Mexican Shepherds Pie

I looked in my fridge yesterday to get inspired for dinner when I discovered leftover homemade bean dip and homemade garden salsa a friend brought over for our Super Bowl bash. On my counter I found the leftover tortilla chips and decided we needed to go round two with these delicious ingredients. I made up a pound of taco beef, chopped up some red lettuce and cherry tomatoes I needed to use up, and decided to wing it...

I think it has a lot to do with the fact that the bean dip and salsa were already really yummy and had a bunch of good stuff in them, but this Mexican Shepherds Pie turned out amazing! You could call it a "touchdown." Pretty sure I ate half the pie myself. Here's how I put it together:

Bottom layer - Spread crushed tortilla chips on the bottom, the really good restaurant style.

Next layer - Spread your bean dip over the chips as best as possible. It'll be messy and totally fine if it's not a perfect layer. My bean dip already had cheese, jalapeno, and I think sour cream in it...so some add-ins you might consider mixing in to yours.

Next layer - Spread the chunky salsa over the bean dip. My salsa had all the good stuff in it like onions, peppers, herbs, even corn...so more good stuff to consider adding for flavor.

Next layer - Spread your taco beef over top, straight from the skillet so it's hot.

Top layer - Top with a healthy amount of Mexican shredded cheese.

Bake at 375 for 20 minutes. Top with chopped lettuce, diced tomato, and a few heaps of sour cream to complete this fiesta.

Watching the game inside while hanging outside - best seat in the house!

Emily's son, Grahambo, and I putting on our best game faces.
Not bad experiencing your team's first Super Bowl win at just 1 year old!