Texas Style Lasagna

I made Texas Style Lasagna last night and as was expected, it was fabulous. This meal comes from the Once A Month Cooking cookbook. The first time I made it I did freeze and cook it later; last night I just put it together and cooked it immediately. Still tasted awesome. It gets a thumbs up from everybody.

All the ingredients (except the ground beef). Nothing too expensive or hard to find!
The meat mixture simmering away on the stove. I used fire-roasted diced tomatoes because they are my favorite diced tomatoes lately.

The finished dish, ready for the oven.

Look at those lovely layers!

The finished product, after we ate part of it! I meant to get a complete picture, but we were too hungry!

So, here's the recipe for Texas Style Lasagna.

1.5 lbs. lean ground beef

2 cups (16 ounces) small-curd cottage cheese

2 eggs (I used 2 egg whites and it still comes out fantastic)

1 1-ounce package taco seasoning mix

1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes, undrained

1 15-ounce can tomato sauce

1 4-ounce can chopped green chiles

5 flour tortillas cut into 1-inch strips (I cut mine with a pizza cutter--makes it fast!)

4 cups (16 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Brown the meat in a large skillet. Drain off excess fat and add the taco seasoning, tomatoes, tomato sauce and chiles; mix well. Simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes. Combine the cottage cheese and eggs in a small bowl.

In a 9x13 baking dish treated with nonstick cooking spray, layer half of the meat sauce, half of the tortillas, half of the cottage cheese mixture, and half of the Monterey Jack cheese. Repeat the layers.

Option 1: Cover with heavy-duty aluminum foil, label and freeze. To serve, thaw, and bake, uncovered, in 350 oven for 40 minutes or until bubbly. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Option 2: Bake in 350 oven for 35 minutes or until bubbly. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

My only variation on the recipe is the amount of cheese. I probably only used about 3 cups; 4 cups was just way too much cheese for me. Otherwise, that's exactly how I made it and we love the recipe. It gets a big thumbs up from the Mr., too, so it is man-approved!