This recipe brings back old memories for me. The first time I had this lasagna was when I was 18 years old working as a teller at Regions Bank in college. The head teller at the branch on Dauphin Island Parkway, Mary Jo, would make this for us on special occasions. We had a little oven in the break room that got lots of action! The Curry Chicken was one of the dishes she would make us too! I love how simple this is, and it is great for company. Its a great way to stretch a buck on the ground beef. It only takes 1 pound of ground meat, but could easily feed 6 people. We had my sister-in-law and her girls over last Tuesday for dinner and she makes a great lasagna. So, I thought I'd put a new spin on lasagna and make this for her! She loved it. We served it with some leftover Baked Garlic Rice Pilaf and were full and happy :) The Apple Dumplings I had planned for dessert got pushed to later in the week because we were just too full! Oh, and don't store your tortillas in the pantry next to Cinnamon Raisin Bagels. We got little bits of cinnamon taste throughout the lasagna because the tortillas smelled like cinnamon!
**Guys- don't laugh. I remembered the lasagna being creamier than it turned out. No big deal, it was still good. Well, when I was retyping the recipe, I realized I left out the Cream of Chicken soup!! I am going to make it again and do it right. It was still good, but would have been just like I remembered had I put the soup in. Another DUH moment!!
1 lb. ground beef
1 medium onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, mined
1 packet taco seasoning
1 can Rotel
1 can Ranch Style Beans
1 can Cream of Chicken soup :)
12 (6-inch) fajita size tortillas
3 cups shredded cheese
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brown the ground beef in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Drain off excess fat. Add onion and garlic and cook 2-4 minutes until the onion softens. Add taco seasoning, Rotel, Ranch Style beans, and cream of chicken soup.
Spray a 9 X 13-inch baking dish with cooking spray. Tear tortillas into large chunks and set aside. Spoon about 1/2 cup of meat sauce on the bottom of prepared baking dish. Line the dish with 1/2 of the tortillas, 1/2 of the meat sauce and 1/2 of the cheese. Repeat the layers ending with the shredded cheese. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until hot and bubbly.
Enjoy!
(adapted from Mary Jo Brierly)
Once again, I have to say how much I enjoy Annie's Eats. That girl turns out some rockin' recipes. I really love the flavors of simple Mexican dishes. I'm a sucker for a packet of taco seasoning. Bring on the sodium! And not just any taco seasoning (I've tried them all). The best one, hands down, is the Old El Paso. I hope you've been printing the recent coupons on Coupons.com! I changed Annie's recipe up a bit and added some taco seasoning to the chicken. The random ingredient in this one is the Ranch dressing. Clay is not a fan of Ranch, so I didn't tell him it was in it. He didn't know the difference and loved it :) This is not your traditional enchiladas. This is quick, easy, creamy, cheesy, and delicious. The best part is its made from stockpile staples! Go ahead and put this one on the Menu this week. You know you want to!
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 packet of taco seasoning
1 cup light sour cream
1 cup Ranch dressing
flour tortillas (I used the fajita size, about 12)
salsa
4 cups shredded cheese (cheddar or Mexican blend)
Trim chicken breasts of excess fat and cut into bite-size pieces. Season with salt and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet and saute the chicken until cooked through, about 10 minutes. Add in taco seasoning and a few tablespoons of water. Cook chicken until all of the water is absorbed. Reduce the heat to low to keep warm.
Meanwhile, mix up the sauce. In a large bowl, combine half of the sour cream with half of the Ranch dressing. In a small bowl, combine the remaining sour cream and Ranch dressing. Stir both until well combined. Add the chicken to the large bowl and mix until the chicken is well coated.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 9 X 13-inch baking pan. Take one tortilla and top with a little less than 1 teaspoon of the sauce from the small bowl. Spread it around the tortilla like you would sauce on a pizza. Line the center of the tortilla with a row of the chicken mixture. Top the chicken with salsa and shredded cheese, to taste. Roll up the tortilla and place seam side down on the baking dish. Repeat with remaining tortillas until the pan is full.
Spread some of the leftover sauce over the tops of the enchiladas and top with more cheese. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes, or until tortillas have reached desired crispness. Serve with Mexican rice and veggies if you like that kind of stuff.
Enjoy!
