Party Food - Taco Dip

Recently I hosted a little get-together at my house for the Kappa Delta Alum group I'm in.  We had an international theme (I used a rough interpretation of international) which was more difficult to plan out than I had anticipated.  Luckily, my bff and hostess extraordinaire, Elizabeth (we call her Ecampbell), had some great food ideas!  I'm just going to highlight one of them tonight, but rest assured, you will get every recipe that I used, including an AMAZING dessert (not to brag or anything).

I'll start with our neighbor to the south, Mexico.  Ecampbell gave me a delicious taco dip recipe.  It has layers like a seven layer dip, but better, because it's served hot!

Taco Dip
1 lb ground beef
1 package taco seasoning
1 can refried beans
1 small can black olives
1 small can green chiles
1 jar taco sauce
shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Brown the meat in a skillet and add taco seasoning as if you are making tacos.  Drain the excess liquid.  In a dish, layer refried beans, chiles, taco meat, taco sauce, and olives (in that order).  Cover with shredded cheese and bake at 350 for 20 minutes.  Serve hot with tortilla chips or fritos.

The great thing about this dip is that it can be made ahead of time and just pop it in the oven before serving.

Next up, hummus!