Mexican Casserole

Mexican casserole about to go into the oven
Originally uploaded by Beckerbuns

This is a great recipe to make with the kids. My 3 year old enjoyed helping me by dumping in the ingredients and stirring the food. :)

Mexican Casserole

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
3/4 pound cubed skinless, boneless chicken breast meat (I used two of those half-breast things)
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, diced
1 can black beans, undrained
1 can recipe-ready diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can diced chiles, drained - can use spicy or mild (I used the latter because of the kids)
1 can Mexicorn, drained
1 C shredded cheese of your choice (Mexican blend, Monterey jack, cheddar, etc.)
1 small can sliced black olives, drained
1-1/2 C crushed plain tortilla chips (I used the low-guilt chips from Trader Joe's)
rice to serve it over (your choice)

Directions:
In a large skillet over medium high heat, saute chicken in preheated oil, adding in the onion and garlic. Drain any extra oil that remains. Add beans, tomatoes, chiles, and Mexicorn. Bring to boil; cover skillet and simmer over medium low heat for 10 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Transfer chicken mixture to a 9"x13" baking dish. Top with half of the cheese, the olives, and crushed tortilla chips.

Bake for 15 minutes. Add remaining cheese and bake until cheese is melted and bubbly (10-15 minutes).

Best served over rice; I used brown rice.

Chicken Enchiladas for the Slow Cooker

This is really more of a casserole than strict chicken enchiladas. It's still yummy! I doubled this recipe because I have the huge-sized Crock-Pot. This recipe is intended for the smaller, 3-quart Crock-Pot.

Chicken Enchiladas

Ingredients:

2 10-3/4 ounce cans cream of chicken or mushroom soup (I used mushroom.)
4-1/2 ounce can diced green chilies
2-3 boneless, skinless whole chicken breasts, cut into pieces
2 C shredded cheddar cheese
5 6-inch flour tortillas (I used corn because they're lowfat and I like them better!)

Directions:

1. In a mixing bowl, combine soups, chilies, and chicken.
2. Spray the interior of the cooker with nonstick cooking spray.
3. Spoon in 1/5 of the sauce on the bottom. Top with 1/5 of the cheese and then 1 tortilla (for the big slow cooker I used 3). Continue layering in that order, and with those amounts, 4 more times, ending with cheese on top.
4. Cover cooker and cook on Low 4 hours.

Simple Penne Casserole

This is a recipe I made up myself, using ingredients I had on hand. It was very easy and the family liked it. :)



Simple Penne Casserole

Ingredients:
1 lb. hamburger
2 tsp Italian seasoning
2 tsp minced garlic
1 lb package penne pasta (I used Barilla whole grain, 13.5 oz package)
1 jar of your favorite pasta sauce
3 C shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:
1. Brown the hamburger with half of the Italian seasoning and all of the minced garlic mixed in.
2. Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to the package directions. Drain.
3. Mix hamburger mixture with pasta. Add pasta sauce, the rest of the Italian seasoning, and then mozzarella cheese.
4. Top with more mozzarella cheese if desired.
5. Cook in preheated 375° oven for 25 minutes or until cheese is melted and sauce is hot. Serve with garlic bread and salad. Enjoy!

Tater Tot Casserole

So, the Duggar family has a famous tater tot casserole recipe, but I lacked a couple of the ingredients, so I went onto the web and found another recipe... On Cooks.com. We just finished eating it and it was tasty! The only thing I might change would be to add a little milk with the soup to make it a big creamier, but it was basically terrific.



A certain little person helped me make this one!

Tater Tot Casserole

Ingredients:
1 pound ground hamburger meat
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 bag tater tots (we ended up running out of room for all of them, so the rest of the bag is waiting in the freezer to be a snack)
shredded cheese (I used sharp cheddar but I am thinking that Monterey jack might also be good)

Directions:
Brown hamburger meat (I added some garlic powder to give it a bit of flavor, and it was yummy!). Drain fat. Add cream of mushroom soup and stir together. Let simmer on low heat for 15 minutes. Place mixture in the bottom of a casserole dish. Layer tater tots neatly on top of the mixture. Place in oven on 350º and let the tater tots brown (I found it to take about 15 minutes). Sprinkle with cheese (be generous; I used about 2 cups); melt it in the oven and ENJOY.