Alphabe-Thursday..."C" as in CHILI pie

It's time again for Ms. Jenny's Alphabe-Thursday and this week we are studying the letter "C" as in Ken Rogers' Mexican CHILI Pie.

I really enjoy it when the food section of the Houston Chronicle publishes recipes from their readers. They really don't do it often enough anymore. It seems most of their recipes now come from Good Housekeeping or Redbook, or they feature some chef's recipe and I don't even recognize some of the ingredients. Of course, the newspaper business has changed and the food section is now usually only four pages. I guess I should be grateful that they still have a food section!

Some years back I clipped this recipe out of the paper and we all liked it. It's become another family favorite, but it's spicy. If you like less spice you could always cut back a little on the chili powder and leave off the jalapenos. We have iron stomachs and like things hot!

Ken Rogers’ Mexican CHILI Pie

1 ½ pounds ground beef

1 tablespoon chili powder

½ teaspoon garlic salt

¼ cup sliced black olives (I use ½ a small can of chopped black olives)

1 cup sour cream

1/3 cup minced onion

1 (8 ounce) jar salad dressing (such as Miracle Whip)

2 cans refrigerated crescent rolls (8 rolls in each)

2 tomatoes, thinly sliced (I use 3 large tomatoes)

2 cups grated Cheddar cheese

Sliced canned jalapenos to taste

Sprinkle ground beef with chili powder and garlic salt. Cook in a large skillet over medium heat until meat loses pink color. Drain off fat. In a small bowl combine olives, sour cream, onion, and salad dressing.

Unroll crescent rolls. Flatten and line the sides and bottom of a 13 X 9 X 2 inch baking dish with all the rolls; pinch seams together to seal. (I lightly spray the pan with Pam first.) Spread all the meat mixture on top of the dough. Layer with one-half of the tomato slices, one half of the cheese, and one half of the olive mixture. Repeat layers. Top with jalapenos. Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven until crust is golden brown, about 10 to 15 minutes. (I usually bake it for 20-25 minutes…just keep an eye on it so the crust doesn’t burn.) Makes 6 to 8 servings.

I'm adding the pictures again at the bottom in case anyone would like to copy and paste just the above recipe into a Word Document. Besides, you don't need pictures...you all know how to read and my pictures are lousy. Here they are anyway...just in case.

Here are the crescent rolls in the bottom of the pan.

The ground beef and chili powder are simmering.

Here's the before...

...and here's the after.

Be sure and visit Ms. Jenny's blog for a list of this week's participants.