Easy Mexicali Casserole Recipe

 Recipes  5 Responses »
Mar 292013
 

Mexicali Casserole Recipe

Casseroles are one of my favorite busy night meals.  I can put all of the ingredients together ahead of time and then just put it in the oven to cook when I need to start making dinner.  I don’t need to stand over the stove stirring any pots.  I don’t have to worry about whether or not I cooked it for 27 minutes or 32 minutes.  I can add a few more vegetables or a bit more starch to make it stretch just a bit further.  I can generally substitute ingredients based on what I have in the pantry or what is on sale at the grocery store this week.

Everyone in my home loves Mexican food.  Some Mexican dishes are more labor intensive than others.  So, when I’m having a super hectic day, I turn to this Mexicali Casserole recipe.

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Mexicali Casserole
Cuisine: Mexican
 

Ingredients
  • 1 pound of lean ground beef
  • 1 cup of canned corn
  • 1 can of diced tomatoes
  • ½ cup shredded cheddar cheese
  • ½ cup flour
  • ½ cup cornmeal
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 1¼ tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 1 egg
  • ⅔ cups of milk
  • 2 tbsp vegetable oil

Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
  2. Spray a 2 quart casserole dish with non stick spray.
  3. Brown the ground beef. Add the diced tomatoes and the canned corn and heat.
  4. Pour into the casserole dish. Sprinkle all but 2 tbsp of the shredded cheese over the top.
  5. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt.
  6. Stir in the egg, milk and oil.
  7. Spread it over the top of the hamburger mixture & sprinkle with remaining cheese.
  8. Bake uncovered 30 minutes or until the top is golden brown.
  9. Let it stand for 5 minutes before serving.

What is your favorite Mexican recipe?

About the author: Ellen is a busy mom of two teenagers who left the corporate world in 2008 to focus on a more eco-friendly life.  She lives in rural Vermont where she juggles family, two blogs and a career in social media.  You can find her at Confessions of an Overworked Mom and The Socialite’s Closet.

Chocolate-Covered Pretzels – Easy Recipes For Valentine’s Day

 Holidays, Recipes, Valentine's Day  18 Responses »
Jan 142013
 

Easy Recipes: Chocolate-Covered Pretzels

Easy Recipes for Valentine's Day

I love quick and easy recipes that also make great gifts.  These chocolate-covered pretzels fit that bill!  Packaged in a small bag decorated with stickers, they make a cute gift for Valentine’s Day.  They’re also really easy for kids to help make.  Bubbles actually helped me make a batch yesterday and she had a great time mixing, sprinkling, and dipping.

If you have a child in elementary school these might make a nice Valentine for their friends (you could personalize the bags with name tags).  Even junior high- and high school-aged kids like to give Valentines and these can fit that bill, too.  And I personally wouldn’t mind receiving a bag of these from co-workers or friends in a moms’ group.  They really are perfect for just about anyone!

Present your easy recipes in these treat bags

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Calling All Kentucky Home Cooks! Check Out The Limited Edition Hunt’s Delicious Dinners Cravebox

 Uncategorized  1 Response »
Aug 172012
 

Are you a home cook living in Kentucky?

I have loved to cook for my entire life.  I “opened” my first restaurant out of my mother’s kitchen when I was 7 or 8 years old, offering scrambled eggs, toast, bacon, and juice for 25 cents a plate.  My mom laughed – until the neighbors would swing by and ask me for my breakfast special (prices quickly rose at my mother’s request; we did have to cover our expenses, of course!).

Limited Edition Hunt's Delicious Dinners Cravebox - Kentucky Home Cooks

I still love to cook now, but I don’t have nearly as much time to get creative in the kitchen as I did back then. Work, family, errands, household tasks, reading “My Little Word Book” to my daughter for the 19th time that day – there just ins’t as much free time on my calendar as there were in my younger days.  That’s why I can’t wait to receive my limited edition Hunt’s® Delicious Dinners Cravebox!

This Cravebox will feature a new Dinner Sauce from Hunt’s that has the garden-fresh taste of Hunt’s California-grown tomatoes, combined with ethnic-inspired seasonings and ingredients.  They cost just $10 (to cover the cost of shipping and handling) and contain a collection of products that will help you create a tasty, easy meal for your family.  The icing on the cake?  Ten random boxes will contain a $100 VISA gift card and one random box will contain a grand prize worth $250!

