Mexican Casserole Recipe

This is a super easy crock pot recipe, as are most of my recipes.  This one was made up sort of on accident, again like most of my recipes are.  This actually started out with the intention of making chili, but part way through I changed my mind and started just adding things that sounded good.  It turned out really well.  I was planning to make chili again today, but once I got it started, began to think of changing it into this recipe...which is exactly what ended up happening.  This is modified from the chili recipe I posted a few years ago.

Easy Crock Pot Mexican Casserole

1 cup pinto beans
1 cup black beans
1 cup red beans
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon cumin
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons onion powder
2 teaspoons celery seed
1-2 pounds ground beef or turkey
1 cup brown rice
1 10-ounce package frozen, chopped spinach
~1 ½ teaspoons salt (to taste)
1 can tomato paste
V8 (a few cups, I just poured)

Sort and rinse beans, cover with several inches of water and let soak overnight.  In the morning, drain the beans, pour beans into crock pot and cover with plenty of fresh water.  Add all seasonings except salt. Cook on high.  If using at least 90% lean ground beef or turkey, I crumble it in raw and let it cook with the beans.  If not, then I brown and drain the meat before adding it.  The spinach may be added frozen, and it will thaw and cook. I usually add the spinach and rice once the beans are mostly tender.  Once beans and rice are both tender, I add the tomato paste, V8, and salt. I usually turn the crock pot to low at this point, but it does not really matter. The V8 I add until it reaches the consistency I want. I did add additional onion powder, garlic powder, and chili powder but did not measure any of them.  This works best in a large crock pot. This does freeze and thaw well.

You can use any mix of dry beans, but I usually use the ones listed.  The meat is optional, the spinach is optional. Even the rice is optional, but I like the combination of all of them.

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