horrible.  If you add your own favorite seasoning and try you favorite veggies instead of onions and corn, however, I'm sure you'll be pretty please with yourself.  

Ciao!