Sunday, September 20, 2009

I Found A Winner!


I want to post each week what we actually ate instead of what I planned to eat, since what I plan and what we actually eat rarely end up being the same thing. I need one of those calendar/menu coordinators. I forget you can't be at soccer practice and cooking something complicated at home...at the same time.

Monday
Rotisserie chicken, baked potatoes, salad, homemade bread

Tuesday
White Bean and Swiss Chard Soup from the Whole Foods Market Cookbook .

This soup was good…tasted like a fancy soup you’d order at the Olive Garden. It was very strong. The kids were good sports, but I don’t think this recipe will make a comeback in this house.

I roasted garlic in the oven for 30 minutes. Then squeezed it on top of sliced, homemade bread. I topped the bread and garlic with mozzarella cheese, then broiled all that in the oven for a couple minutes till toasty and melted. I liked the bread more than the soup! I learned how to roast garlic in my new cookbook. DELICIOUS.

Wednesday
Gumbo (chicken/sausage kind)

Thursday
Southwest King Ranch Casserole

This was a winner. It will definitely make it back on the rotation. It’s CRAZY better the second day. Up until the moment I ate it I was expecting it to have some red in it, even though I never put any tomatoes inside. It wasn't red...it was very green...but we liked it.

3 tablespoons canola oil
1.5 cups diced yellow onions
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups shredded cooked boneless chicken
½ cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 cups grated Monterey Jack cheese
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
2 cups bottled tomatillo sauce
8 corn tortillas
1 ½ cups sour cream
½ cup chopped green chilies, drained

I doubled this recipe. It fed us dinner and many lunches.

Preheat oven to 350. Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a large sauté pan. Add the onions, and cook them until they are translucent. Blend in the garlic, paprika, cumin, black pepper, and salt. Add the chicken, and heat through. Remove the pan from the heat; stir in the cilantro.

To prepare casserole…

In a small bowl, combine the cheese.

On the bottom of an 8x81/2 inch pan at least 2 inches deep, spread 1 cup of the tomatillo sauce. Top with 4 tortillas overlapping as necessary. Spread half the sour cream evenly over the tortillas. Add ½ cup of the remaining tomatillo sauce, 1 ½ cups of the chicken filling, 1 cup of the cheese mixture, and one half of the green chilies. Top with 4 more tortillas, the remainder of the sour cream, tomatillo sauce, and the chicken filling, 1 cup of the cheese mixture, and the remaining green chilies. End with 1 cup of the cheese mixture sprinkled on top.

Bake for about 25 minutes, or until hot and bubbly on the surface.

This was yummier the second day. Also…it was too spicy. So, the next time I make it I’ll use less black pepper. I tasted the other ingredients and really think the heat came from the black pepper. We ate this with tortilla chips.

Friday
Leftovers

Saturday
Chicken, black beans, seasoned rice (I cooked fresh tomato, cilantro and onion in a skillet. Added leftover brown rice. Seasoned with garlic, salt, chili powder and cumin.) Topped it all with cheddar cheese. We ate this mixture with chips and salsa.

Sunday
Potluck at church. I’m taking chicken fettuccini alfredo, homemade bread and corn on the cob. Hope you all have a great week!

4 comments:

mandi said...

you're making your own bread!

the garlic version sounds so good. can't wait to try it!

Cheryl said...

Yum! That's going on the "have to try" list! I love king ranch chicken!

Cheryl said...

Can you post your bread recipe? I so badly want to make my own but haven't....*sigh*

Hendrick Family said...

This is NOT the healthiest bread. It might not even be healthy at all. I'm a bread novice. I was looking for a recipe that my family would like and had the least amount of expensive ingredients because I'm making about 6 loaves a week. I cook all my bread on Monday, then as soon as it comes out of the oven, I put it in foil and a freezer bag. It stays in the freezer until I need it. Then, I take it out of the freezer, leave it in the foil and put it in a hot oven for 30 minutes or so until heated through. Hot bread right out of the oven. YUM.

Here's the recipe out of the Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery:

Virginia's White Bread

Mix 1 c. milk, 1.5 c. water, 3 T Sugar, 1 T salt, and 2 T oil. Dissolve 2 envelopes of yeast in 1/4 c. lukewarm water (this water is additional to the water above). Add that to the mixture above. Mix in 7 cups flour with spoon, then by hand. Turn dough out on floured pan. Let it rest for 10 minutes. Knead until smooth and elastic (8-10 minutes) is suggested. I last only about 2 minutes and then my arms start to feel like they will fall off. So, I quit. I put that mixture back into the mixing bowl, cover it with a kitchen towel and set it outside on the picnic table to rise. Once it has doubled in size, I bring it inside and beat the dough up with a wooden spoon. I get it soft and pliable again. Then I half the dough, put it into my two pans and let them rise again. Once they have poofed up past the top of the bread pan, I bake them. Bake at 425 for 25-30 min or until done.

I was hesitant to share my recipe, because I'm not super good at making bread.

Next I want to learn how to make whole wheat bread.

Heather