Category: CASSEROLES & SIDES

ZUCCHINI, PEPPERS & POTATO BAKE

This is a great side dish that I make often. What’s great about it is that you can adapt it to your own tastes. In the mood for spicy?  Add some cayenne.  Or do what I often do and add more garlic! 

This is healthy and delicious and goes with just about everything!
Zucchini, Peppers & Potato Bake 
3 potatoes (about 1 1/2 lbs), cut into bite size pieces
1 zucchini (about 1 lb), quartered and cut into bite sized chunks
1 onion (I didn’t use this but I usually do), chopped in large chunks
1 red pepper, seeded and chopped
2 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
1/3 cup bread crumbs (I used garlic and herb)
2 tbsp. olive oil1/2 tsp. paprika
Salt and pepper, to taste

Toss together veggies in a bowl, drizzle with olive oil and toss with bread crumbs. Season with paprika, salt and pepper. Put on a baking sheet covered with cooking spray and cook in a 400 degree oven for about 1 hour or 1 1/4 hours. Stirring occasionally until potatoes are tender and lightly brown. You may need to adjust cooking time depending how done you want your veggies.

Total calories = 1170
6 servings = 195 calories

1 Orange Chipotle Rib + Zucchini, Peppers & Potato Bake = 595 calorie dinner

CHICKEN COUNTRY CASSOULET

CHICKEN COUNTRY CASSOULET
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
1/2 pound thick-cut bacon, diced
1 pound fat sausages of choice, cut into bite sized pieces
3 tablespoons butter
1 large Vidalia onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
4 carrots, sliced
1/2 pound snap peas, washed and deveined
1/4 cup fresh minced parsley
1 14-ounce can petit diced tomatoes, basil, garlic & oregano
1 tablespoon Classico sun-dried tomato puree
1/2 teaspoon dried sage
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme or 1 tablespoon dried
2 +/- cups chicken stock
2 cups seasoned bread crumbs**
salt and ground black pepper

  •  Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
  • Brown the bacon until browned and crumbly in Dutch oven casserole dish.  Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.
  • Add chicken and sausages and brown on all sides. Remove from fat and set aside. 
  • Add the onions and garlic and cook 3-4 minutes until softened. 
  • Add the carrots, snap peas and parsley, sauteing 3-4 more minutes.
  • Add tomatoes, tomato puree, spices and salt and pepper to taste.
  • Add meat back in.
  • Add enough of the stock to just cover the meat and veggies, you don’t want things swimming around too much.  You can always add more stock during the cooking if needed. 
  • Cover dish and cook 1 hour.
  • Add more stock if necessary. Spread crumbs over the top and cook uncovered for 40 more minutes or until browned. 

**Try adding other vegetables such as broccoli or white beans for variety.   I used crushed Ritz crackers today and they worked reallllllllllllllly well as a substitute!

Fire Day Friday: Vegetable Burritos

Hundreds of thousands of years ago, I made a recipe for vegetable burritos that came from a recipe pamphlet from RoTel. Okay, carbon dating and fossil records show it was actually just over 15 years ago.

We loved it back then and thought it was an impressive recipe. That was back when I was just learning to cook for Alexis and my new family. Tonight we dragged this one out of the archives and upgraded it to how we would have made it now compared to back then.

Fire Roasted Vegetable Burritos with Cilantro/Roasted Pepper Queso

Source: NibbleMeThis

1 cup long grain rice
2 ea vidalia spring onions (green onions if you can’t get them)
1 ea red bell pepper
1 ea poblano or cubanelle chile
1 ea cherry pepper
1 can diced tomatoes
2 cups cheddar cheese, freshly shredded
1 ea serrano pepper, finely diced (skip if you want mild, double if you want hot)
1 cup refried beans
1 cup salsa
6 ea flour tortillas (mission sized burrito tortillas)
6 oz Mexican Dipping Cheese (We get El Viajero brand)
4 oz milk
1/4 cup cilantro

Start your grill to direct high heat at about 500f (skip if using your broiler and oven)

Cook your rice according to directions.

