Tasty Tuesday – Enchilada Casserole

 Recipes  2 Responses »
Nov 092011
 

The weather is turning a little colder so we’re starting to make some heartier meals like soups/stews, chili, casseroles and crock pot meals.  And now that Baby C. can be partially entertained in her high chair for a few minutes if I pull her close to me in the kitchen, it’s giving me some extra time to try new things.  So tonight we tried an enchilada casserole recipe that a friend gave me a bit ago.

My friend found the recipe in an issue of  Taste of Home magazine and said that it had been voted #1 Casserole of 2010.  I did make a few minor changes to suit our tastes; you can definitely do the same.  And while I am sharing a photo of the final result, I will be honest: this is not a pretty, photos-well kind of dish.  It’s bubbly and gooey and cheesy, so please forgive the quality of the image.

Print
Enchilada Casserole
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Mexican
Serves: 8
 
Ingredients
  • 1 lb ground beef
  • ½ tsp onion powder
  • 1 jar (16oz) salsa
  • 1 can (15oz) black beans, rinsed and drained
  • 1 sm. can corn, drained
  • ¼ C Italian dressing
  • ½ C sour cream
  • 2 T taco seasoning
  • ½ tsp. cumin
  • 4 8-inch flour tortillas
  • 2-4 C shredded Mexican cheese
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 400.
  2. In a large skillet cook ground beef with the onion powder until no longer pink; drain.
  3. Stir in the salsa, black beans, dressing, taco seasoning, corn, sour cream and cumin.
  4. Spread ¼ of the meat mixture in the bottom of an 8×8 casserole dish. Sprinkle with ½ to 1 cup of cheese. Cover the cheese with 1 tortilla.
  5. Continue layering meat mixture, cheese and tortillas until you've used all the meat mixture. The last layer should be a heavy covering of cheese (so no tortilla on the top of the last layer of cheese).
  6. Spray aluminum foil with cooking spray and cover the casserole. Bake for 25 minutes or until it starts to get bubbly.
  7. Serve with extra shredded cheese, diced tomatoes, shredded lettuce, crushed Doritos, tortilla chips or other sides.

Enchilada Casserole Recipe

Mine turned out a bit more runny than I had expected.  Next time I will probably use a “chunky” salsa to reduce some of the liquid.  Also, I only used 2 tortillas because that’s what was listed in the recipe.  But I suggested 4 in my above ingredient list.  Hubby suggested that it could use more tortilla layers and also I think additional tortillas would give it extra stability and soak up a little extra liquid.

What is your favorite casserole recipe?

Pantry Chicken Recipes: Cheesy Stuffed Chicken

 Recipes  4 Responses »
Nov 052011
 

I skipped over Tasty Tuesday this week so that I could bring you a recipe using the fresh Zaycon Foods chicken that we picked up this week.

Chicken is one of those things that while really versatile, I often find myself making it in the same four or five ways every time: Buffalo Chicken Mac & Cheese, Chicken Chimichangas, fried chicken, homemade chicken nuggets or baked chicken with Lawry’s.  So I decided to change things up and play around a little bit with the chicken I made for dinner last night.  I used only what I had already stocked in the pantry and while it’s not going to win any Iron Chef competitions, Cheesy Stuffed Chicken is something I’ll make again sometime!

Pantry Chicken Recipes Continue reading »

Asparagus Casserole from Gooseberry Patch’s Quick & Easy Christmas

 Recipes  9 Responses »
Oct 262011
 

My husband and I love asparagus but aren’t that crazy about green beans.  That means that a holiday staple – Green Bean Casserole – is off the menu for us.   So I was excited to find Asparagus Casserole recipe in the Gooseberry Patch Quick & Easy Christmas cookbook.

We decided to give it a try tonight as a pairing with chicken cordon bleu.  Generally we make Parmesan roasted asparagus to go with it but the fresh asparagus in our area hasn’t looked too hot lately and this recipe called for frozen, so it was a good fit. Continue reading »

Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe

 Recipes  4 Responses »
Oct 192011
 

Tasty Tuesday: Peanut Butter Cookies

I was in the baking mood over the weekend and felt like baking some cookies.  I knew if I made chocolate chip cookies I’d end up eating more of them than I wanted to, so I decided to make peanut butter cookies, which are a favorite of my husband.  I like them, too, but not so much that I’d be too tempted. They also fairly fast to pull together, and I always have the ingredients on hand.  Definitely a vote in their favor.

