Sans Gluten: Taco Tuesday!

By Christina McGairk

I’m a busy Mommy raising a pretty awesome little girl, working full-time, involved in church, and added school into the mix this year. So if I can simplify other areas in my life, I’m all for it.

Recently I took a step towards keeping things simple in the kitchen. I invested in a slow cooker! It was one of the most recent best decisions and freed up my precious time for what really matters. Before, I would either batch cook on the weekends, which still takes a lot of time just to prepare, or try to cook weekday mornings, but that took away from studying time. So when I bought this kitchen appliance, it was a lifesaver. What? You mean, I can spend quality time with my daughter, get some homework done in between, and cook at the same time? I’m in! Since TiTi and I both like Mexican food, I decided to break in my slow cooker with a Mexican casserole that I usually bake in the oven.

Since it was a rainy day, I decided to make the process fun for TiTi. Plus, I wanted to work on her vocabulary at the same time. So I created a little scavenger hunt in the living room. She had to find some of the ingredients for the casserole. So I hid a can of corn, a can of black beans, and corn tortillas. That in itself was fun, as the pictures show.

I think the casserole came out pretty good, and TiTi and I had fun together.

Here is the recipe for my yummy slow cooker Mexican casserole. You can adapt it however you like. For instance, I used black beans that already had spices and green chiles in them. Also, just a heads up if you didn’t know, there’s also gluten-free taco seasoning available in stores.

INGREDIENTS

• 20 corn tortillas

• 1lb ground turkey

• 1 package of gluten-free taco seasoning

• ¼ cup water

• 1 small 8 oz can of tomato sauce

• 1 bottle of 10oz taco sauce (You can also use enchilada sauce)

• 1 can of 15oz black beans (drained)

• 1 can of 15 oz corn (drained)

• 2 ½ cups of shredded cheese

DIRECTIONS:

1. Brown ground turkey or meat of choice in a large skillet.

2. Drain; add gf taco seasoning and water and heat for 4 minutes. 3. Mix well. 4. Spray slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray; add 4 corn tortillas at the bottom to create a base.

5. Top tortillas with half the beef mixture and ½ cup of cheese.

6. Top it with another layer of four corn tortillas.

7. Pour 1/2 the black beans and ½ the corn over the tortillas; top with cheese.

8. Place four corn tortillas on top of that layer and repeat the layering process.

9. Pour the taco sauce and the rest of the cheese on the top layer of the casserole.

10. Cover with lid and cook for 2-3 hours on high or 4-6 hours on low.

If you would like to share gluten-free tips, tricks, info, etc. in an upcoming issue of Special Needs Living, email us at SpecialNeedsLivingIndy@n2pub.com.