Grill the green onions just enough to get a slight browning on them (about 1 min a side). Fire roast or broil your peppers until blackened on all sides. The fire roasting brings out the best of the veggies.


Don’t be afraid that they are “too charred”. That makes them easier to peel and won’t affect the final flavor. This one wasn’t done enough yet, just to give you an idea.


Place the peppers in a plastic zip top bag, they’ll steam on their own for 5 minutes.

Cut the ends off each pepper and slice down the length of one side to open them up. Remove the seeds from the inside. Flip and lightly scrap the charred skin off with the sharp edge of a knife.

Dice the green onions.

As soon as the rice is finished, stir in the green onions, red bell pepper, and cubanelle/poblano pepper (reserve the cherry pepper for the cheese sauce). Stir in 1 cup of the cheese and the serrano pepper.

Taste the rice mixture for seasoning and add salt and pepper as needed.

Repeat for each tortilla:
Spread about 3 Tbsp of refried beans on the tortilla. Top with 1/2 cup of the rice mixture. Sprinkle more cheese and 3 Tbsp of salsa on top. Roll up burrito style and place seam side down in a casserole dish. (Click here for a photo tutorial of how I fold mine.) Top with a few sprinkles of more shredded cheese.

Place the dish in your oven preheated to 350f (or in our case, a grill set up at 350f for indirect heat) and cook for 25 minutes.

Cut the queso cheese into 1/2″ cubes and put into a small sauce pan. Add the milk, cilantro, and diced cherry pepper and warm until melted over medium/low heat.

Serve the burritos with the sauce poured over the top or on the side.

Don’t let the minimal amount in the picture fool you. As soon as the pictures were taken and my burrito was cut up, I ladled a good bit of that queso sauce all over my burrito!

In case you’re interested, here’s the original version. It’s a lot easier and still good.

Vegetable Burritos
Yields: 6

Ingredients
1 Pam non stick spray
1 can (12 oz) Rotel (Diced tomatoes/chilis)
1 cup instant rice
1/2 cup water
1 Green pepper
2 Green onions
2 cups cheddar cheese
1 cup refried beans
10 8″ tortillas
1 cup salsa
Black olives to taste

Instructions
preheat oven to 350F. Spray a 9x 12 x 2 baking dish w/ spray. In medium saucepan, combine Rotel, rice & water. Heat to boil, reduce heat, cover, & simer 1 minute. Remove from heat and let stand 5 minutes. Stir in pepper, onions and 1 cup cheese. Spread 3 table spoons beans over each tortilla. Layer rice mixture over beens and sprinkle on more cheese & salsa. Roll up and place seam down in prepared baking dish. Cover w/ foil. Bake 25 minutes.

SPICY SHEPHERD’S PIE

Hi Everybody, I am April from Meals For Real.  I am a stay-at-home mom of 3, 2 boys and 1 girl, ages 7, 3, and 1.  I am not a chef but I am a mom who has to deal with the different and changing tastes of my family.  I try to make easy, (somewhat) healthy meals that will appeal to my family.  If my kids eat it then I know that dish was a success!

I am so excited to join this wonderful team and hope that I can give you some good recipes.  I get most of my meal ideas from readers like you, jumping around on food blog hops and searching the internet.  Last week I came across this recipe for Spicy Shepherd’s Pie and just knew that I had to try it.
Spicy Shepherd’s Pie adapted from Greetings from Guatemala
1 pound ground beef
1/2 onion, chopped
1 can black beans, drained
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can corn, drained
1 packet taco seasoning
1 tsp chili powder
4 cups mashed potatoes
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
Directions:  Brown ground beef with onion; add all ingredients except potatoes and cheese. Simmer 2-3 minutes. Pour into 9×13″ pan. Top with 1/2 cup cheese. Spread mashed potatoes over the cheese and meat mixture. Top with remaining cheese. Bake at 350 for about 25-30 min.
-serves 8
Modifications:  I did not add the chili powder because of my 1 year old.
Here’s what you’ll need:
Peel, cut up, and boil the potatoes.  
While the potatoes cook, brown the ground beef.
Drain and rinse one can of corn and one can of black beans.
Preheat the to 350 degrees.
Once the ground beef is brown, add the corn, black beans, diced tomatoes and taco seasoning.
When the potatoes are done, mash them up.  If you need a good mashed potato recipe, I think my mom’s is the best.
Pour the meat mixture into a 9×13 baking dish coated with cooking spray.
Spread half of the cheese over the mixture.
Spoon and spread the mashed potatoes over the mixture.  I left a little portion with no potatoes for me (not necessarily Weight Watchers friendly-LOL)
Put into the oven to bake for 25-30 minutes.
Here’s what you’ll end up with:
If you are running short on time, you could probably use instant mashed potatoes.  Did we like this?  Kanin (my oldest son) told me that this was “awesome” and wants to take it to school for lunch tomorrow.  I’d say that’s a pretty good endorsement!

