Mexican Rice Casserole-the Angela Can Eat It Version

I secretly love casseroles.  Maybe I should be booted out of Portland for saying it, but I do.  So it is a bummer having to cut dairy and soy, because most casseroles contain both.  Here is an easy recipe that I adapted from here to make it soy and lactose free.  This one makes a good make ahead meal.  Cook the meat and rice and mix everything up in the casserole dish and leave in the fridge until you want to eat it, then do the baking part.  I have also made it in a foil pan to take to someone with a new baby.  

Ingredients
1 lb ground meat (I usually use lean grass fed beef or lean ground turkey)
1 cup rice
2 cups water
1 16 oz jar salsa
1 11 oz can corn
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cumin

Optional ingredient:
1 cup "cheese" (I tolerate hard cheeses that have aged more than 2 years, so I sometimes use Tillamook Vintage White Cheddar.  You could also use a cheese substitute)

Place the water and rice in a sauce pan and bring to a boil.  Reduce to a simmer, put on lid and set timer for 20 min.

Preheat oven to 350

Brown meat and drain.  

Once the meat and rice are done, put all ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix with a spoon until combined well.

Spray a 2 qt casserole dish with cooking spray (I use olive oil in my Misto).  Put mixture into dish.  Cover with lid and bake for 30 min.

If you want to melt the "cheese" take off the lid and add it and bake uncovered 5 more minutes.  Usually I skip this step because the kids won't eat my "cheese" so I just put the different types of "cheese" on the table and let everyone add their own or not.  When I'm making it for someone else, I ususally just include a bag of shredded Mexican cheese.