A few recipes

I've been cooking enough in the past several days to surprise myself. For some reason I've wanted "real" food for dinner every night (as opposed to what I consider my cheating foods like cereal or pancakes for dinner). Last week I was also on a purging kick to get rid of stuff we never use. I was about to get rid of a cookbook from our BYU married ward that had recipes contributed from members of the ward. I'd never really used the cookbook, but I'm glad I opened it to give it another try. I think it was probably too sophisticated for our tastes when we were married undergrads - sadly, our diet consisted of a lot of Hamburger Helper and mac & cheese. Our tastes have definitely changed since then, so this cookbook now has lots of recipes that appeal to me. I tried this Mexican Casserole recipe last week - it only took about 15 minutes to put together and 15 minutes to cook. I thought it was delicious and, if my memory serves me correctly, the kids - or at least Asher - even liked it.

Mexican Casserole

2 c. cooked, shredded chicken (we cook & shred tons of chicken all at once and pack 2 cups each in Ziploc bags for future meals)
1/2 onion, chopped
3 T. taco seasoning
1/2 can green chilies, chopped (I used green salsa)
16 oz. tomato sauce
6-7 tortillas
1 can corn
grated cheese
tomatoes, chopped
green onions
sour cream

Cook onion until it softens. Stir in cooked chicken. Add taco seasoning. Add chilies and tomato sauce. In a 9" glass pie pan, layer half of the corn, tortillas, meat sauce, and cheese. Repeat to top of pan. Top with green onion. Bake to heat through, about 15 minutes at 350. Top with dollop of sour cream and tomatoes.


I thought I'd share another recipe I made last night. I'll just post the link to recipezaar.com - my favorite place for online recipes. The dish is Quinoa Biryani. Quinoa is one of my favorite recent additions to our diet (and it's one of the things I love to get at Trader Joe's). For those who don't know what it is, click here for the definition from recipezaar. Here are a few things I want to note about the recipe:
*The first step is VERY important - the quinoa must be rinsed very well or else it will retain a bitter taste.
*We used chicken broth instead of vegetable broth (pretend you didn't read that Jordan)
*The sauted onions and the cashews really add great flavor and crunch to the meal; in fact, I would say the cashews - and way more than the 2 T. called for in the recipe - are essential.


While I'm thinking of quinoa, I thought I'd put a link to a delicious dessert we made with it a few months ago - Quinoa Pudding. I thought it was absolutely delicious. I loved the slightly nutty flavor the quinoa gave to the recipe. Also, I used almond meal instead of the slivered almonds called for in the recipe and I didn't use the currants. Now I really want to make it again.