Bear's Enchilada Pie

Grandma Hunt (whose was known affectionately within the family as "Bear") is no longer with us, but her Enchilada Pie still warns our tummies and hearts. It's a ground beef based casserole dish with a Mexican taste that's easy to make and takes just a half hour to cook. We normally have one, prepared but uncooked, waiting in the freezer. When we want it, we take it out in the morning, put it in the oven set for time-bake, and it's ready when we get home that evening.

• 2 pounds ground beef
• 2 onions, chopped
• 2 teaspoons black pepper, freshly ground
• 2 Tablespoons chili powder
• 1 Large Can (15 ounces) tomato Sauce
• 12 corn tortillas
• 2 Small Cans (8 ounces total) chopped olives
• 2 cups cheddar cheese, grated
• 1 cup water

1. Brown ground beef and drain off grease.
2. Add onions, black pepper, chili powder, and tomato sauce and cook until you have a lovely meat sauce.
3. In a casserole dish, build up layers: first a few corn tortillas, then some meat sauce, then cheddar cheese, then olives. Keep adding layers until you've run out of ingredient. With practice, you'll run out of all your ingredients on the same layer!
4. Pour water over casserole.
5. Cook at 350°F for 30 minutes.
6. We normally just dish it up with a spoon, but if you let it stand a while, you can cut a serve it something like a pie (hence the name). Each piece looks something like a slice of layer cake.

For hotter tastes: I have jacked up this recipe by adding, at various times, chopped hot peppers, a tablespoon or two of cumin, white and red ground pepper in addition to the black pepper, and several combinations of the above. It comes out great and can really be a fire starter, but usually these days I just settle for a hot chili powder and enjoy the flavor without making it a tear jerker.

Makes about eight servings.