Chicken Enchilada Casserole + That Game!

Did you SEE that game yesterday?

Oh wait. You don't know what I am talking about? The World Cup. I know, here in America it really isn't that big of a deal, but in our half-Brazilian / half-American household it is more than just a soccer tournament; it is pretty much what 95% of our conversation is centered around these days. And I love it!

I haven't always cared about it. In fact, I never had even heard of the World Cup until I was graduating college and a group of my friends didn't come to the graduation because there was a game on. Actually, they came. They just stayed in the back, all crowded around a pickup truck with a TV connected to it, cheering for whatever teams were playing at that moment. Technically they were there, but there weren't really there. I was fuming! These were some of my best friends, they showed up for my college graduation and didn't see me get my degree because of a soccer game?!

I totally get it now.

This household cheers for Brazil. All the way. I mean, my husband comes from a country where every time they play is equivalent to a national holiday. Schools are closed, businesses are shut down, and parties are going on everywhere. Imagine the 4th of July -- continuing on throughout a month. This is a big deal for him, and has become a big deal for me. But yesterday we cheered for the USA (Go, Team, go!).

DID YOU SEE THAT GAME?!

I think my heart sank at minute five, and then soared from about the middle of the game on... until it almost stopped beating during the last 30 seconds. If you don't know what I am talking about you really should check it out. Man oh man, it was intense.

Objectively, it was a great game. Subjectively, it almost made me cry. So this is what it feels like to really care about sports...

But at the end of the day -- win, lose, or draw -- life goes on. And I don't know about you, but I work up quite an appetite while watching these boys battle it out on the pitch.

To help combat that, I bring you a chicken enchilada casserole.

The beauty of this casserole is that you don't have to really roll the enchiladas. Just stuff them, fold them in half, and layer them in the casserole dish. Quite simple to make and really delicious to eat -- even my husband who dislikes most Mexican food (he doesn't understand why cheese and beans go together, nor does he like spicy things) enjoys this. I guess it helps that I don't put jalapenos in even though the original recipe calls for them.

Some tips: (1) buy cooked, shredded chicken from the deli section of the your local grocery store. It is easier than buying it and making it yourself, and costs about the same; (2) substitute Greek yogurt in place of sour cream -- it is tangy and has the same consistency, and is a little bit healthier; and (3) start cheering on your team in the World Cup! Like I said earlier, go Team, go!!!

CHICKEN ENCHILADA CASSEROLE

Recipe slightly adapted from Everyday Food, October 2011

SERVES 6  •  PREP TIME: 35 MINUTES  •  TOTAL TIME: 1 HOUR

ingredients:

• 2 pounds tomatillos (husks removed), washed and coarsely chopped
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 white onion, diced small
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• salt and pepper
• 15-18 corn tortillas
• 2 cups cooked and shredded chicken
• 3 tablespoons sour cream or Greek yogurt
• 1 cup cotija cheese, crumbled
• ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro

directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a blender, puree tomatillos until smooth. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high. Add onion and cook until softened, 8 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, 30 seconds. Add tomatillo puree and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until sauce is thickened slightly, 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Briefly run stack of tortillas under cold water, turning to lightly dampen. Wrap stack in a clean kitchen towel and microwave until pliable, 30 seconds. Fill each tortilla with about 3 tablespoons chicken and a sprinkling of cheese, fold in half, and arrange in a 9-by-13-inch baking dish, overlapping slightly. Top with tomatillo mixture, cover with foil, and bake until bubbling, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes before serving.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together sour cream and 2 tablespoons water. To serve, drizzle casserole with sour cream mixture and sprinkle with cheese and cilantro.

COST: $13.09      COST PER SERVING (6): $2.18

Gluten Free    //    Mexican Food

Kale + Chicken Sausage Strata

The wind today is out of control.  Like trash-cans-flying-around-the-street-and-fences-almost-falling-down out of control.  I made sure both of our cars were parked inside because the last time it was like this a tree fell on my brother's car, right outside my house.

The problem was, he was serving in Afghanistan and we were surfing in Costa Rica. (Who am I kidding?  He was surfing, I was floundering around, trying not to die.)  Good thing we had great neighbors who took pictures and documented the whole thing... Geico couldn't argue with that.

