Chicken Tamale Casserole - LEGIT!!

Okay, I made myself laugh by calling this recipe legit, but it was sooooo good! A lot of times new recipes do not turn out as good as I hoped, but Nick went back for a full serving of seconds, so I would say that this new recipe is a winner! The picture does not do the meal justice...

I love Mexican food. Its probably my favorite, so I like having recipes like this that have a Mexican flair. Yum. I found the original recipe on cooking light and you can find it here. I made adjustments to the recipe which are reflected in my description below.

Yields 8 Servings

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (4 ounces) preshredded 4-cheese Mexican blend cheese, divided
• 1/3 cup fat-free milk
• 1/4 cup egg whites
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
• 1 (14 3/4-ounce) can cream-style corn
• 1 (8.5-ounce) box corn muffin mix (such as Jiffy)
• 1 (4-ounce) can chopped green chiles, drained
• Cooking spray
• 1 (10-ounce) can red enchilada sauce (such as Old El Paso)
• 2 cups shredded cooked chicken breast (If you don't have it cooked yet, I wrote easy directions below.)
• 1/2 cup fat-free sour cream 

1. Preheat oven to 400°.
2. If you do not have cooked chicken, you can easily make cooked shredded chicken in about 20 minutes. Put four or so chicken breasts in a pot of water with seasoning (I used cumin, paprika, chili powder, cumin, garlic, salt and pepper) bring to a boil, then turn down to simmer for 15 minutes.  Shred with 2 forks.
3. Combine 1/4 cup cheese and next 7 ingredients (through chiles) in a large bowl, stirring just until moist. Pour mixture into a 13 x 9–inch baking dish coated with cooking spray.
4. Bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until set. Pierce entire surface liberally with a fork; pour enchilada sauce over top. Top with chicken and add more seasonings of choice if desired, then sprinkle with remaining 3/4 cup cheese. Bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until cheese melts. Remove from oven; let stand 5 minutes. Cut into 8 pieces; top each serving with 1 tablespoon sour cream.

And then enjoy this scrumptious meal. Serves 8.

Here is the nutritional information for 1/8th of the pan which is filling!

• Calories: 354
• Calories from fat: 36%
• Fat: 14.1g
• Saturated fat: 7.1g
• Monounsaturated fat: 3.3g
• Polyunsaturated fat: 1.2g
• Protein: 18.9g
• Carbohydrate: 36.3g
• Fiber: 2.5g 
• 9 Weight Watchers Points 

 Let me know if you try this!

~Court

Mexican Beef - AMAZING!

This recipe is so great that it deserves a post of it's own. Yes, its that good.

What you will need:
Crock Pot
Rump Roast or Chuck Roast - Desired Weight – I usually grab a 3lb. For more than 5 people, you will want a bigger one.
Cumin, Paprika, Chili Powder, Cayenne Pepper, Salt, Pepper (to rub down the meat)
Taco Seasoning 1 pkg or 1/4 cup
Small Can of Salsa or about 1 cup
Small Onion Chopped
Beef Broth 2 Cups
Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce (must have!)
2 Tbsp or so of Olive Oil

First, rub down the meat with the seasonings listed (not the taco seasoning). Heat olive oil in a pan and brown the roast on all sides.

A note about Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce - these things bring the heat!!! If you are not big on spicy food, only use 1.5 peppers and be sure to chop really small. I typically use 2 peppers, then I add some of the sauce that is in the can. Just make sure to be careful, the first time I made it with 3 peppers it turned out too spicy and I like spicy.

Spray the crock pot with some pam, then put in the beef broth, salsa, chopped onion, taco seasoning and chipotle peppers. Put the roast in the liquid and put a little liquid on top. Cook at 5 hours on low.
DELICIOUS!

Now that you have the meat, you can do all sorts of stuff with it. 
Tacos
Enchiladas
Tostadas
Quesadillas
Burritos
Salads
Nachos
You get the idea.

We decided to have tacos the first night and tostadas the second night with leftovers.

Tostadas were awesome. Evidence includes this photo here, just to show how awesome the tostadas really were.

Nick came up with the fantastic idea to make our own tostada shell things. We used store bought tortillas and this turned out amazing. All you have to do is preheat the oven to 400 degrees, brush both sides of the tortilla will peanut oil (or other oil, Nick likes peanut oil for things like this) then sprinkle with salt and chili powder. Bake 4 minutes on each side on a cookie sheet. Watch them, they may cook quicker.

Top the toasted tortilla with beans, mexican beef, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, salsa, sour cream and whatever else you want.

Enjoy!

~ Court

Taco Roll - yummy goodness

First of all, I have to give credit to the people who gave me this recipe. Courtney and Dave! Court is my bestie and a few years ago her and Dave (her hubby) had us over for dinner and made us this yummy yummy easy but yummy meal. I think the taco roll falls into the comfort food category because of the crescent rolls that are used in the recipe.  Its not a super healthy meal, but its not terrible either.

Nick asked me to make this last week (he even wrote it in on my meal planner for the week) because I had not made it in forever. And it was worth it! We got 2 meals out of it and I think Nick had it for lunch one day too.

  

Taco Roll Ingredients

- 2 Pkgs of Crescent Rolls (I use Great Value Reduced Fat Brand)

- Ground Beef 1 lb or a little less (use lean)

- 1 small onion (optional)

- Mexican Cheese or Cheddar about 1 cup

- Taco Seasoning (if you don’t have taco seasoning, use cumin, paprika, chili powder, season salt, season pepper)

- Can Black Beans (rinsed and drained)

- Can or Frozen Corn (if you use frozen corn, you will need to cook it first, I can a bag of frozen steamable corn, so I popped it in the microwave for a few minutes)

- Can diced mild chilis (optional)

- Cilantro (optional)

For Serving – sour cream, salsa and/or hot sauce (my preference is Tapatio)

Directions –

Preheat oven to temperature directed on crescent rolls package.

Cook onions and ground beef together with taco seasoning on skillet until almost cooked thoroughly (it will cook more in the oven).

While ground beef is cooking, cover a cookie sheet in foil, spray with non-stick cooking spray and start to lay out the crescent rolls into a big sunburst. Use your fingers to push the pieces together.

Once the meat is almost done, remove from the skillet and put in a bowl, add beans, corn, diced mild chilis and cilantro. Mix all ingredients together and then place in the center of the dough. See, this is how it should look­–

 

Then add cheese and wrap the dough up and around the meat. Top with a little cheese, now it is ready to go in the oven and it will look like this –

Cook for 14 minutes or more depending on your oven. It will need to be golden and if you do not like doughy crescent rolls like my husband, then cook until really golden. It will look pretty like this –

 

Mmmmm…Now cut like a pie and serve with sour cream and tapatio.

This would be really great followed with a dessert such as the Weightwatcher’s Lemon Cream Pie that Corynne posted a few weeks ago.

Enjoy!  YUM!

~Court