Frito Pie

Short story to go with this recipe. About 20 years ago my maternal Grandfather was very ill. He was eventually diagnosed with stomach cancer and given 1 month to live. The doctor didn't feel very comfortable with the decision since they couldn't find the cancer, but the symptoms all seemed to point in that direction. That night our extended family fasted and prayed for for my Grandfather and the doctor spent the night reading medical journals looking for a better answer. While searching he found an article on Celiac Disease and suggested testing my Grandfather for it. It came back positive and Grandpa was only the 300 and some odd person diagnosed in the country. As a result, all our family learned about being Gluten-Free, which at that time meant eating dry crumbly bread, cake, cookies, no pasta, and very few other choices. When the family all got together my Grandmother would make Frito Pie, a GF food that was something that we could all enjoy and quickly became a true family favorite. 20 years later my Grandfather is as relatively healthy as a person in their 80's could be and my daughter was diagnosed quickly because of our knowledge of the disease. As we were learning about what it meant to eat GF one thing I knew was we could have Frito Pie and our family loved it (they already loved it before so we weren't giving it up). So here is the recipe that is, to some extent, the beginning of my understanding of how to cook yummy GF food.

Frito Pie
1 T oil/butter (optional)
1 lb hamburger or 1 can black beans, drained*
1 C chopped onion*
1-2 cloves garlic, minced*
8 oz. can tomato sauce
2 1/2 tomato sauce cans of water
6 oz can tomato paste
1 tsp dried oregano
1 Tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
Pepper, to taste
2 dashes Tabasco sauce
2/3 cup uncooked rice
Frito Chips
Taco Toppings (cheese, onions, lettuce, tomatoes, olives, sour cream, etc.)

In a large pot heat oil and brown hamburger, onion, & garlic*. Add the remaining ingredients and cook, covered, until rice is cooked, 35-45 minutes. Top with crushed Frito chips and taco toppings.

*If using just Black beans only cook onion & garlic in oil then add beans with the rest of the ingredients. Sometimes when I double the recipe I will do 1 lb hamburger & 1 can black beans.