Today I have no fear of the wind destroying a car or a house.  I just don't think that will happen.  What I do hope will happen is some wind gust picking up my neighbors barbecue that smells oh so good and plopping it smack dab in my yard.  Tri-tip would be preferred.

But since that's highly unlikely to happen (fingers still crossed!) I guess I will be having leftovers tonight.

Not too shabby when it's this stuff, though.  Can't go wrong with kale in this house.

So now I eat, listen to the wind, and watch The Voice.  And wait for that tri-tip to fly in...

KALE AND CHICKEN SAUSAGE STRATA

Recipe inspired by Everyday Food’s Sausage and Swiss Chard Strata, April 2011

SERVES 6  •  PREP TIME: 15 MINUTES  •  TOTAL TIME: 1 hour 10 minutes

ingredients

• 1 packet chicken sausage, cut into cubes
• 1 shallot, finely chopped
• 2 small spring onions, finely chopped (bulb only)
• 1 bunch kale (about 1 pound), leaves torn off into 2-inch pieces and rinsed
• coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1 day-old baguette, cut into ½-inch slices
• 2 ½ cups milk
• 6 large eggs, lightly beaten
• ½ cup shredded Asiago cheese

directions

1.      Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Heat a large skillet over medium-high. Add sausage and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned. Transfer sausage to a small bowl, leaving behind as much fat as possible. Add shallots and spring onions and cook over medium until translucent, 3 minutes. Add a little water to pan and cook, stirring and scraping up browned bits from skillet with wooden spoon. Add kale and cook, stirring occasionally, until wilted, 4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.  Add to sausage and mix together.

2.      Spread half the sausage/kale mixture in a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Top with bread, overlapping slices slightly. Top with remaining sausage/kale mixture. In a large bowl, whisk together milk and eggs, season with salt and pepper, and pour evenly over top. Firmly press on strata to submerge bread in egg mixture. Cover dish tightly with foil and let sit 10 minutes.

3.      Bake strata 45 minutes. Uncover, sprinkle with cheese, and bake until cheese melts and egg mixture is mostly absorbed and set in center, 6 to 10 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes before serving.

 COST: $10.25           COST PER SERVING (6): $1.71

Nutritional Information
calories 332.9   •    total fat 18.8 g    •    fiber 1.2g    •    sugars 5.5g   •    protein 29.2g

"My Grandpa Makes the Tuna..." (Tuna Casserole with Spinach)

I am not a snob.  Ask those who know me and I am pretty sure *fingers crossed* they would say that "snobby" is not an adjective that describes me.  Basically, it is like this: I don't care if my clothes come from Target or some fancy-pants store, as long as they fit well and are cute.  I don't care if my friends are quote-unquote "popular" or the average Joe, as long as they are kind and not too annoying (because face it, we all have some annoying characteristics).  I don't care if I drive a BMW or a Toyota, as long as it is reliable and safe.  Shoot -- my first car was an '88 Dodge Colt Hatchback, ripped vinyl seating and rusty top included.  I drove it with pride.

Like I said, I am not a snob.

Unless it comes to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or tuna casserole.  Then you better have the right stuff.  AKA Skippy Creamy and Strawberry Smuckers (for the PB&J) or this stuff:

Yes, that's right.  Campbell's all the way, Baby.  None of that store-brand junk they try to pass off as Cream of Mushroom Soup.  And don't even think about trying to sneak in some "low-fat" goo, I will tell the difference in a heartbeat. 

There are some things in life you are allowed to be snobby about.

Mayo is another one of those things.

Bring out the Best Foods, and you bring out the best, right?

And tuna, well... there is only one kind that sits on my shelf:

But for the tuna I have a really good excuse, other than just pure snobbiness.  See, my grandpa was an engineer for Starkist before he retired (and don't ask me what an engineer might do at a tuna company, I have yet to figure that out...)  As a kid I watched the movie Annie and it inspired many things in me.  For one, I knew that I had to work in an orphanage some day.  Actually, I knew I had to buy Daddy Warbuck's house and move all the orphans there so they could have a happy life.  This is still something I have on my life's to-do list.

