Cheesy Rice Casserole

Growing up I hated rice. I didn't just not like it, I loathed it. I felt like we ALWAYS were eating rice (and sloppy joes, which I never liked either) but I'm sure we didn't have it as much as I felt like we did. Now as an adult rice still isn't typically my first choice but after the dinner we had tonight we might be having rice a bit more regularly! 
I saw this dish and used it for inspiration. I will warn you as I am sure I've mentioned before on my blog that I am a down right horrible recipe follower. I follow baking recipes pretty closely but everything else I wing. Seriously. Normally if I'm telling people how I make something it includes a lot of, "a little of that, a few handfuls of this, I don't know maybe a half cup of this... but really just however much you want" So bear with me as I try to give you the ingredient amounts...

4 cups of cooked rice I prefer using brown rice. 1 lb ground beef, turkey or chicken, anything works 7oz can of green chilies  1 sweet onion, diced 1 large tomato, diced (canned is fine if that's what you have) 1 can of corn 1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed Cheese... probably about 1.5 - 2 cups, basically enough to top the casserole.  1 tsp garlic powder 1 tsp chili powder 1 tsp cumin 1/2 tsp cayenne Salt, to taste 
*all spices can be easily adjusted to your taste* If you don't have the spices on hand you could probably sub taco seasoning but I haven't tried it that way. In fact pretty much everything can easily be adjusted. Don't like black beans? Leave them out or sub them for something else. Like peppers? Add them! This takes additions/subs pretty easily. 
This can be as spice or mild as you'd like. With the spice amounts listed it wasn't spicy at all, in fact next time I will probably up the cayenne for certain - you know what you can handle though :)
*Mix the garlic powder, cumin, chili powder and cayenne in a small dish and preheat the oven to 350*
*Sautee your meat and onion in a large pan or pot. After your meat has cooked through add in the can of diced green chilies, diced tomato and spices. Once thoroughly mixed, mix in the cooked rice. After you get all of that mixed together and your kitchen is smelling amazing, throw in the corn and black beans.
*Once everything is mixed pour it into a casserole dish, top with cheese and bake until heated through and the cheese is melted. Since the mixture will already be pretty warm from being on the stove, it only took about 15 minutes before mine was ready to pull out of the oven. 

I hope you enjoy it as much as we did! 


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