(adapted from Annie's Eats)
This is a very popular casserole. There are lots of different versions of it floating around out there. I liked this one because it came from Southern Living (they always have great recipes), and because I had picked up most of the ingredients last week at Publix! I substituted flour tortillas for the corn tortillas. Use whatever you have on hand. I got in too big of a hurry and didn't read all the directions as carefully as I should have. I added the Rotel without draining it! I have never drained Rotel in any other recipes, so I just assumed that you didn't drain them for this recipe. It still turned out good though! So, what I might suggest is just draining one of the cans. I actually liked the texture of the flour tortillas after they absorbed some of the extra liquid. This was on the spicy side. It wasn't something that Ella ate. Maybe if you use the mild Rotel. The leftovers were great wrapped up in flour tortillas too! Maybe wrap it up and serve it with some Spanish Rice the next night. This is a big casserole so feed a crowd or use it for a double-duty dinner!
**Remember, I forgot to drain my Rotel. Duh! Yours won't be quite this runny. It also thickened up the longer it sat. The leftovers were great!
3-4 cooked chicken breasts (or 1 rotisserie chicken)
2 tablespoons butter
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 medium green bell pepper, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
3/4 cup chicken broth
1 Cream of Mushroom soup
1 Cream of Chicken soup
2 cans Rotel, drained (I FORGOT to drain them!)
1 tablespoon taco seasoning
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups shredded cheese (I used Mexican blend)
12 (6-inch) fajita-size tortillas, cut into 1/2-inch strips
If you're using chicken breasts, trim them of excess fat, season with salt and pepper, pound slightly with a meat tenderizer and saute over medium heat in a splash of olive oil. Cook for 6 minutes per side, or until no longer pink. Remove from pan and set aside. While the chicken is cooking, chop your veggies.
In a separate large skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add onion and saute 6-7 minutes or until tender. Add bell pepper and garlic, saute 3-4 minutes. Stir in chicken broth, cream of chicken and mushroom soup, Rotel and taco seasoning. Cook, stirring occasionally, 8 minutes.
Shred chicken into bite-size pieces. Layer half of chicken in a lightly greased 13 X 9-inch baking dish. Top with half of soup mixture and 1 cup shredded cheese. Cover with half of the tortilla strips. Repeat layers once. Top with remaining 1 cup cheese.
Bake at 350 degrees for 55 minutes to 1 hour or until bubbly. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.
Enjoy!
(adapted from Southern Living)
I know a lot of you were looking forward to seeing this one. It did not disappoint! The best part about it was how quickly it came together. I sauteed the chicken breasts first and then assembled all the veggies. I did add a little bit of Asian Sesame dressing from my fridge towards the end because it seemed a little dry to me. Clay even ate it! He hates anything with lettuce, so I figured the cabbage part would be a total no-go, but he ate 3 of the wraps! He said he would have eaten more, but he was saving room for some cheesecake he picked up at Sam's Saturday :) I hope you guys enjoy this as much as we did. These are perfect for a quick weeknight meal!
1 tablespoon sesame oil (or substitute olive oil)
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 10-oz. bag shredded coleslaw (or shred about 1/2 head of cabbage)
2 cups sliced or shredded carrots
2 scallions, sliced (I omitted these)
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
2-3 tablespoons Asian Sesame Dressing (optional)
2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
10 flour tortillas, 6-inch size
3 cups shredded cooked chicken (3-4 chicken breasts or 1 rotisserie chicken)
In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the garlic, carrot and scallions. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 4 minutes. Add the cabbage and cook another 4 minutes.
Stir in the hoisin and soy sauce and cook 2 minutes (the hoisin sauce can be found on the Asian foods aisle. Its sort of the equivalent to an Asian barbecue sauce. Its priced around $2.50) Add the chicken; stir to combine with vegetables and heat through. This is where I added a squirt or two of Asian Sesame dressing, just to help combine the mixture.
To serve, heat tortillas following package directions. Spoon 1/2 cup of chicken mixture down center of tortilla and roll up.
Enjoy!
(adapted from Parents.com)
Last weekend we went to the beach with some friends and stopped by LuLu's on the way home. I don't eat out a whole lot, because unless its one of the expensive restaurants (hum... the Wash House!) then I feel like I could just cook it better at home and save the money. I've been disappointed the last few times I've been out to dinner. But take me to the Wash House and I'm a happy girl! I need to recreate their Key Lime Bread Pudding. Its to die for! But I digress. When we were at LuLu's the Fish Tacos stood out to me. I've seen lots of recipes and I've been wanting to try them. But as soon as I saw you could substitute chicken, I was sucked in. Fish is not something I eat a lot of, and I was afraid once it was in front of me I wouldn't like it. I didn't want another bad eating out experience. So, I substituted chicken. They were fabulous! They had black beans, chipotle cream sauce and cabbage instead of lettuce. I was in Heaven. Publix had a lot of the key ingredients on sale this week making it a great time to recreate it at home! These were not easy to eat. If you make them for a guy or a girl that you're trying to impress, you might want to hold off until the third or fourth date. I've been married long enough, so Clay didn't care that I was eating like a child!
