Hash Brown Taco Casserole is the perfect combination of comfort foods! Zesty ground beef and hash browns along with cheese, this is one delicious dinner.

Hash Brown Taco Casserole

Summer is prime time for me to work on a few new additions to our dinner rotation. Without the hectic school schedules, I tend to have more time to try new recipes in hopes of gaining some variety into our dinnertimes.

Once September rolls around I have no time to mess with new recipes, I need tried and true family favorites that are sure dinner winners.

As much as I love grilling in the warm months, once fall rolls around in Michigan I’d better have a plan B for dinner. We can either have 80 degrees or it can be 40 degrees and chilly.

I normally adjust my menus to accommodate this fun temperature roller coaster that we know so well around here. Oh well, just another reason to love Michigan!

With this said, the timing couldn’t be more perfect for our very next edition of FREAKY FRIDAY! If you’ve been a follower for some time you may be familiar with Freaky Friday. If not allow me to give you the details.

We get together with some of our blogging friends, a date is chosen and each blogger is assigned another blogger from the group. You pick a recipe from their website to remake for your blog and then there’s a big reveal on Freaky Friday.

The fun part is you keep everything secret, Shhhh! No one knows who is assigned who (except for our fearless leader Michaela who runs An Affair From the Heart) and doles out our assignments.

This round I was assigned:

Seduction in the Kitchen

This is like déjà vu for me since I was previously assigned Seduction in the Kitchen earlier in 2018. This tasty blog is run by Deanna and I was already familiar with many of her creations, so choosing this time around was very easy.

I certainly was tempted by her Cherry Lime Rickey Cocktail, No Churn Unicorn Ice Cream and Sheet Pan Shrimp Bruschetta. Stop over to her site and scroll around, you’ll find something for everyone!

All of these called out to me but ultimately I chose to make her Hash Brown Ranchero Taco Bake. Sounded like a winner and something that most of my picky family would enjoy.

 

 

Deanna created her version of this dish by using what she had available in her fridge/freezer/pantry. Sometimes I find this is the best way to utilize perfectly great ingredients and get your creative juices flowing.

My version of her dish came about because as I previously mentioned we’re on summer break, which means my two youngest daughters are tagging along behind me while I grocery shop.

 

 

Now as much as I love having them with me…there’s a certain let’s say distraction factor that accompanies them. Inevitably there’s a disagreement or two or ten, and quite possibly asking mom 67 times for this, that and the other thing.

What this boils down to is…I forgot to purchase a few items that were written on my shopping list, yes written on paper in my hand. Oops!

Truth be told this led to me getting my creative juices flowing once I arrived back home and realized I’d forgotten 2 key ingredients…in the end guess what? I still wound up with an amazing new addition to our dinner rotation!

 

 

Hash Brown Taco Casserole basically is the best of comfort foods all wrapped up into one fantastic meal! The basis of this dish begins with hash brown patties, which are pre-formed, frozen and just begging to be used.

The hash browns become the bottom layer of this casserole and hold up to loads of topping being piled onto them. Next, a layer of delicious ground beef with enchilada sauce mixed in.

Then the cheese, no casserole is complete without cheese, right? I also mixed together sour cream with some of the enchilada sauce for a zesty addition to the top.

After cooking I added diced tomato, black olives, a bit of cilantro and sour cream. YUM!

 

 

You may be wondering what ingredients I forgot to purchase for this dish. Deanna’s original recipe called for salsa and Taco Bell Ranchero Sauce.

Both would be amazing on this dish but I went with what I had at home (much like Deanna) and created my version. I do hope you try, my family loves this dish.

Other great ingredients to add into Hash Brown Taco Casserole:

• Corn
• Black beans
• Chunky salsa
• Ro-tel tomatoes
• Green chilies

 

 

If you are also wondering what I made from the previous round when I was assigned Seduction in the Kitchen, you’ll need to check out Loaded Slow Cooker Pierogi…trust me they are over the top AMAZING!!!

 

 

Other delicious Freaky Friday recipes:

Lemon Crumb Loaf

Raspberry Daiquiri Pie

Almond Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies

• An Affair from the Heart: Three Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies
• Lemoine Family Kitchen: Easy Peasy Corn Pudding
• Take Two Tapas: Large Batch Cherry Manhattan Party Punch
• Seduction in the Kitchen: No Churn Raspberry Moscato Wine Ice Cream
• West Via Midwest: Creamy Lemon Ice Cream
• Bowl Me Over: Homemade French Onion Soup
• The Devilish Dish: Chili Cheese Corn Dogs
• Mildly Meandering: Chai Latte Dip
• Who Needs a Cape?: Hash Brown Taco Casserole
• A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures: German Soft Pretzels
• PlatterTalk: Posole