From our Food Goddess, TaMara:
I went back and forth this week on what to do tonight. Finally settled on a quick and easy recipe that would be great for a blustery weeknight dinner, Chili Relleno Casserole. Then I just tossed in a few other ideas in the same flavor palate.
A nice side to the casserole, Guacamole Salad, recipe here.
JeffreyW does real Chiles Rellenos here.
And one of my favorite meals, Southwestern Taco Salad in Homemade Tortilla Bowls, recipes here.
I’m still recovering from the holidays and getting caught up with work. How about you? What’s on the menu for the weekend?
Tonight’s featured recipe:
Chili Rellenos Casserole
2-7 oz cans whole green chilies
½ onion, diced
16 oz shredded 4-blend Mexican cheese
4 to 6 corn tortillas, torn into wide strips
4 eggs
4 oz salsa
¼ cup milk
salt & pepper
½ tsp crushed garlic
½ tsp red pepper flakes
¼ cup snipped fresh cilantro ( Italian parsley or fresh basil if you hate cilantro)
bowl, 8×8 glass baking dish, greasedDrain and seed peppers. Layer 1/3 of the peppers in the bottom of baking dish, top with 1/3 onions, 1/3 of the cheese and 1/3 tortilla strips. Repeat to make three layers. Beat together eggs, salsa, milk, spices and cilantro. Pour evenly over casserole. Bake uncovered at 350° for 35-40 minutes until fluffy and center is set.
That’s it for this week. If you missed it, this week’s full dinner menu with shopping list, Cajun Fish and Buttered Potato Pie is here.
And bonus Christmas Kitteh is here. Until next week….
Baud
Haha. Perfect response to the last post.
Aji
@Baud: Somebody should go wave a plate of it under the dude’s nose.
TaMara (BHF)
I also played with the new camera today and took some shots of the critters.
Yatsuno
@Aji: I didn’t think Mormons could do spicy stuff. Most of the food I’ve eaten from Mormons was bland as an English fog.
My brother makes awesome chicken enchiladas. But his recipe uses a lot of canned goods and such, so I’m refining it. I’ve almost got it, but circumstances being what they are (50% weight bearing until January 31, whee!) it’s going to be delayed. It’s gonna be epic once I can get this thing done.
@TaMara (BHF): Psst: you have the wrong link.
MomSense
Christmas kitteh is gorgeous!
Aji
@TaMara (BHF): ¿Qué? You put the critters in those slices of casserole?
Aji
@Yatsuno: Yeah, from what I’ve seen, “Mormon food” basically tracks “Midwestern white bread food.” I like it hot and spicy, myself.
Gonna share your recipe once you’re up to it? I don’t use anything canned, in mine, either.
Anne Laurie
@Yatsuno: TaMara’s kitteh pics.
kc
@TaMara (BHF):
The pics on your blog are gorgeous! I would have told you that over there, but I’m too lazy for the registration thing.
ruemara
That’s funny. I’m carb cycling and tonight is chicken quesadillas. I should add some of these here chilis. A long night of trying to write Feb’s articles and committing my lines to memory continues, but this weekend- Sac Anime Con! Pictures galore~.
TaMara (BHF)
@Yatsuno: @Aji:
Well I have no idea what happened there. Critters here! We do not cook them into casseroles,
Aji
@TaMara (BHF): [Whew!] much better. :-D Beautiful creatures.
Yatsuno
@Anne Laurie: @TaMara (BHF): Ders da KITTEHS!!!
@Aji: Once I got it where I want it I send it right off to BHF. She’ll gladly put it up on her blog where it can exist until the end of the Interwebs. It’ll get shared, I just have to tweak a few other seasonings and such.
Mike E
All looks yummy!