1 lb. chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces (I used 3)
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup salsa
2/3 cup water
1 packet taco seasoning (use Old El Paso) (Coupon Here)
1/3 cup plain Greek yogurt (Coupon Here)
1/3 cup sour cream
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon chipotle pepper in adobo, finely chopped (plus 1/2 teaspoon of the sauce)
8 small flour tortillas (I used fajita-size)
shredded cabbage (could substitute lettuce)
shredded cheese
avocados (optional...added mine after the picture)
Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add a splash of olive oil. Saute chicken until no longer pink, about 8 minutes. Add black beans, taco seasoning and water (the Old El Pasa taco seasoning is worth the little bit of extra it costs. The McCormick taco seasoning was yucky. I've put the ones I bought in my donation bin!). Cook uncovered over medium heat about 5 minutes until thickened. Add salsa. Stir to combine. Cover and simmer over low heat about 10 minutes.
In a small bowl, combine yogurt, mayonnaise and sour cream. Remove the seeds from one pepper and finely chop. Add to the bowl. Add in about 1/2 teaspoon of the sauce from the can of peppers. This stuff is HOT! You could add more to your taste. Be sure to wash your hands after handling the peppers. Put the sauce in the fridge until you're ready to use.
Now its time to assemble the tacos. Put about 1/4 cup chicken mixture in the center of the tortilla, top with the chipotle cream sauce, cabbage and shredded cheese. I also added avocado to mine after I took the picture. YUM! You can also add more salsa if you'd like. Mine was hot enough from the chipotle cream sauce! Dig in!
Enjoy!
(inspired by the Fish Tacos at LuLu's)
Ella playing on the beach before heading to LuLu's. I am devastated about the oil situation out in the Gulf! There are so many ways to get involved. Check with your local organizations to see how you can get involved if needed!
This is one for the kiddos. I'm sure you can tell by the name that this one is a Rachael Ray creation. She has a "for the kids" section in her magazine that has easy kid-friendly recipes. This is one of them. I had the ingredients on hand, so I haven't had to shop Publix yet this week. The hot dogs and cheese are on sale though. This was quick and easy. If you could make two at a time, you could make it that much faster. I think the leftovers would be great for lunch the next day. You could totally eat it cold....like pizza!
4 beef hot dogs
4 10-inch flour tortillas
1/2 cup spaghetti sauce (or salsa)
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Using a small knife cut the hot dogs in half lengthwise, then into 1/2-inch pieces. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add olive oil if you don't have a non-stick pan, then add the hot doogs and cook until browned all over, 2-4 minutes. Drain the hog dog slices on paper towel-lined plates. Wipe out skillet.
Spray the skillet with Pam. Add 1 tortilla. Cook for 1 minute, then flip over with tongs and turn the heat to medium-low. Place a big spoonful of spaghetti sauce (or salsa) on half of the tortilla. Spread it around with the back of a spoon. Top the sauce with 1/4 of the cheese (a big handful of each kind). Top the cheese with 1/4 of the hot dog slices. Fold over the tortilla to form a half-moon shape. Press down on the folded tortilla with a spatula to flatten the pizza-dilla and make it stick together.
Cook the pizza-dilla, flipping it carefully once more with a spatula, for 1 minute per side (I probably did mine more like 2-3 minutes per side to get it slightly crispy). Cut into 4 wedges and serve. Repeat with the remaining ingredients.
**I also think this would work on a panini press. Mine will fit two of these at a time so that will speed things up a little instead of having to cook them all separate.
Enjoy!
(adapted from Rachael Ray Magazine)
I love mushrooms. I am the only one in my house who does, though. I tried to get Ella to take a bite, but she wasn't having any of it. Clay won't even come close, so he had cheese toast tonight. This was super simple and elegant enough to serve to company. I used Sun-dried Tomato Tortillas because I had them leftover from the Black Bean Hummus Wrap. You could serve this as a Vegetarian dish or if you have some leftover chicken you could add that in. Publix has mushrooms, onions and baby arugula on sale this week. I grabbed mine from the Farmers Market because that's where I stopped today after work.
