• Lightly coat the bottom and sides of a 9″ cast iron skillet or your casserole dish. You could use butter or oil. I use Avocado oil.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine first 3 ingredients
• Remove butter from fridge and cut into small pieces.
• Using a hand-held pastry blender or fork, or your fingers (which I usually do) combine butter with flour until it resembles coarse crumbs.

  Do not mix too long or the butter will soften too much before baking and you don’t want this to happen.
• Make a well in the middle of the flour and add the buttermilk and 1/4 cup of water and mix with a pastry blender (I received this one for my birthday a few years ago and it is my go to hand tool) or you can use your spoon.
• If the dough is too dry and crumbly, add a little water and combine. Repeat as necessary to get a moist dough that can be easily handled. This can be tricky. You don’t want the dough to be too wet or too dry.
• Next place the dough ball into the skillet or casserole dish and begin pressing it into the pan to cover the bottom and sides.
• Let it rest for 15 minutes while you prepare the rest of your casserole ingredients.

Casserole Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
• In a large skillet, brown the beef until done. Use your spatula or spoon to chop the meat into small pieces as it cooks.
• When the meat is browned, add all of the seasonings and garlic to it and sautee for 1 min.
• Then add ¼ cup water. Simmer for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
• Pour the meat evenly over the dough in your skillet or dish.
• Drain the can of tomatoes and pour them over the meat distributing them evenly. Keep the juice to drink or refrigerate/freeze it to use in another recipe later. If you use fresh tomatoes, add the tomatoes and juice to the pan.
• Drain the beans and distribute them evenly over the top of the tomato layer.
• Sprinkle one cup of the cheese on top of the bean layer.
• In a medium bowl, combine the chopped onions and peppers then evenly sprinkle them over the cheese layer.
• Spread the sour cream over the layer of peppers and onions. If you use 1/2 sour cream 1/2 homemade mayonnaise, combine them in a bowl and then spread them on top of the pepper and onion layer.
• Sprinkle the remaining cup of cheese on top.
• Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until cheese is melted and the center of the casserole is bubbly.
• Remove from oven and let it sit for 5 minutes to set before dishing it up!