Mexican Casserole

I haven’t posted to this blog in 5 years!  Years!  To be honest, I needed a break.  I felt like I had exhausted my cooking repertoire at the time.  I have made some changes since then.  The past 20 months I have been a member of WW (formerly Weight Watchers Canada).  I have lost 70 pounds (and counting).  I have relearned how to treat food and have a much healthier outlook on cooking.  I decided the best way to connect my WW life and my love of recipes was to pick up this blog again. We will see how it goes.
My first new offering is this Mexican Casserole.  I calculated it to be 5 points a serving.  I recommend calculating your own depending on how you tweak it for yourself.  It is delicious.  This casserole dish makes 6 generous servings.  Here’s what I did:

Cook 1 pound of extra lean ground turkey.
Add 1 diced onion, 2 diced red peppers, a can of rinsed black beans, a cup of frozen corn kernels.
Season (to your liking) with chili powder, cumin, ground coriander and garlic powder.
Cook through.
At the same time cook up your rice mix.  I used uncle Bens 7 Grain Medley, enough to make 2 cups when cooked through.  I added a little chicken bouillon (liquid) to the rice mix but you don’t have to.
Once everything is cooked, mix together.
Add 1 can of Enchilada Sauce.  Mix in.
Put everything into a 9x13 sprayed casserole dish.
Grate a couple ounces of mozzarella on top.
Bale for 20 minutes to half an hour at 350 degrees.
Enjoy!

Shepherd's Pie

I love this recipe for a cold winter's night.  It is the tastiest shepherd's pie I've ever had.  I use Jean Pare's recipe from Cooking for Two, but I double it each time.  Here are the measurements for a double recipe (which feeds my family of 5 nicely).  You can of course halve it to make the smaller 'for 2' dish.

2 tsp cooking oil
1 lb lean ground beef
2 1/2 cups chopped onion

2/3 cup water
4 tsp beef bouillon powder
2 medium carrots, sliced thinly or diced (I dice them)
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
sprinkle each of salt and pepper

2/3 cup frozen peas

3 cups cooked mashed potatoes
2 tbsp milk (to mix into the mashed potato)
sprinkle of salt (to mix into the mashed potato)
sprinkle of paprika

Heat cooking oil in frying pan.  Add ground beef and onion.  Scramble-fry until beef is browned and onion is soft.  Drain.

Combine the next 7 ingredients in saucepan.  Stir.  Heat to boiling.  Cook slowly until carrot is tender.  Add peas.  Cook for 2-3 minutes.  Add ground beef mixture.  Stir.  Pack into a casserole dish. 

Cover with mashed potato.  Sprinkle with paprika.  Bake, uncovered in 350* oven for about 30 minutes, until very hot.

Chicken and Broccoli Casserole

broccoli florettes - 2 bunches, separated
3 carrots, diagonally sliced
2 or 3 chicken breasts cut into chunks
1c light mayo
1 can cream of mushroom or cream of chicken soup
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp curry - or to taste
grated cheese

Layer chicken and veggies.  Mix remaining ingredients in a separate bowl and pour over chicken and veggies.  Bake at 350* for 25 minutes.  Sprinkle grated cheese over casserole just before it is done and melt cheese over just before serving.

Wild Rice and Turkey Casserole

2 C cut up cooked turkey or chicken
2 1/4 C boiling water
1/3 C milk
1 small chopped onion (1/4 c)
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 pkg seasoned long grain and wild rice.

Mix everything together in a casserole dish.  Cover and bake at 350* for 45-50 minutes, or until rice is tender.  Uncover and bake 15 minutes more, until liquid is absorbed.

Scalloped Potatoes

Shortly after we were first married, my husband went away on a college work trip to the Mirimichi. He came home with this recipe. He swore it was for the best scalloped potatoes he'd ever had. I tried the recipe and sure enough they really were the best scalloped potatoes I'd ever had too.
*Just as a side note of cultural interest, I call these scalloped potatoes. I'm originally from the western part of Canada. My Maritime friends who are true New Brunswickers call these potatoes scallop. I don't know why.

1/4 cup margarine
1/4 cup flour
1 14 oz can chicken broth (Campbell's Herb and Garlic is what was recommended to us)
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/8 tsp pepper
5 large potatoes, peeled and sliced
1 med. onion, finely chopped
8 oz Monterey Jack Cheese, shredded (can use light)
paprika

Melt margarine in saucepan. Add flour; blend well. Add broth, mayonnaise and pepper. Cook over medium heat until thick and bubbly. Remove from heat. Alternate layers of potatoes, onions and cheese in a 9x13 baking dish. Pour sauce over top. Sprinkle with paprika. Bake at 350* for 1 1/2 hours or until golden brown.

