Ground Beef Sandwich Casserole

Oh my WORD!!!! This was a little bit of heaven in ALL of our opinions.  It is one of those meals that is totally calorie loaded and completely unhealthy, but it is SOOO good.  We use alot of ground meat in our house-pork, beef, deer, moose, etc, so I am always trying to find new recipes to utilize these.  I would never have thought of doing this with any of the ground meet.  Now, it is for sure a keeper and a one we will repeat.  This recipe was originally from Grandma Loy's Kitchen but has been re-adapted several times.

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground beef (or whatever your ground meat preference is)
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp oregano
• 10 slices of bread cut in half (I had to use 12 to cover my pan)
• 1 carton Philadelphia Cream Cheese Cooking Creme, Herb and Garlic (I couldn't find this particular flavor but I used the Herb and Cheese or something like that...it was great!)
• 3 cups shredded cheese, mozzarella or whatever is on hand
• 1 jar spaghetti sauce
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

Directions
1) Preheat oven to 350. Line a 9 X 13 pan with parchment paper (I just sprayed my pan). Set aside.
2) In a sauce pan, cook and stir the ground beef, onion & garlic powder, and oregano until beef is cooked. Remove from heat and set aside.
3) Toast all of the bread in a 350 oven till dry but not burnt - a cookie sheet works well for this (I did this while the meat was cooking).
4) Place 5 of the halved bread slices (10 halves total) on the bottom of the prepared 9 X 13 pan and cover with all of the cooking creme.
5) Then top as follows: cooked ground beef, 1/3 of the cheese, all the spaghetti sauce a 1/3 more cheese then top with remaining 5 of the halved bread slices (10 halves total).
6) Bake uncovered at 350 for 15 minutes....then sprinkle with the rest of the mozzarella and the Parmesan.
7) Bake again for 15 to 20 minutes or till nice and brown.
8) Let sit for 5 minutes before cutting.

Enjoy!

South of the Border Sandwiches

These were SOOO yummy and different for a sandwich. They had a little more "prep work" than a normal sandwich would take which I was not thrilled about, but the end result was worth it!

Here's what you need.
1 loaf French Bread, sliced in about 1' slices (I used about 1/2 a loaf for 2 of us)
1/2 cup chopped olives
1/2 tsp Chili Powder
1/2 tsp Cumin
1/4 tsp Salt
1/2 cup Mayo
1/3 cup Sour Cream
1/3 cup green onions, chopped
Sliced turkey (deli, leftover, or lunch meat)
2 medium tomatoes, sliced
2 ripe avocados, sliced
shredded or sliced cheese

1) Preheat oven to 350. In a bowl, combine olives, chili powder, cumin, and salt. Mix well and set aside about 2 Tbsp of this mixture. To the remaining olive mixture in the bowl, add the mayo, sour cream, and green onions. Mix well.
2) Place sliced bread onto a cookie sheet. Spread each slice with the mayo mixture. Top with sliced turkey, tomato, and avocado. Sprinkle the top with shredded cheese or place sliced cheese on top. Finally, top each slice with some of the reserved 2 Tbsp olive mixture.
3) Bake for 15 minutes.

Enjoy!