Something else this movie inspired in me was the need to burst out in song to express myself.  Annie did it, why couldn't I?  This is why I would sing to my cats, my dogs, and my friends, until they ran away and hid.  But my poor mother, she couldn't run and hide, now could she?  (She could regret her idea of renting Annie, however.)  This would be how the Grandpa song came about.  I remember sitting there in the little seat in the shopping carts, cruising the aisles of the supermarket, singing at the top of my lungs --

My grandpa makes the tuna,

my grandpa makes the tuna,

so if you love tuna

YOU LOVE MY GRANDPA!

Ya know what?  I don't think I have ever purchased a different brand of tuna in my life, except when I was living overseas and Starkist was not an option.  The seed was planted early on, and nothing has uprooted it.  So, yes, I am a tuna snob.  I admit it.

I was making tuna casserole the other night, with my perfect ingredients, and I realized I didn't have peas.  But I did have spinach, and I thought, "Why not?"  Then, as it was cooking, I flipped through Everyday Food by Martha Stuart and I saw a recipe for, you guessed it, tuna casserole with spinach.  I'm one step ahead of you, Martha... Anyway, it turned out great.  I like peas, but I like spinach.  I think this will get another chance in the spotlight, as long as I have my Campbell's, Best Foods, and Starkist of course!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 pack egg noodles
• 2 cans tuna
• 2 cans cream of mushroom soup
• 1 heaping Tablespoon of mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/4 onion, chopped
• 2 large handfuls of spinach leaves
• Mrs. Dash or other seasoning
• salt and pepper, to taste
• bread crumbs

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 425.  Bring water to boil in large pot and add egg noodles.  Cook for 7-8 min.
2. Meanwhile, in large mixing bowl add the rest of the ingredients except the bread crumbs.  Stir in egg noodles after they are cooked and drained.
3. In large casserole dish, dump contents in and sprinkle bread crumbs on top.  Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 40 minutes.  (Remove the tin foil for the last 5-7 minutes to give it a golden crispiness on the top.)

Cost: $6.70                   Cost Per Serving (6) $1.12

Plus bread w/ butter and salad = $1.60 per serving

Chicken and Kale Casserole

I love casseroles.  I think they are really the all-American food.  As far as I can tell, there is no other culture on the face of the planet that throws a bunch random stuff together, throws it in the oven, and then thirty minutes later proclaims that dinner is done.  So easy, and yields a great amount, allowing my little family of two to have leftovers for days.  I am not going to complain that last night my dinner prep consisted of plopping a bunch on a plate, throwing it in the microwave, and setting it on the table with some bread and butter.  My husband ate this for dinner on Tuesday night, lunch for Wednesday, dinner again on Wednesday, and then lunch today.

Poor husband.

But happy wife.

Now, before you go feeling all that bad for him, please remember that kale is his favorite vegetable.  The man loves this leafy green goodness.  So, yes, he has been stuck on repeat with his meals, but I have not heard a single complaint.  I think, however, that it is time to make something different tonight for dinner ;)

Recipe from Everyday Food with Martha Stuart, Nov. 2011 issue

*This recipe yields a TON.  Consider yourself warned.
**Instead of a cooked whole chicken, I used a pack of cooked chicken strips from Trader Joe's.  I just chopped them up and threw it in the mix.

 

Ingredients

• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 3/4 pound large pasta shells
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 large yellow onion, diced medium
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 bunches kale (1 1/2 pounds), tough stems and ribs removed, leaves coarsely chopped
• 2 cups shredded or chopped cooked chicken (from 1/2 rotisserie chicken)
• 1 container (48 ounces) part-skim ricotta
• 3 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest (from 2 lemons)
• 3/4 cup Parmesan, grated (2 1/4 ounces)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions. Drain; return to pot. In a large skillet, melt butter over medium-high. Add onion and garlic; cook until onion is beginning to soften, 4 minutes. Add kale, cover, and cook until almost tender, about 5 minutes. Transfer to pot with pasta.
2. Stir in chicken, ricotta, lemon zest, and 1/2 cup Parmesan; season with salt and pepper. Transfer mixture to a 9-by-13-inch baking dish; top with 1/4 cup Parmesan. Bake until top is golden, 30 minutes.

