Layered Mexican Casserole

Here's a mild but hearty "Mexican" casserole that could be spiced up if you have the palate for it. Grandpa wasn't big on spicy food and Grandma always toned things down out of respect for him. This one was a flavorful favorite though and even Grandpa liked it. It's easy, budget friendly, and the servings are generous. Served with a little cornbread and salad on the side, it's a full meal deal. You could probably go meatless on this one too and never notice a difference!

If I were to jazz it up a bit I might sprinkle some pepper Jack cheese on top instead of the cheddar, add a little more chili powder and some hot sauce. That would be all you'd need to warm up a cold winter day!

Layered Chili Casserole

1 pound ground beef
2 tablespoons butter
1 large chopped onion
1 teaspoon finely minced garlic
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon oregano
Dash pepper
4 cups (2 1-pound cans) red beans
1 cup (8-ounce can) tomato sauce
¾ cup crushed corn chips
1/3 cup grated Cheddar cheese

Brown meat in heavy skillet; spoon into a 2-quart casserole. Melt butter in skillet. Add onion and garlic; sauté until onion is clear. Add spices, beans, tomato sauce, and corn chips. Mix thoroughly and spoon over meat. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake in 350F oven for 25-30 minutes or until heated through and bubbly. Serves 4.

Baked Stuffed Pork Chops

Having a savory smell wafting through the house on a non-descript cold winter day in February is a welcome treat.  With the smell of apples and pork you just know that there's going to be something great for dinner. What is it about that combination of flavors? Haven't been able to figure it out, but it's magical good and this recipe is great as is . I wouldn't change a thing except maybe to prepare this stuffing for our next Thanksgiving turkey. It's already passed the test with pork and I honestly think it could go famously with chicken or turkey too. My only suggestion is not to use a heavily pre-seasoned stuffing mix like Stove Top. It's just a little too rich for this dish.

Baked Stuffed Pork Chops

1/2 pound Italian sausage (remove if in casing)

3 cups Pepperidge Farm dry cornbread stuffing

1 can chicken broth

1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and diced

1 small onion, diced

1 rib celery, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoon butter

Pepper

8 thin sliced boneless pork chops

Preheat oven to 350F.

Brown Italian sausage over medium heat until cooked and crumbly. Discard all but 1 tablespoon fat in the pan. Using slotted spoon, mix sausage with dry stuffing and can of chicken broth in large bowl.

Pepper both sides of pork chops and place in heated pan used to cook sausage. Cook on each side approximately 3-4 minutes until brown.

While chops are cooking, melt butter in separate pan and saute apple, onion, celery, and garlic. Combine with sausage, stuffing and broth mixture.

When chops are cooked, place in buttered 9x13 baking dish and use ice cream scoop to place scoops of stuffing mixture on top of chops in baking dish. 

Bake 30-40 minutes or until chops are fully cooked (160 degrees on meat thermometer).

Hamburger Puffs

I've mentioned before how much Grandma loved puff pastry. This is a dish that she used to make for her bridge parties, so the recipe is versatile in that these could be served as hors d'hoeuvres or a main dinner course. 

By the way, have I mentioned that I still have so much to learn about cooking? This dish is a perfect example.

The difference in the way I made it and the way Grandma used to make it was the size of each serving. She chose to cut little circles with a biscuit cutter, spoon a little meat mixture on top and cover it with another circle. Instead I rolled out the puff pastry dough, cut it in four squares, spooned the mixture onto the square, and sealed it up......the verdict? My method yielded way too much puff pastry! A little is all you need and Grandma's way of doing it was much better. You can try it both ways, but I'm sure you'll agree.

Hamburger Puffs

1 box Pepperidge Farms Puff Pastry

1 pound lean ground beef

1 small onion, diced

3-4 white button mushrooms, cleaned and sliced

1/2 green pepper, diced

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 can cream of mushroom soup (or Grandma's homemade)

Italian seasoning

salt and pepper

garlic powder

Thaw puff pastry in refrigerator and roll out each sheet onto floured board. Cut circles with biscuit cutter and set aside.

