Chicken Casserole

In the summer time I like to have a few meals that are easy to throw together. It seems like we're always running around having fun, so having a few quick dinner recipes are great to have on hand. This casserole is really easy to put together, and your kids can help too. I had mine tear up the corn tortillas. They loved it! This casserole has a smooth texture with slight heat, you can always increase the heat by adding more chili powder. :] I loved the flavor.

Chicken Casserole

Ingredients

1 large onion, chopped

1 large bell pepper, chopped (red or green)

2 cups chopped cooked chicken (I used a store bought rotisserie chicken)

1 10oz can cream of chicken soup, undiluted

1 10oz can cream of mushroom soup, undiluted

1 10oz can diced tomatoes

1 4oz can diced green chiles

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

3/4 teaspoon garlic

12 (6-inch) corn tortillas

Cheddar cheese, shredded

Directions

Preheat oven to 375*F. Saute onion and bell pepper in large skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat until tender. Stir in chicken, soups, tomatoes, chiles, chili powder, and garlic powder; remove from heat. Tear tortillas into 1-inch pieces. Layer one-third tortilla pieces in bottom of a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Top with one-third chicken mixture. Repeat layers twice. Top with cheese. Bake uncovered for 30-35 minutes. Cool for a few minutes before serving, and enjoy!

Mexican Casserole

I love how quick and easy this recipe came together. It has a very good Mexican flavor to it. If you had a rotisserie chicken on hand it would make this dish even quicker to put together. This recipe calls for ingredients that I always have on hand, another reason why I liked it so much. So if you're having a long day and you don't know what to make for dinner that's quick and easy, this is the dish for you!

Mexican Casserole

Ingredients

3/4 pound boneless skinless chicken, either breast or tenders, cubed

1 tablespoon butter

1 heaping tablespoon taco season mix, found here

1 can black beans, drained

1 can corn, drained

1/2 cup salsa

2 tablespoons water

1 cup shredded Mexican-style cheese, or what you have on hand

1 1/2 cups crushed plain tortilla chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 350*F. In a skillet cook chicken in butter over medium heat until chicken is no longer pink inside. Add taco seasoning, beans, corn, salsa and water. Stir and cover. Simmer for 10 minutes to let the flavors merry together.
Transfer chicken mixture to a 9x13 inch baking dish. Top with crushed tortillas chips and bake for 15 minutes. Then add cheese and bake until cheese is melted, then serve and enjoy!!

Turkey Casserole

Here is another wonderful recipe you can use with your leftover turkey from the holidays. I froze a ton and as you may have noticed I've been pulling in out of the freezer to use lately. :] This recipe is delicious! I love slightly toasted bread on top. It goes perfect with the sauce. Another reason I like this dish is because it uses chopped celery. For some reason my kids do not like celery, but they didn't even notice it in this casserole! This recipe calls for a lot of cheese. If you want to cut down on the fat and calories only use 1/2 cup in the sauce. It will still taste wonderful! Happy eating.

Turkey Casserole

Ingredients

3 cups cubed cooked turkey breast

1 package (10 oz) frozen peas, thawed

1 cup chopped celery, about 2 stocks

1 8 oz can sliced water chestnuts, drained

2 tablespoon chopped green pepper, about 1/4 of a medium sized pepper

1 tablespoon chopped onion, about one slice from the middle of an onion

1 10 oz can reduced fat condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted

1/4 cup rice milk

1 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

2 tablespoons chicken broth

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 slices whole wheat bread, or spelt bread, cubed

Directions

Preheat oven to 375*F. Spray a 2-qt baking dish with non stick cooking spray; set aside. In a large bowl, combine the first six ingredients; set aside. In a small sauce pan, combine the soup, milk, 1 cup of the cheese, chicken broth, lemon juice and salt. Cook and stir over low heat until smooth and heated through. Pour over turkey mixture; toss to coat. Transfer to the 2-qt. baking dish. Top with bread cubes. Bake uncovered for 25 minutes. Then sprinkle with remaining cheese; bake 5 minutes longer or until cheese is melted. Serve warm and enjoy!