This is my Mom’s recipe for peanut butter cookies (they’re also a favorite of my father’s so she’s baked a few dozen in her day).  Not sure where she got it from, but it’s probably a fairly standard cookie recipe.
Print
Peanut Butter Cookies
Recipe type: Dessert
Serves: 5 dz
 
Ingredients
  • 1 cup shortening
  • 1 cup peanut butter
  • ½ tsp. salt
  • 1 cup granulated sugar, plus more for rolling
  • 1 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 2 eggs, well beaten
  • 1 T milk
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350.
  2. Whisk together the flour, both sugars, salt and baking soda.
  3. Beat in the eggs, milk, peanut butter and shortening until dough pulls together.
  4. Roll into small balls then roll the balls in sugar; place on a baking sheet. Press down slightly with tines of a fork.
  5. Bake for 12-14 minutes until cookies start to brown. Cookies will continue to cook a little while cooling.

 

They’re also very yummy when you turn them into Peanut Butter Blossoms.  Just press an unwrapped Hershey’s Kiss into the center of each cookie as soon as they come out of the oven (the tops will crack a little).

Chicken Recipes: Buffalo Chicken Mac ‘n Cheese

 Recipes  No Responses »
Sep 142011
 

Chicken Recipes: A New Take On Wings

I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone that doesn’t love mac & cheese.  It’s an iconic comfort food, all warm and creamy and cheesy.  When I ran across this recipe in a magazine (I believe it was Taste of Home) that crossed mac & cheese with the classic flavors of buffalo chicken wings – I knew we had to try it.  I’m so glad we did!  This was scooped up quick, with just a little taste left for lunch the next day.  It can be hard to find new chicken recipes and it’s nice to have a new favorite to add to our rotation.

Buffalo Chicken Mac ‘n Cheese

7 T butter
1 lb. pasta (cavatappi is my favorite, but you can use elbows or any similar pasta)
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 stalks celery, finely chopped
2 chicken breasts, cooked & shredded
2 gloves garlic, minced
3/4 C hot sauce
2 T flour
2 tsp. dry mustard
2 1/2 C half & half
1 lb. yellow sharp cheddar, cut into 1″ cubes
8 oz. shredded Monterey jack cheese
2/3 C sour cream
1 C panko
2 T chopped fresh parsley

  1. Preheat oven to 350; butter a 9×13″ baking dish.  Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil; add pasta and cook for about 7 minutes.  Drain.
  2. Melt 3 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add onion and celery and cook until soft, about 5 minutes.  Stir in the chicken and garlic and cook 2 more minutes, then add 1/2 cup hot sauce and simmer until slightly thickened, about 1 minute.
  3. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in saucepan over medium heat.  Stir in the flour and mustard with a wooden spoon until smooth.  Whisk in the half & half, the add the remaining 1/4 cup of hot sauce and stir until thick, about 2 minutes.  Whisk in the cheddar and pepper jack cheeses; whisk in the sour cream until thick, around another 2 minutes.
  4. Spread 1/2 of the cooked macaroni in the buttered dish; top with chicken and then the rest of the macaroni.  Pour the sauce over the entire thing.
  5. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a small skillet and mix in the panko and parsley.  Sprinkle over the sauce.  Bake until bubbly, 30-40 minutes.

As you can probably tell, this isn’t health food.  And while we generally try and eat healthily, I really think that every now and then everyone needs something creamy and cheesy.

Chicken Recipes - Tasty Tuesday

About the hot sauce: 3/4 cup sounds like a LOT of hot sauce and I was a little scared.  But it really didn’t end up being too much at all (though I do reduce it to about a half cup when I’m making it for the kiddos).  You can even use a combination to get different tastes.  Recently I had partial bottles of both Texas Pete’s Original Hot Sauce and Garlic Hot Sauce so I used a 1/4 cup of the garlic and 1/2 cup of the regular and it was quite tasty.

Do you have a chicken recipe you’d like to share?

 Older Entries  Newer Entries