Preheat oven to 350F. In large skillet or Dutch oven, brown hamburger with onion, mushrooms, green pepper, garlic, salt pepper and Italian seasoning until onions are translucent and meat is no longer pink. Discard any liquid or fat. Stir in cream of mushroom soup. Set aside to cool. Place spoonfuls of meat mixture onto puff pastry circles and top with another circle. Place on greased cookie sheet and bake at 350F for 20 minutes or until pastry is puffed and golden.

Oatmeal Chocolate Bars

So many main course posts lately, it's time for a few sweet things!

If you want a real treat that's easy to prepare and delicious with a cup of coffee or tea, this one's for you. You can tell yourself they're healthy with the old-fashioned oats in them, but I'm sure the Weight Watchers points wouldn't lie. These are probably off the charts on the points (but they are off-the-charts good)! The picture is a little deceptive because they look like they have nuts on top, but that's the buttery oatmeal topping.

So brew yourself a pot and sit down with a couple of these. Don't forget to pack a few in your kid's lunch too. They'll be pretty popular sharing the likes of these sweet treats!

Chocolate Oatmeal Bars

¾ cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup old fashioned oats

Fudge filling:

   1 (14 ounce) cans sweetened condensed milk
   1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F. Cream together the softened butter, sugar and salt. Add flour and oatmeal and blend until consistency of a dough. Press the mixture into the bottom of a well-greased 9x13 baking dish, reserving some for the crumbled topping.

Heat sweetened condensed milk in a saucepan or over double boiler and add chocolate chips. Stir until chocolate is melted and smooth, then pour over crust in baking dish.

Crumble the remaining flour and oatmeal mixture over the top and bake 25-30 minutes.

Super Chili

Chili is about the most versatile soup on the planet. You can spice it up if you want it hot or keep the temperature low. With beans, meat, and peppers or without them. Thickened or not. Sky's the limit!

We've posted another chili recipe (Easy Stovetop Chili) which is very good, but this special batch was for the boys on Super Bowl Sunday and it was a hit. Matter of fact, they requested it for next year! Plus it wasn't a budget buster so all around it was a win.

If you have a big crowd, make a lot of it and keep it warm in the crockpot.

Super Chili

1/2 pound of bacon, diced

1 medium onion, chopped

1/2-1 pound ground chuck

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 small red bell pepper, seeded and diced

1 bottle beer (your choice; we used Guinness)

2 cans (or one large can) tomato sauce

1 can diced tomatoes

2 cans black or red beans

2 tablespoons chili powder

salt and pepper

Cooks the bacon in a Dutch oven or large skillet. Once cooked, discard some of the bacon fat, reserving a little for cooking the onion and garlic. Saute onion, garlic, and red bell pepper then add ground chuck and cook thoroughly until no longer pink.

Pour in bottle of beer, scraping brown bits and incorporating into mix. Bring to boil, then reduce heat and simmer about 5-10 minutes. Stir in tomato sauce, tomatoes, beans, and chili powder. Add salt and pepper to taste and simmer for about 40 minutes. If you double the recipe, you'll need to simmer longer.  Transfer to crock pot to keep warm if serving large crowd.

Serve with Irish Soda Bread.

Super Chicken

On Super Bowl Sunday, we served this make-ahead, marinated chicken for our crowd and it was a hit! This is one that's suitable for almost any casual gathering any time of year.

All the wonderful flavors of soy, ginger, garlic and onion give the chicken a little tang and the white wine vinegar tenderizes to perfection. Not only is it super tasting, but it's also super easy to prepare and a budget pleaser! We made all this chicken for about $6. Far less than buying a bucket of fried or even a tray at the grocery deli counter.

Now that I look at the picture, it's actually a "pretty" dish too (even in the aluminum pan)!

Super Chicken

18 chicken legs

3/4 cup soy sauce

3/4 cup white wine vinegar

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

4 cloves of garlic, peeled but left whole

1-2 bay leaves

8 green onions, chopped (reserve half for garnish when serving)

2 cans chicken broth (or 2-1/2 cups of your own homemade stock)

2 tablespoons flour (made into roux with 1/2 cup water)

2 tablespoons dried parsley

Wash chicken legs, pat dry, and place in plastic bag or marinade container.  Whisk together the soy sauce, vinegar, and ginger. Add garlic, bay leaves, and half the chopped onion and pour into marinade container or plastic bag thoroughly coating the chicken legs. Secure container and place in refrigerator for 2-3 hours.