Tales of A Corn Casserole

After all the rigmarole surrounding this next food story and recipe, you'd think that I would have remembered to take a picture. Alas, I didn't. Blame it on pregnant brain if you will, or the business of cooking on a holiday, whatever the reason, there is no picture.

Our story begins yesterday morning. Canadian Thanksgiving. (An explanation for my American and other nationality type friends, Canadian Thanksgiving is always the second Monday of October and traditionally celebrates harvest time). I had my menu planned. Turkey (of course), stuffing, cranberries, carrot-turnip mash, whipped potatoes, peas, squash, gravy, rolls, 2 kinds of pie (pumpkin chiffon and apple - recipes and pictures to come) and corn. Hmmm, corn. for some reason I was thinking that the corn needed to be a little more special than just plain old corn. Sometimes I have corn in butter sauce, but today I wanted something else. Aha! I remembered my mom had a recipe for corn casserole. I'd just phone her and get that and we'd be all set. Unfortunately, this realization hit me at 11am my time. My mom lives on the other side of the country and a 4 hour time difference away, she definitely wouldn't appreciate a wake up call like that! During my wait I decided to look up corn casseroles on Recipezaar.com. Yes, I love it. I found a great looking one for a creamed corn casserole, but not quite what I was looking for. Finally at 12:15 I called my mom (I figured she should be up by now, it was after 8 her time). Yes she found the recipe for me. Unfortunately, it called for green peppers, which I didn't have in the house. New Brunswick is a province where everything but gas stations and Blockbuster close on holidays, so the possibility of running out to a market was nil. Then I got inspired. Why not pull from both recipes and make my own? So I did. Here are all 3 recipes. I hope you enjoy them. Let me know if you try any of them out!
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Mom's Corn Casserole

2 cups corn
2/3 cup milk
2 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
dash pepper
1 cup cheddar cheese (grated)
2 tbsp minced onion
2 chopped green peppers

Combine in a casserole dish and bake at 325* for 40 minutes
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Creamed Corn Casserole from Recipezaar.com

1 cup creamed corn
1/4 cup melted butter
2 beaten eggs
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 tsp salt
1 cup sour cream
1 cup cheddar

Combine in a casserole dish and bake at 350* for one hour (or until the cornmeal sets)
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My Corn Casserole

1 can creamed corn (398ml/14fl oz)
2 cups corn
2/3 cup milk
1 cup corn flour
2 eggs, beated
1/4 cup melted butter
salt & pepper to taste
1/2 cup cheddar

Combine in a casserole dish and bake at 350* for one hour. (yes, I kept the lid on)

Mexican Casserole

This is one of my mom's recipes. I am pretty sure she got it from Weight Watchers originally. You can serve it as a meal on it's own, but I know my husband well enough that he sees it as a side dish and would be looking for the meat if I tried to serve just this, so I added some Thai chicken wings. (Don't ask for the chicken wings recipe, they're PC brand from the Superstore). I like dishes like this an all in one kind of meal. I think I could have made it with shredded chicken or some scrambled ground beef and it would be fine. I also realised how much I miss living on the west coast where you can get all sorts of peppers and chilies. I used a can of green chilies in this but the kick from a fresh pepper was lacking. I was inspired by Girlichef's Chile Pepper contest as it jogged the memory to make this. So this will be my contribution for that. If you know a great way to use chili peppers check her contest out too! (And Heather, thank you for your chili post because I finally know the name of that wonderful Mexican cheese that they put in everything but I can't find up here in Canada, I wish we did get it, it's delicious! - oaxaca cheese)

So here's the recipe:

1 cup cooked rice
1 large onion, diced
1 yellow pepper, diced
1 small zuchinni, diced
1 can green chilies (or sub in fresh chilies if you have them)
1 can kidney beanns, rinsed and drained
1 cup frozen corn
1 can diced tomatoes, drained (I don't buy diced tomatoes, I squish whole tomatoes into everything instead)
1 tbsp sugar

My mom's directions read this way: Mix, cover and bake for 50 min. at 350*. Uncover and sprinkle with 3/4 cup grated cheese. Bake another 15 minutes.
Yesterday I added the cheese on top right away and baked uncovered for about an hour. I served it with sour cream.