Fritos & Veggies Living In Perfect Harmony

Jay listened to this podcast and immediately requested Frito Pie for dinner this weekend.

Who was I to deny him.

I chose to make an oven baked version rather than the {street} way ~ cut open a small bag of Fritos, pour in some chili & add some cheese like Pioneer Woman does…not that I am above or would not totally devour it in that form, but I was trying to take a little more of a healthified, sophisticated route.

Here’s how this little number comes together…

1. Sauté a chopped onion, 3 cloves of minced garlic and a chopped red pepper {I used a tri-color pepper assortment that turned out to be about 1.5 peppers}.

2. When those are soft {about 5 minutes}, remove them from heat and pour them into a bowl.

3. Brown about 1 pound of ground beef or turkey {I used extra lean ground beef}.

4. Add one package taco seasoning and about 1/4 cup water ~ let simmer for a couple minutes.

5. Add an 8 ounce can of tomato sauce, a 15 ounce can of diced tomatoes, a drained can of pinto beans {no need to rinse} and handful of shredded cheese {I used reduced fat Mexican blend}.

6. Add in your onion, peppers and garlic mixture and combine together ~ will look like chili.

7. Spray a 9X13 pan with Pam and pour half a bag of Fritos {I used Scoops} in the bottom of the pan.

8. Pour the entire pan of meat/veggie mixture onto the chips and place in a 350* oven for 20 minutes.

9. After 20 minutes, remove and spread 1.5 cups sour cream {I used light} on top followed by a the rest of the Fritos and about a cup of cheese.

10. Place back in the oven for about 5 minutes until the cheese is melted.

{Recipe adapted from here}

I am all about the toppings so we added some cilantro, avocado, Cholula and a squeeze of lime to ours…totally forgot about the jalapeños!

It was yuuuummmy…the bottom layer serves as a kind of crust and gets soft, but there is still crunch from the top layer. I felt a little better about making this by adding the additional peppers and using low fat versions of the cheese and sour cream.

Definitely a keeper!

It makes a TON so would be perfect for Superbowl Sunday!

Who will it be?

I’m hoping for a showdown between the Niners and the Pats…

Niners taking the whole thing, of course.