These boxes are limited to residents of Kentucky and are sure to go quickly.  If you’re interested in getting in on this offer, head over to the Cravebox Hunt’s Delicious Dinners page and register!  Boxes are expected to ship on or around September 1st.

This is a sponsored post by me on behalf of SheSpeaks and Cravebox.  All opinions are, as always, 100% that of myself and my family.

Cooking With Kids! Play With Your Food – Roasted Sweet Potato Shapes

 For the Kids, Recipes  2 Responses »
Feb 222012
 

Easy Recipes For Kids

This week Tasty Tuesday is being dedicated to the younger set.  We’re cooking with kids!

Cooking With Kids: Easy Recipes for Kids

Growing up, I baked with my Grandmother in her kitchen nearly every Saturday morning.  We made bread for my entire extended family, and Gram would whip up big batches of baked beans and potato salad.  Those memories are very vivid – and cherished – and they were nurtured from a very young age.

I would love for Baby C. to share my love of creativity in the kitchen.  I also want to create special memories for her and have been looking for ways to start doing that even now.  Baby C. loves to shake things and it’s an instruction she understands.  Asking “Can you shake your Pooh toy for me?  Can you shake Clifford?” while we’re driving in the car keeps her entertained for a bit if she’s getting fidgety.

When I was tossing red potatoes with oil and spices the other night, it kind of struck me – she could definitely do that part for me!  If I put the items in a small bowl with a lid she’d be able to shake away.  Since she loves sweet potatoes, I decided she and I would use those instead for her “lesson”.

Roasted Sweet Potato Shapes

1 medium sweet potato
2T olive oil

First I peeled and washed the sweet potato (I did this over the garbage can with her highchair pulled up next to it so she could watch).  Next I sliced the potato into rounds, about 1/4 inch thick.  After that I cut some of them into basic shapes (triangle, square, etc.), showing and explaining each shape to her.  I have a fairly decent-sized collection of cookie cutters so I grabbed a few of the little ones – like stars, hearts, teddy bears, and gingerbread men – and cut shapes out of a few of the rounds.

Cooking With Kids: Easy Recipes for Kids

Now the part that has some action for the kiddos: I put all the shapes into a small bowl and added 2T of olive oil.   I snapped the lid on tight and gave it a quick demonstration shake, then handed the bowl to Baby C.  She had such a fun time shaking the bowl.  She kept grinning as if to say “Are you sure I should be doing this?”  When the excitement wore off and she started trying to peel the lid off, I spread the shapes out on a baking sheet and roasted them for 30 minutes at 350.

Since she had such a good time with the activity, and because she loves eating them, it’s definitely something we’ll be doing again soon!  Maybe next time we’ll doctor them up a little and sprinkle on a small bit of cinnamon or nutmeg.

Do you have a favorite easy recipe for kids?  I’d love to hear about your own experiences cooking in the kitchen with your kiddos!

Tasty Tuesday – Corn Chowder

 Recipes  9 Responses »
Jan 252012
 
At least a couple of times per month, we make this corn chowder recipe.  It took us a few times, with multiple tweaks, to get it just right, but now we consider it perfect.  It’s also pretty quick and easy to throw together!  It’s a little lighter in calories than most chowders and you really can’t notice a difference in taste.
Corn Chowder
4-6 strips bacon
1 sm onion, diced
3 stalks celery, diced
1 carton (32oz) reduced-sodium chicken broth
approx. 3 cups diced potatoes (fresh or canned)
2 cans creamed corn
1 can corn nibblets
2 cups 2% milk
1 packet country gravy mix
8 oz Velveeta, cubed
  1. In a large stock pot, cook bacon until crisp.  Remove; drain on paper towels.
  2. Add onion and celery to the bacon drippings.  Saute over medium heat about five minutes, or until they are translucent.
  3. Pour in chicken broth and bring to a boil.  Add the potatoes; return to a boil, then simmer over low heat 15-30 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender.
  4. In a small bowl (or large measuring cup), whisk the gravy mix into the milk.  Set aside.
  5. Add both the creamed corn and corn nibblets; bring to a boil.  Pour in milk mixture and return to a boil.
  6. Reduce heat to medium; add in the cubed cheese a little at a time, stirring until each addition is completely melted.
Remove from heat.  The longer the soup has to sit before serving, the more the flavors will meld.  We usually try to wait 3-4 hours, but it’s delicious when served immediately, too.  We like ours served with cornbread on the side and topped with crumbled bacon, shredded cheese, and sometimes croutons (if we’re not having cornbread).
What is your favorite soup?