*super bowl, party of one.

I come to you from the end of an infuriatingly low-scoring and entertainment-free game. That I fast-forwarded through. If you're accustomed to zipping through commercials, it can be a struggle for a small brain to stop specifically for commercials. And I won't even dignify those ads with comment. Why wasn't Jessica Simpson eating pizza with Muppets? Where has all the creativity gone?

Oh! But good for the Giants. I'm a sucker for an underdog. And also for this.

Tonight, I needed comfort food. It was a rainy day, I had only had half a sleeve of saltines and a wedge of cheese, and I was sofa tailgating. Or whatever you call it when football is on but you don't actually watch the game. Sofa ... sitting.

This was no time for healthy living. I've taken a break from that the past two days. Are french fries acceptable as an amuse bouche? I think yes. So my heartfelt thanks to the folks at Southern Living, who believe regional food can be tasty without being INSANE.

I adore myrecipes.com, and that's not just a shameless plug. It lends access to recipes from eight different magazines, all in one place. I chose Mexican Vegetarian Casserole. The casserole is second only to sandwiches in my food favorites. This one had the added benefit of being ridiculously easy. Step 1: Mix shit together. Step 2: Bake. It's cooking for dummies. Or the hungover. What? Who said that?



RoTel, black beans, rice, sour cream, salsa, cheese, black olives, whole-kernel corn, and scallions. It came out a little runnier than I expected, but the mixture fulfilled the Joey Tribbiani quotient: Only good stuff went in, so how could it be bad?



Using the instant rice really made this a quick process. The RoTel, beans, cooked rice, sour cream, salsa, and corn went into a lightly greased baking dish, then got topped with the scallions, olives, and cheese.



And yes, that is a lot of cheese. I did go with the 2% because it's an old habit not to buy full-fat anything if I can help it, but if I were making this for a discerning crowd, I'd go whole hog (ouch). The 2% kind of formed a rubbery sheet instead of stringy, gooey tastiness. It was still delicious, but kind of the texture of fruit leather.



It bakes at 350 for 50 minutes, which tests the boundaries of my patience. But at least I didn't take a nap on the sofa and wake up three hours later with 9 by 13 blackened mess. Not that that's ever happened before.



Yum! Make this when smiles are in short supply.