Makes 2 Quesadillas:
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/4 onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
salt and pepper
1 8-10 oz. package mushrooms (I used baby bellas)
squeeze of lemon
1/2 cup shredded cheese (monterrey jack, swiss, muenster, etc.)
1 cup baby arugula
2 10-inch flour tortillas
In large non-stick skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high. Add onion and garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, 3-5 minutes. Add mushrooms, trimmed and sliced, and cook until mushrooms are browned, about 7 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and toss with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. Wipe skillet clean.
Divide cheese, mushroom mixture and arugula over the bottom half of the two tortillas. Fold top half over filling to close. Heat another teaspoon of olive oil in skillet over medium-high heat and cook a quesadilla until cheese melts and tortilla is crisp, 1-2 minutes per side. Repeat with remaining quesadilla. Cut into wedges and serve.
Enjoy!
(adapted from Everyday Food)
I came up with this one night when I had some leftover grilled chicken breasts and wanted to change up dinner a bit. I happened to have some flour tortillas in the fridge and I figured if Chick-fil-a mixed chicken and eggs, then so could I! It turned out great. I've even made this in the morning before work, wrapped it in cling wrap, and warmed it up for lunch. This is a quick meal to throw together for breakfast, lunch or dinner. I made the chicken tonight, but you can certainly use leftover chicken breasts. Make sure you get some chicken breasts at Publix for $1.99 lb. before the sale ends Tuesday!
For two wraps:
1 chicken breast, cooked and sliced
4 eggs, scrambled
shredded cheese
light mayonnaise
2 flour tortillas
Spread mayo on two flour tortillas. In the center of the tortilla, layer chicken, eggs, then cheese. Fold up the bottom over the filling, then fold over the sides and roll. Wrap in a damp paper towel and microwave for 34-45 seconds to melt everything together. If you make this to take to work for lunch, wrap in Glad wrap or Saran wrap and microwave right before eating.
Enjoy!
I have been looking forward to this all day! The taco meat that I used for the burritos is going to do double-duty tomorrow night for the Taco Puffs. I also use this same meat base when I make taco salads. A great recipe to have, for sure. Right now Publix has their Ground Round $2.99 lb., but Winn Dixie has their Ground Beef $1.99 lb. Publix has the flour tortillas B1G1 and avocados for $.99, so its the perfect week to do burritos. I did get a can of corn at Publix also because they had canned Green Giant Veggies B1G1. Alright...enough about the sale. Here's the recipe:
Taco Meat:
1-1/2 lb. ground beef (remember, this is for two dinners)
1/3 cup taco seasoning (or 1-1/2 packets)
3/4 cup water
1 cup salsa
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can corn, drained
Brown the meat in a large skillet over medium high heat until no longer pink. Drain off excess fat and return to pan. Stir in taco seasoning and water. Cook over medium heat about 3-5 minutes. Add in the beans, corn and salsa. Cook for another 3-5 minutes over medium heat, or until most of the liquid is absorbed. Cover and simmer over low heat for at least 15 minutes. This really allows the flavors to combine.
Corn and Black Bean Burritos:
Taco Meat from above recipe
1 package Mexican rice (I used Rice Pilaf Knorr Sides- its all I had)
4 flour tortillas- burrito size
Shredded Cheese
Lettuce
Avocado + Lime
Olives
Sour Cream
Extra Salsa
Cook the rice according to package directions. I only had the Rice Pilaf flavor tonight, and I think I actually liked it better than the Mexican rice. But, use whatever you have on hand.
Warm the flour tortillas on a plate under a damp paper towel in the microwave for 45 seconds. Put one on a plate and begin to assemble. Put 1/3 cup rice in center near the bottom (the tortilla package at Publix has a picture on the back that shows you how to roll it). Put 1/2 cup taco meat on the rice and top with shredded cheese. Fold the sides over and starting at the bottom, roll up. If you have a hard time, you can probably google "how to roll a burrito"!
Once its rolled you can top it with whatever toppings you like. My favorites- lettuce, diced avocado with a squeeze of lime juice and salt, sliced olives, sour cream, and salsa.
This totally hit the spot tonight. Save your leftovers for Taco Puffs tomorrow night!
Enjoy!
