Mexican Casserole

I love Mexican food! I can't decide whether I like Indian food more than Mexican or not. I want flavor and I want spice!

My Mother-in-Law finds the best recipes and this one is no exception. She made it for me after I had come home from the hospital after having my son, almost three years ago.

I decided to make this since I had all of the ingredients and a new casserole dish I want to try out. It's easy to put together and easy to vary the recipe to suit your taste. My husband thinks this should be a dip, since he like to eat it with chips. I like to think of it as a basic rice and bean casserole. Toss in some chicken for the meat-eaters and maybe it'll "seem" more like a complete meal.

Mexican Casserole

15 1/4 oz corn, drained <--I used a bag of frozen organic, it's probably a pound
15 oz black beans, rinsed and drained <--Use Whole Foods Spicy Black Beans to kick it up a bit
10 oz whole tomatoes with green chiles <--I dice fresh tomatoes and buy the chopped green green chiles
8 oz sour cream
8 oz picante sauce <--I use organic medium salsa
8 oz (2 cups) shredded yellow cheddar
2 cups cooked brown rice
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 bunch green onions, chopped
8 oz monterey jack cheese, shredded

-Combine the first 8 ingredients and spoon into a lightly greased 13x19 pan.
-Sprinkle with remaining ingredients.
-Bake @ 350F for 30-35 minutes.

Chicken Broccoli Divan Casserole

First off, why does the word "casserole" look so strange to me? Isn't it weird when a common word looks so uncommon?

It seems to me that casseroles are easy to make and can spare me from cooking dinner two nights in a row or I can freeze portions for a quick home-cooked meal on another night. I try to make dishes like this for my husband on the nights that I work. He needs something that requires no prep and little work on his part. I assemble the casserole and leave him a note with the baking time and temp. With casseroles that I make exclusively for him, I put in things I don't eat so that he can eat things he enjoys. ie) chicken and broccoli. I've adapted this from a recipe I found online. I don't use butter in casseroles. I always substitute brown rice instead of white. I always use as many organic ingredients as possible.

Chicken Broccoli Divan

4 cups steamed broccoli florets
1 1/2 cups cubed cooked chicken (approx 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts)
1 can organic Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup
1/3 cup milk
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
whole wheat panko breadcrumbs, enough to cover

-Place the broccoli and chicken into a 9-inch pie plate.
-Stir the soup and milk in a small bowl. Pour the soup mixture over the broccoli and chicken.
-Sprinkle with the cheese.
-->I just mix all of the ingredients together and sprinkle with the breadcrumbs.
-Sprinkle the bread crumbs mixture over the cheese.
-Bake at 450°F. for 20 minutes or until the chicken mixture is hot and bubbling.

Octopus Cookie

I just had to buy this. I was walking through the bakery department of Wegman's and I saw this super cute cookie. I had to buy it! One day it will inspire me to recreate it. I should've asked the bakery lady what kind of icing they use so that it doesn't become a smeary mess.

What to do with 4 1/2 # of Zucchini?

One of my neighbors was going out of town last weekend and needed to unload some of her abundance of homegrown vegetables. When presented with over four pounds of zucchini, the first recipe that popped into my head was zucchini bread. I've had two zucchini bread recipes sitting in my recipe book for a long time. It was time to try them both out and have a taste test. But...things didn't go as expected.

The first loaves of bread I baked looked delicious. I took a recipe from allrecipes.com that got rave reviews. It turned out to be too cakey in consistency and too mild in flavor for my liking. The second recipe came out of one my Mother-in-Law's recipe books. Although the second batch had more flavor, it lacked the moistness of the first batch. My son loved then both, so it wasn't a total waste.

Overall, I wasn't impressed by either recipe so I decided not to share any to my neighbor who was kind enough to give me the zucchini in the first place.