I’m switching things up and posting a recipe!  Sometimes I like to make a recipe that feeds 10-12 and divide it up between 2 dishes…then freeze one for later.  I’m super busy and life is so much easier when I can pull a homemade meal out of the freezer and not even have to think about dinner!

This one is adapted from Cooking Light.  It was called Beef Taco Rice.  Here’s the link…

Dice a medium onion and a medium bell pepper.  Add them to a skillet with a bit of olive oil…sautee…then add a half a packet of taco seasoning and a bit of salt and pepper.

After that, add 16 ounces of tomato sauce and about 4 cups of cooked rice.  Mix together until thoroughly heated.  Cooper likes to help open all the cans.  In fact all my kids fight for who gets to open the cans…it’s all about marketing!  I make the job seem super important and everyone wants to do it. 🙂

Spread the rice mixture in the bottom of a 9×13 pan, or (2) 8×8 pans if you’re dividing it.  Then cook a pound of ground beef or turkey with the other half of the taco seasoning.  Layer this on top of the rice mixture.  Then top with a can of refried beans.  Top this with cheese and you’re good to go!  If you want to get all fancy, you can layer it twice…rice, beef, beans, cheese, rice, beef, beans, cheese.

Bake it for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.  If you decide to freeze half, just defrost it in the fridge for a day, then follow the baking instructions.  I’m sorry I don’t have a photo of the finished product…teaming mobs of children ate it all up before I had a chance to photograph it!  What I DID do, was photograph my freezer so you can see how I use the disposable trays to make life EVEN SIMPLER!