Mexican Lasagna

Living in the southwest, we're reminded almost everywhere that it's Cinco de Mayo this week. And, that means it's a good excuse for some Mexican food! Although, let's face it, I don't really need an excuse for that! :)
At this time last year, I had a one month old and this was the first "real" meal I had made in quite sometime. I wanted to try something new that would be fairly easy, so I looked up some different casserole-type ideas and found numerous recipes for Mexican lasagna. None of them fit exactly with the ingredients I had, so I concocted my own.


Ingredients:
- 1.5 lbs ground beef
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 can black beans
- 1 can green chilies
- 1C salsa
- 3 medium whole wheat tortillas
- 3/4 C cottage cheese
- 3/4 C sour cream 
- 1 C shredded cheese 
- 1 small can black olives


Directions:

- Brown ground beef with garlic (would have also browned it with onion, but we didn't have one at the time). When close to done, add a can of green chiles, a can of black beans, and about a cup of salsa.

- Cut up tortillas into strips (to resemble lasagna noodles) and mixed up cheese mixture (combine cottage cheese, sour cream, and a bit of the shredded cheese. You could use a little more than my amounts listed above. I just was trying to use up what I had left).

- Once the meat is done, spread about 1/3 of the meat mixture and put that on the bottom of my casserole dish, layer with tortilla strips on top, and spread about 1/2 the cheese mixture on top of the tortillas.

 - Repeat that again, ending with the final 1/3 of the meat mixture. Then, on the very top add some more shredded cheese & sliced olives. Bake on 350 until everything is golden & bubbly.

Serve it up with some homemade guacamole and chips. Mmm...

It was quite yummy! The only problem was that Big Brother found it to be too spicy. So, in our house, it's not really a kid-approved dish! But, the adults loved it!

Do YOU make anything special for "Cinco de Mayo"?