Hearty and Cheap Meal

I have this newly discovered app on my phone that hooks up to my fuel saver card from the local grocery store that keeps my coupons on the fuel save card so I do not have to clip or remember to grab my envelope from home. I was experimenting how this thing works tonight and thinking of some cheap dinner ideas and decided to do a little inventing. (This is normally an eye roll from my hubby wondering what crazy thing I came up with next). I promise this one is simple and yummy! 

I started with browning 1lb hamburger, normally I would have done breakfast sausage or Italian sausage because they are inexpensive and we butcher our own hogs but my handy dandy app found a great deal on ground beef so here we go! 

After browning the meat I added some chili beans(baked beans would be good as well), one hot and one original for a little flavor but not too hot. I really wanted to dive some onions to add to the meat but couldn't find the onion I swore I purchased from the store. I must be going crazy...but that's for another discussion.

Next I prepared a large Dutch oven pot by wiping a little oil on the walls and bottom of the pot. Then I sliced and diced some russet potatoes and lined the bottom of the pan. 

The wine just makes this more fun for the chef! 

Next I layered the meat mixture on top of the potatoes. 

I am kind making it like lasagna layering potato, meat and cheese. 

I did not use a lot of cheese as I am not a huge fan of cheesy filled dishes but just enough to help it all stay together when scooping out to serve. 

I just kept layering like you would lasagna until all ingredients were gone. My top was potato so I could add some extra seasoning of garlic, onion flakes, salt and pepper. Then I finished out with a layer of shredded cheese. 

Since this was an experiment I placed it in the oven expecting it to take a while just like a baked potato. My oven is a little slow so I baked at 400 degrees for 1 hour checking how soft the potatoes were starting at 45 mins until my knife could easily cut to the bottom of the dish.  The last 10 mins I removed the lid to let the cheese get a little more solid. Removed from the oven to enjoy!

In the meantime I found that sneaky onion hiding from me in a bag I thought was empty from the grocery store. Looks like I'll have to find something for it tomorrow night!