I have a bad habit of robbing boxed meals in my pantry. Last night I had some potatoes, ground beef, and not much else. No bread, cheese, nada. So I sliced up the potatoes into an au gratin style, mixed in some butter and milk, and stuck them in the oven while I browned the hamburger meat. While that was simmering, I started raiding cabinets. I had some dried peppers that I'd forgotten about, so those went in with the beef. I took out a box of macaroni and cheese and some salsa from a taco kit. I took the potatoes out, they were about halfway through, and added a little salsa and two thirds of the cheese packet from the mac and cheese, and the hamburger meat. When they were done, I crumbled some leftover biscuits on top and added the rest of the cheese. I put the whole thing back in the oven on broil for about three minutes, and when I took it out, it had crisped and browned the biscuits and cheese so nicely. It was a pretty good, simple meal with fresh corn and iced tea. I think I'd also like the idea of layering the concoction between hard taco shells, and leaving out the biscuits.

Now, the next trick will be whipping those naked macaroni noodles into something yummy...