We’re back on the Crock-Pot Monday bandwagon this week with a new-to-me recipe: Stephanie O’Dea’s bean and cheese burrito casserole! I veganized it for the evening, but the sentiment remained the same.
You know, one thing I’m looking for in a Crock-Pot Monday recipe is ease of prep in the morning. This generally excludes any recipe that involves pre-cooking or a great deal of chopping, mixing, or general fussing about. Thankfully, this casserole recipe required very little of the above! A chopped onion and bell pepper, a mix of ingredients in a bowl, and voila, the prep work was done. Magical! Just the way I like it while fighting through the hubbub of the first of the week.
After assembling the casserole as Stephanie recommended (looking back, I probably should have put one more flour tortilla on top, but that’s on me), all that was left was for me to flip the slow cooker to Low and hit the road. By the time I got home from work some nine hours later, it was fully cooked, and the Daiya pepperjack shreds I’d used had melted just beautifully. This was one of the first times I’d used Daiya shreds in a slow-cooker recipe, and they behaved perfectly! Just as they ought to.
I assembled a little salad on each of our plates and then spooned up healthy helpings of the casserole. It was a bit soupy, but we didn’t mind; the flavors were just like enjoying a burrito! I managed, with some restraint, to stick to one serving, but LeeLee went back for seconds. And there’s PLENTY left over for lunch tomorrow, so we’ll each get another crack at this meal!
In short, this is definitely a dish I’ll make again. Consider it added to the Crock-Pot repertoire! Mexican flavors, the ease of the slow cooker, having dinner ready the moment you walk in the door … what could be better?
:)