Famous Cowboy Casserole

I absolutely love a fresh tomato pie, made during the summer when tomatoes from our garden are at their peak. 

*sigh* 

We may get another dusting of snow tomorrow. My oldest daughter says it's punishment for having so many "Gingers". 
I have 4 children and the oldest three are redheads. Not just red headed, but fiery red, red headed. 

Haha. It's made for an interesting parenthood, you get lots of comments with red heads. 

I hope having so many of them isn't the driving factor on our weather or my community may just ostracize me. gulp!

Seriously, I am still craving that tomato pie-but I found a great alternative surfing Pinterest and I decided to riff on that to satisfy my cravings. 

So I found a recipe that Mercedes of The Kitchen Life of a Navy Wife called her John Wayne Casserole, that I adapted this recipe from. 

So my riff on this recipe I decided to call.....

FAMOUS COWBOY CASSEROLE

And although the recipe isn't "famous" yet (hehe!!), the Cowboy it's named after most definitely is!  

The first layer is a whole grain baking mix-biscuit layer, then lean ground beef cooked with Taco seasoning (this dish can be made vegetarian by omitting the meat totally or subbing it with scrambled eggs, tofu or TVP). Next, fresh sliced tomatoes topped with sauteed onions, pepperoncini, and then the kicker---a cheesy-mayo-sour cream topping (Hello!!-Paula Deen fans!).  

Ingredients

1 1/4 pounds ground beef, cooked and drained

1 (1.25-ounce) packet taco seasoning

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup mayonnaise

2 cups Cheddar cheese (I used a Pepper Jack-hence the "blond" color), shredded and divided

1 yellow onion, sliced

2 cups biscuit mix

2/3 cup milk

2 tbsp vegetable oil

2 tomatoes, sliced

1/4 cup sliced pepperoncini peppers

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350F. Brown ground beef and add taco seasoning and water, set aside.

2. In a separate bowl, combine sour cream, mayonnaise, 1 cup cheese, and half of the onions; set aside.

3. Stir biscuit mix, milk and oil to form soft dough. Pat dough on the bottom and one-half-inch up the sides of an 9 x 11 in. greased casserole dish.

4. Saute remaining onions until slightly tender.

5. On top of biscuit mix, evenly distribute ingredients in the following order: ground beef, tomato slices, onions, pepperoncini, sour cream mixture and end with remaining shredded cheese.

6. Bake for 40 minutes or until edges of dough are lightly browned. Let cool 5 minutes to make serving easier.

This recipe is adapted from:John Wayne Casserole-The Kitchen Life of a Navy Wife.

Enjoy!

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