COST: $19.11      COST PER SERVING (8): $2.39

Plus butter and bread -- about $2.50/serving

Can-Free Green Bean Casserole {Guest Post}

You know what I love about this little (or rather large) food blog thing?  I have discovered there are so many others out there like me -- people who are working hard to improve their food-lives.  Many of them started out when they were young, but even more started out as an adult after some kick-in-the-pants happened.  For me it was marrying a Brazilian who had only eaten "real food" in his life that opened my eyes to what I could be having AKA something other than top ramen every night.  For my guest blogger today, it was something different.  So although our stories have different starts, the journey is surprisingly similar.  I am so excited to try this recipe, guys!  I love green bean casserole.  And now I know how to make it sans-cans.  Woot-woot!  I hope you get inspired to try some yourself :)

Meet Jackie.
(Photo borrowed from her website)

For see more of Jackie's recipes/stories/pictures, visit her at domesticfits.com or click on any of the pictures.

Hi, I’m Jackie, from Domestic Fits.

I love to make food from scratch. How can I possibly indulge myself in in scratch food making? I must have all the time in the world, tons of money, and no job. And servants. Lots of them.

Nope. Working Mom. Full time even. And I run a social work program, so the Big Bucks have yet to roll in. I just think it’s really important, and we find time for those things in our lives that are in that golden circle.

It started when I was pregnant with my daughter (in 2009) and my Splenda addiction was in full force, poised to take over my body. I took one look at that little yellow packet, with it’s completely unknown contents and had a revelation: What In The Crap Will This DO To The Brain I Am Growing In My Guts?

Because, it wasn’t until I found out that I was growing an actual brain that my daughter became real (if you really want THAT store you can read this).

It all spiraled from there, and I became obsessed with knowing what was in my food before I fed it to the brain and it’s attached adorable fetus body.

I never really stopped this, although I have lightened up a bit with my OCD version of Farm to Table.  But the core is there. Cook foods that you know what all the ingredients are, better yet can SEE all the ingredients, i.e. Green Beans. Real, fresh ones.

My husband has the obsession with this here American favorite: Green Bean Casserole. It only calls for 4 “ingredients,” however, 3 of them come from cans and who know HOW many ingredients are in those things. Plus mushy green beans are yucky. Clinical term: Yucky.

SO here is my grown up version of this. Husband even liked it better than his mom’s Three Can Wonder. Don’t tell her, she’ll never know.

Grown Up Green Bean Casserole

From Domestic Fits

Topping:

2 leeks

1 large white onion

1 tbs olive oil

1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs

1 tbs salt

Casserole:

5 cups fresh green beans, trimmed and cut in half

2 tbs butter

4 cups Crimini mushrooms (baby bella), washed and chopped

3 large cloves of garlic, chopped

1 cup of chicken broth

2 tbs flour

1 cup cream

Preheat oven to 400.

Cut the leeks (white and very light green portion only) into thin rings. Cut the onion into thin slices. Place in a small bowl and toss with the olive oil to coat. Add to a baking sheet and add the Panko breadcrumbs and salt, toss to combine.

Bake at 400 for about 30 minutes, tossing about every 8-10 minutes. Remove from the oven when a golden brown color is reached.

Place the green beans in a pot of rapidly boiling water. Boil for 5 minutes and immediately drain by pouring into a colander, rinse with cold water for 2 minutes to stop the cooking.

In a saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the mushrooms and cook for about 5 minutes, or until they turn a dark brown. Add the garlic and cook for about 30 seconds.

In a separate bowl, add the chicken broth and the flour, stir to combine. Pour into the pan through a mesh strainer to remove any flour lumps. Stir until thickened, about 3-5 minutes.

Remove from heat, add the cream and stir until combined. Return to heat and allow to cook until thickened, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, add the green beans and 1/2 cup of the onion/leek mixture, stir. Pour into a 2-quart baking dish.