Two-Bean Tamale Pie

MIA

Sorry I was MIA last week. It was a crazy week to say the least. I'll spare you the details, just know that I'm back and I have some wonderful recipes to share with you. :]

Lately I've been looking for more recipes that are vegetarian. Not that I have anything against meat, I don't. I been wondering how they do it. I know there are a lot of yummy dishes that people make and even some that I've made without thinking, 'let's make a vegetarian dish tonight'. When I came across this recipe I thought it sounded really good, it seemed pretty easy to make, and there were lots of changes I could make to it to make it even more healthy. I've made it a few times. The picture above is from the first time I made it. It was okay but I made it better and forgot to take a picture of the better version. The version I'm sharing with you today. I loved it! It was amazing how filling it was. The slight spiciness of the beans went perfectly together with the sweetness of the corn bread. It just hit the spot. And to top it all off, this is another wonderful gluten free dish!

Two-Bean Tamale Pie

Ingredients

1 medium red sweet pepper, chopped

1 small onion, chopped

2 1/2 teaspoons garlic, minced

2 teaspoons butter

1 can black beans, drained, rinsed, and slightly mashed

1 can pinto beans, drained, rinsed, and slightly mashed

1 4 oz can diced green Chile peppers

1 can diced tomatoes with garlic and onion

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon ground cumin

Topping

1 cup corn flour

1/2 cup corn meal

1/2 cup evaporated can juice

1/2 tablespoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup rice milk

2 eggs

2 tablespoons applesauce

Directions

Preheat oven to 400*F. Grease a *deep 2-quart baking dish and set aside. In a medium skillet cook sweet pepper, onion and garlic in butter until tender. Stir in pinto and black beans, chili powder, cumin, diced tomatoes, and green chiles; heat through. Spoon mixture into the prepared dish.

In a medium bowl combine corn flour, corn meal, evaporated cane juice, baking powder, and salt and set aside. In another bowl combine rice milk, eggs, and applesauce. Add dry mixture to wet mixture and combine well. Pour corn bread mixture on top of bean mixture. Bake, uncovered, for 25 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center of the corn bread comes out clean. Can serve with salsa and sour cream.

*If you do not use a deep baking dish the corn bread will raise and fall over the side of the dish while baking. I like to use my corning ware deep dish.

Butternut Squash Casserole

This picture doesn't do the flavor of this dish justice! It was so delicious! Defiantly a must if you like butternut squash and want a different way to cook it. In fact this recipe is also going to go with my Thanksgiving recipes. The flavors are so rich and very filling. I got the original recipe here while searching for more butternut squash recipes.

Butternut Squash Casserole

Ingredients

1 butternut squash

1/2 cup evaporated cane juice

1 /2 cups rice milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 pinch salt

2 tablespoon barley flour or whole wheat flour

3 eggs

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 cup butter, melted (ICBINB spray)

TOPPING

1/4 cup brown evaporated cane juice (organic brown sugar)

3 tablespoons butter, melted (ICBINB spray)

2 cups crushed corn flakes

Directions

Preheat oven to 425*F. Cut butternut squash in half and remove seeds. Place squash skin side up on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake until squash is soft and you can insert a knife easily into squash. Then remove from oven and cool until you can handle it. Once it is cooled scoop out squash and put into medium sized bowl and mash. In a 9x13 inch casserole dish combine 3 cups mashed butternut squash, evaporated cane juice, rice milk, vanilla, salt, flour, eggs, and 1/4 cup melted butter. Bake in oven for 45 minutes, or until set. In a medium bowl combine corn flakes, melted butter, and brown evaporated cane juice. Crumble over top of cooked casserole and return to oven to brown.

Garden Vegetable Casserole

With summer here I just can't get enough of the amazing vegetables that are coming into season. This recipe really calls for the vegetables from your garden in the fall. But I couldn't help but make it at the beginning of the summer. :] I got the original recipe last year and I can't find it anywhere. I thought I got it off Studio 5 on ksl.com. But I can't find it there. Just know that I didn't make it all up on my own, just changed it a little here and there.

Garden Vegetable Casserole

Ingredients

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 cup chopped zucchini

1/3 cup whole kernel corn or chopped crookneck squash

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup diced Roma tomatoes

1 cup whole wheat pancake mix

1/2 cup rice milk

4 egg whites

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 400*F. Spray 8x8 inch baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of cheese into dish covering bottom. Top with zucchini, corn or squash, tomato and onion. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. In a separate bowl, combine pancake mix, rice milk, eggs, salt and pepper. Pour batter over vegetables. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until knife inserted comes out clean. Let stand about 5 minutes before serving.

For Low Gluten

only change out flour to:

1 1/4 cup LG flour mix

and add:

1/8 teaspoon xanthan gum

everything else is the same