I just made a drunken beef stew (2 cups of cab-sauv wine) that couldn’t be any easier to put together: 2 lbs of chuck, cut up carrots, onions, celery & potatoes, can o’crushed tomato & veggie stock (called for beef/chicken but I thot it a bit much); in a stock pot, brown meat chunks in butter (in two batches) and reserve; sauté veggies, throw in some flour, add beef back, pour in wine, stock and crushed tomato, season with salt/pepper/thyme/rosemary, simmer for 50 mins, add hunks of potato, simmer for another 45 mins; add string beads at the end and cook until they’re bright green and retain a decent snap. Serve with French bread. Enjoy!
scav
I,ll contribute Rainbow Jello Slices to the party. “There’s a double meaning there.”, Alas I’m watching the Hollow Crown and not the comedies, so I fail the triple.
Elizabelle
@Mike E:
Drunken beef sounds great.
And the chile rellenos casserole will be tried soonest. Yum.
Ultraviolet Thunder
No fair. I’m stuck at the MX/US border trying to get back to my hotel. 2 hours, and at least an hour to go. And I’m hungry!
3 more days of this and I get to return to the snowy north.
Anne Laurie
@Mike E:
Can’t resist : I clutch my pearls!
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(yes, I know it’s a typo)
WereBear
Mmmm, this intrigues me. I can just leave out the tortillas.
TaMara (BHF)
@WereBear: gluten or carbs? Because corn tortillas are gluten free.
schrodinger's cat
Happy New Year from the Best Kittehs in the world.
Plus a sweet treat.
schrodinger's cat
@TaMara (BHF): Pretty kittehs!
WereBear
@TaMara (BHF): Carbs. You are right; the good corn tortillas are gluten free.
I’ve found such things work well with celery and carrot sticks; it’s how a favorite eatery serves me their lobster/scallop queso.
Josie
@WereBear: You can just use fewer tortillas and get the flavor without a lot of carbs.
TaMara (BHF)
@WereBear: I love lettuce wraps myself. Anything good on bread is pretty good in a lettuce leaf.
mazareth
This casserole sounds like the perfect dish for the temps we are supposed to be having in Central Wisconsin this weekend.
Our expected high for Sunday is -5, for Monday -15!
WereBear
@TaMara (BHF): I agree, only it’s messy. Romaine, you got a shot. That’s how I eat hot dogs with sauerkraut. (Nathan’s hot dogs. We can’t get Hebrew National where I live.)
WereBear
@Josie: True, but I’m in the post-holidays good intentions phase. :)
Joseph Nobles
My resolution is getting back on the diet wagon. 237 has visited my scale again, and I told it not to come back last time it showed. So here I go.
And I’ve decided to do the DASH diet, rated by US News as the #1 overall diet. It’s for people trying to reduce their blood pressure, but it turns out it’s great for losing weight, too. And everyone could use lower blood pressure. Well, not everybody. Not too low. Stalin’s got incredibly low blood pressure right now.
So I have to love all these recipes from afar. Although I may play around with them some – if I can get them down to a reasonable sodium level, all’s fair in love and DASH.
Jane2
Mmmmmmm…..Too late for tonight, but easy enough to make for tomorrow.
WereBear
@Joseph Nobles: WIshing you honest good luck. I checked out some sample menus, and that’s how I used to eat.
But it did not work for me, I was hungry all the time, and I gained weight. So don’t blame yourself if a “diet” doesn’t work. You just haven’t found what works for you, yet.
I struggled with my weight, and my health, since adolescence, and found the answer in the complete opposite of current health advice.
PurpleGirl
A friend taught me a taco casserole, which I then taught back to him. (He forgotten how he did it and I’d written down the steps.)
I never make it exactly the same way twice. I vary the spicing, the type of cheese I use, I add salsa to the tomato sauce, I change the chips I use from Doritos to tortilla chips. The thing that people like is the casserole form; it’s easier to eat they say than tacos.
PurpleGirl
@TaMara (BHF): They are gorgeous critters. You have a crinkle tube for them… that’s become a common toy on the kitten cams. They seem to really like it and the sound.
WereBear
@PurpleGirl: That’s something that really made me feel like a cook: having the confidence to substitute and play around with recipes.
PurpleGirl
@WereBear: I’m not a fancy cook, but I guess the things I do make as special items I began playing with to keep them fresh and not routine.