*Time management tip: If you want to make this the day before Thanksgiving, this is where you stop. Cover the baking dish and put it into the fridge. Put the cooled onion/leek mixture in a separate container of Ziplock bag to prevent them from getting soggy from sitting on the top of the casserole all night. 

Top your casserole with the onion mixture and place in your 400 degree oven. Reduce heat to 375 and bake for 15 minutes or until warmed all the way though (note: if you are cooking this after removing from the fridge, as in the above Tip, the cooking time will be longer, approximately 22 minutes).

For a printable version, Click here

An All American Classic: Tuna Casserole

My love of tuna came early on.  It might be attributed to the fact that my grandpa worked at the Starkist headquarters and therefore I had a lot of it when we were visiting him.  In fact, when I was a little girl with pigtails in my hair and small enough to still sit in the chair on the shopping carts, my mom would push me around the grocery store, checking off her list, while I would be singing, "My Grandma makes the tuna, my grandpa makes the tuna.  If you love tuna then YOU LOVE MY GRANDPA!"  (This was during my phase when I did not yet realize that the world was not a musical like "Annie".  This singing was not limited to just tuna.  My poor mother.)

Later, after years of tuna sandwiches for lunch (alternately switched with PB&J... no turkey and cheese for me, no sirree!), I hit a vegetarian streak in my life.  I gave up chicken and hamburgers without that much of a problem.  But I sure did miss those tuna sandwiches!  Luckily for me, there was Tuno.  Yes, Tun-O.  Looks kind of like tuna, smells kind of like tuna, comes in a can like tuna.  Except that can doesn't just say, "Dolphin friendly" on it.  Oh no, it says, "Tuna and dolphin friendly".  I don't think it was soybean friendly, though...  Apparently I liked it enough because I ate so much of it that for Christmas I got a shipping box full of cans of Tuno.

I kid you not.

I snapped out of this fake-meat mode when I moved for a bit to the beautiful islands of Micronesia to teach school.  You don't eat fake meat in Micronesia, you eat fresh-from-the-sea meat or chicken-snatched-from-the-bushes meat.  That, and canned meat.  Spam, people LOVE spam over there.  Me?  Spam?  Nah.  But the love of canned tuna came back along with the experience of eating fish straight off the bone.  Both were delicious, but only one made a killer sandwich.  Tuna sandwiches, tuna dip, grilled tuna Reuben's... I was the Bubba Gump of tuna.

(Enjoying some of that fresh fish in Ebeye)

This being said, I guess there should be no surprise that we eat a lot of tuna casserole in our home.  The great thing is that even though this is a simple food, the Brazilian half of our extended family thinks that it is a gourmet dish simply because it is not common in Brazil.  Imagine my relief when I have the pressure of making something fabulous to feed my mother/father/sister/aunts/uncles/cousins-in-law and they ask, "Ooohhh, do you think you can make tuna casserole?"  And then they turn and smile at each other, sending the same message back and forth: Tonight we are going to be eating GOOD!

The great thing about this dish is there is no-one-way to do it.  Basically, if you have the main ingredients of Cream of Something (mushroom or celery) Soup, Tuna, and noodles, you can change it up however you want.  Below is the Tiffany version of Tuna Casserole.  I make it without a recipe and sometimes add more or less, but this is what I did today and it was great.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 pack egg noodles
• 2 cans tuna
• 2 cans cream of mushroom soup
• 1 heaping Tablespoon of mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/4 onion, chopped
• 1 half bag of frozen peas
• Mrs. Dash or other seasoning
• salt and pepper, to taste
• bread crumbs

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 425.  Bring water to boil in large pot and add egg noodles.  Cook for 7-8 min.
2. Meanwhile, in large mixing bowl add the rest of the ingredients except the bread crumbs.  Stir in egg noodles after they are cooked and drained.
3. In large casserole dish, dump contents in and sprinkle bread crumbs on top.  Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 40 minutes.  (Remove the tin foil for the last 5-7 minutes to give it a golden crispiness on the top.)

COST = $6.70        PER SERVING (4) = $1.68
Plus bread w/ butter and sliced tomatoes = $1.93 per serving