#PWMF (Play With My Food) Contest Finalists: Taco Casserole category

We got a lot of awesome entries for the “Play With MY Food”Cooking Contest. Thank you to EVERYONE who entered. Remember, even if you don’t take the $50 Amazon gift card prize, everyone who entered will also be put into a drawing for a free box of Quest bars!

AND for the Foodie Nation, you’ll get all the recipes contestants submitted so you can try them out for yourselves.

The winner of each recipe category will be announced at the end of the week, but for now I asked each of our judges to choose three FINALISTS. First up, the Taco Casserole category. You'll remember that our contestants needed to use Taco Casserole as inspiration to create a dish of their liking!

First let’s meet our judge.

You might remember that Dana is our brand spanking new resident "Foodie Guy" for Foodie News (the Bariatric Foodie e-mail newsletter). He’s also been reading this blog a long time and has been with me through the up’s the downs and the many faux pas! And he’s tried many BF recipes and made them his own! So when it came time to pick a judge for the BF flagship recipe — Taco Casserole is by far the most mentioned and viewed recipe on this blog — I knew I could count on Dana!

In no particular order, here are the finalists he chose (and their recipes!). One of these Foodies will win the $50 Amazon gift card prize!

Gypsy's "Ole Bake"

Number of Servings-8

Ingredients:

Crust

• 4 oz. fat free cream cheese, softened 
• 3 egg whites 
• 1/3 cup Fat free half and half 
• 1/2 t. taco seasoning 
• 8 oz.low fat cheddar cheese, shredded 

Topping

• 1 lb ground beef, chicken or turkey, 93% lean (can also use chicken or beef fajita meat)leftover meats also work well with this
• 3 t. taco seasoning 
• 1/2 cup of salsa
• 8 oz. pepper jack cheese, shredded 

Directions:

• For the crust, beat the cream cheese and eggs until smooth.
• Add the cream and seasoning. 
• Spray a 9"x13" baking dish with Pam; spread the cheese over the bottom. 
• Pour in the egg mixture as evenly as possible. 
• Bake at 375ºF, 25-30 minutes. 
• Let stand 5 minutes before adding the topping. 
• For the topping, brown the meat (or cut up fajita meat into bite size pieces and brown that); drain fat. 
• Stir in the seasoning and salsa. 
• Spread over the crust. 
• Top with cheese. 
• Reduce oven to 350ºF and bake another 20 minutes or so until hot and bubbly. 
• Serve with the toppings of your choice. Some ideas are shredded lettuce, jalapenos, sliced olives, guacamole, sour cream, plain greek yogurt or salsa.

Briana - Chicken Nacho Casserole

Ingredients:

• 1 lb raw chicken (or 12 oz cooked)
• 1 large tortilla or a handful of tortilla chips
• 1 red onion, cut into half moon slices
• 1 yellow squash, cut into half moon slices
• 1 medium orange pepper, sliced
• 1 can Campbell's Healthy Request Cheddar Cheese Soup (about 10.5 oz, Nacho soup would be great too!)
• 1/3 cup of French salad dressing (I used Kraft Fat Free)
• 2 tablespoons of taco seasoning (I used Old El Paso)
• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar, divided (I used Kraft Fat Free)
• 1 can of Rotel (or generic tomatoes with chilies, whatever heat level you like)

Directions:

1. If using a tortilla, preheat over to 350 degrees, spray tortilla with cooking spray and season liberally. (I used seasoning salt, pepper and garlic powder). Bake until crispy and easily broken.
2. Cook raw chicken in a skillet, again, seasoning liberally, until cooked through. Set aside.
3. Saute vegetables (pepper, onion and squash) in a large pan until soft. I added salt, pepper and garlic powder. Then add previously cooked chicken and mix, heating through.
4. Add taco seasoning, the can of Cheddar cheese soup, the French dressing and 1/4 cup of the shredded cheese to the chicken and vegetable mixture and stir thoroughly. Transfer to sprayed baking dish, 11x7 or larger.
5. Layer the entire can of Rotel on top, then sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup of shredded cheese. Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes until heated through and cheese is melted. Sprinkle with crush tortilla chips and enjoy!

Heather - Zucchini Lasagna

Ingredients:

• 2 medium zucchini
• Salt
• 1 pound ground beef (or turkey)
• ¼ onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 jar spaghetti sauce
• 2 tbsp dried parsley or ¼ cup fresh, minced
• 1 cup low fat ricotta cheese
• 2 eggs (or equivalent substitute)
• ½ 2% cottage cheese
• ½ cup shredded cheddar
• Parmesan to taste

 Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425.
2. Thinly slice zucchini lengthwise to resemble lasagna noodles. Place in a colander, sprinkle liberally with salt and set aside (this draws water out of the zucchini, preventing your dish from becoming watery when cooked).  
3. rown ground beef with onion and garlic, drain fat and stir in spaghetti sauce.  In a separate bowl, mix together ricotta, egg, cottage cheese and parsley.  Rinse salt from zucchini.
4. In an 8x8 dish layer in order the ground beef mixture, cheese mixture then zucchini noodles, ending with the ground beef mixture on top. 
5. Top with shredded cheese and parmesan to taste.
6. Cover with foil and bake 30 minutes or until hot throughout.  Remove foil the last 5 minutes to allow cheese on top to brown.  
7. Let dish sit for 5-10 minutes after removing from the oven before slicing.

This dish can be made “lazy style” by chopping zucchini and mixing all but last two ingredients together in a casserole dish.  Top with shredded cheese and parmesan and bake accordingly.  It’s not as pretty, but tastes just as good!

Stay tuned throughout the day as I announce the finalists for the Eggchilada category and the Protein category. And congratulations to Gypsy, Briana and Heather! As I said the winner will be announced at the end of the week when the judges will also show you how they played with YOUR food!