New Recipe 16 - Southwest Hashbrown Casserole

Each week, I make a menu plan for the next week.  Part of this planning is based on remembering things that the hubs has said he would like to have "soon".  The other part is actually asking him what he wants.  Well, last week he asked for something he has never asked for before - he asked for Hashbrown Casserole.  I have never, ever made a Hashbrown Casserole and had no clue where to start.  All I knew was that the casserole he envisioned had ground beef, hashbrowns, and cheese.  I was on the hunt...

Thank goodness for Google!  I found Healthified Mom's Southwest Hashbrown Casserole.  The ingredient list didn't look complicated - in fact, it looked easy peasy.  The only thing that I was a little "turned off" by was the Cream of Mushroom.  I don't tend to use a lot of "cream of" anything, but I knew the hubs would like this.  I did make a few modifications to suit our tastes:  1/2 cup fat free sour cream (instead of 1 cup), 1/2 can French's fried onions (instead of a whole can).  I also used reduced fat Cream of Mushroom and cheddar cheese.  I served the Southwest Hashbrown Casserole with Green Giant Simply Steam Baby Vegetable Medley.   

The assessment from the hubs - "...  We have to have this again..."  My assessment - I would reduce the sour cream a little more.  I may consider reducing the cheese in the mixture and use some of it on top.  Otherwise, it was the perfect comfort food with pretty low calories.