After marinating, remove bay leaves and put chicken, marinade liquid, garlic cloves and onion in a large pan and add chicken broth. Heat to boiling and cook for 45 minutes. 

Remove cooked chicken and garlic cloves and place on serving plate.  Continue boiling liquid, add flour roux, and stir constantly until liquid has thickened slightly. Spoon some of the thickened liquid over chicken and garnish with parsley and remaining chopped green onion. 

Game Day Food Report

Congratulations Green Bay!

A great game and a fun time yesterday with about 15 people and lots and LOTS of food. The boys were terrific and even cleaned up after themselves! How about that!!!

Even though it was a potluck, we still wanted to make a couple special dishes so everyone would have a stomach full when they left.  I think our picks were real crowd pleasers!

1. The dish voted numero uno was our Super Chili, cooked with bacon, beer, and beef and it was requested by everyone as a keeper for next year by a landslide. 

2. Second on the list was our Super Chicken, marinated in soy sauce, white wine vinegar, garlic, ginger, and green onion then cooked to tender perfection. 

3. For finger food we made Ranch Style Deviled Eggs. The verdict? Total flop. Even though they've been delicious before, the only thing we did differently was use our own chickens' eggs.  We think that maybe the eggs were TOO fresh! Go figure! We boiled them per usual, but the shell did not want to peel off without taking most of the white with it, making the eggs look a little gnarly. We garnished them and made them pretty, but to no avail. They just weren't up to our standards. Lesson learned? Make them the night before so any surprises can be fixed with a second batch.

We'll be sharing these recipes with you this week, along with some bar cookies and other goodies. For now, this kid is going to take a hot bath, have a hot cup of tea, and hit the hay. After a busy weekend, I am wiped out!

Lasagna Belmonte

Lasagna has gotten to be a mainstay because it's so filling and hearty. Of course it's also been sorely lost on convenience and there are plenty of frozen ones out there, but they're in no way reminiscent of home made.

The quality of any lasagna is dependent upon the quality of the sauce put into it. That's the key ingredient that has to be good. Grandma would whip up some of her own spaghetti sauce on one night and use up the leftovers in this lasagna dish on another night. The fact that the sauce mellowed a day or so after it was made with the flavors having a chance to fully develop made all the difference.

This particular recipe contains a mini-recipe for a homemade sauce and although it's not the one Grandma used, it's still delicious. If you have your own favorite sauce, by all means use it and eliminate the sauce ingredients and processing altogether.

Lasagna Belmonte

Sauce:
1 clove garlic, minced or pressed
2 cans (8 oz) tomato sauce
1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
½ cup each dry red wine and water
salt
1 tsp dried oregano
½ tsp each pepper and sugar


2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1-½ pounds ground chuck

12 ounces lasagna noodles
Boiling salt water
Butter
2 cups ricotta cheese or small curd cottage cheese
½ pound mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Heat oil in wide frying pan over medium heat. Add onion and cook until soft. Add meat and cook until browned and crumbly; discard any fat.

At this point you may add in your own sauce, or continue to sauce recipe as follows:

Combine garlic, tomato sauce, tomato paste, wine, water, salt, oregano, pepper and sugar. Bring to a boil then cover, reduce heat and simmer for about 1-½ hours.

Preheat oven to 350F.

Cook noodles in boiling salted water according to package directions. Do not overcook. Drain and rinse with cold water and drain again. 

Arrange one-third of noodles in criss-cross pattern in bottom of buttered shallow 3-quart or 9x13 inch baking dish. Spread one-third of meat sauce over noodles, and top with one-third each of the ricotta and mozzarella. Repeat layering, ending with a top layer of cheese. Sprinkle with Parmesan.

Bake uncovered in 350F oven for 30-40 minutes or until bubbly and heated through. Serves 6-8.