Fire Day Friday: Changes and Potato Salad

I’m excited to announce a few changes here on Fire Day Friday!

First and foremost, I will be joined by Jenn of Jenn’s Food Journey and we will be alternating Fridays. Not only is Jenn a talented and energetic food blogger, she rocks the grill. Too many people think the grill is a man’s domain. That is crap and people like Jenn, Robyn (Grill Grrrl), and Danielle (DivaQ) are proving that day in and day out. Plus, her boyfriend’s name is Chris (not me) so she has got good taste 🙂

Secondly, while this weekly post will still be mostly about live fire (grill, smoke, fire roast, etc) cooking, Jenn and I have decided to not limit our posts to ONLY live fire cooking or sides.

This past weekend I was craving some old fashioned, traditional BBQ. I even ignored our two Big Green Eggs and brought out my old offset smoker.


I went with the basics. Smoked chicken, BBQ beans and potato salad. While my favorite potato salad is a spicy and warm jalapeno potato salad with feta cheese and black olives (odd I know but **** it rocks), I wanted a “normal” southern potato salad for this meal.


Southern Potato Salad
Source: NibbleMeThis

Ingredients
2 lb red potatoes
1 cup mayonnaise
3 hard boiled eggs finely diced
1/2 cup onion finely diced
2 tablespoons sweet gherkins finely chopped
2 tablespoons sweet pickled jalapenos, finely diced
2 tablespoons green bell pepper, finely diced
1 1/2 tablespoon stone ground mustard (I like Inglehoffers)
1 1/2 tablespoons French’s yellow mustard
2 tablespoon cilantro, finely chopped
2 teaspoons turbinado sugar
1 teaspoon ground celery seed
1 tablespoon BBQ Rub (commercial brand or your home made stuff)
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions
Leave the skins on the potatoes but cut them into 1/2″ sized pieces. Boil the potatoes in salted water just until fork tender. Drain in a colander and then rinse them with COLD water to stop the cooking process.

Place them in a large mixing bowl and then add the eggs, onion, pickles and peppers.

In another bowl, mix together the mustards, mayo, cilantro, sugar, celery seed, and BBQ rub. For the BBQ rub I used Dead End BBQ’s Chicken Rub this time. But you could use any other brand, your own, or even some Old Bay Seasoning.

Pour the mayo-mustard mixture over the potato mixture and GENTLY toss together to mix.

Season with salt and pepper to your taste.

Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.

CHILE RICE CASSEROLE

Chile Rice Casserole

2 1/2 cups water
1 cup rice
2 cups Sour cream
Salt to taste
2 cups grated Monterey Jack cheese
4 ounces Green chiles, diced
3 tablespoons Butter or margarine
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

  • In a medium-sized saucepan, bring the water to a boil. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt.
  • Add the rice, cover pan, and slowly simmer over low heat until the liquid is absorbed, approximately 30 minutes. Let the rice cool. 
  • Mix the cooked rice with the sour cream, chiles and salt.
  • Mix together the 2 cheeses.
  • In the bottom of a greased 1-1/2 qt casserole, spread half the rice mixture. 
  • Sprinkle with half the grated Jack cheese mixture on top and then add the rest of the rice.
  • Top with the remaining Monterey Jack cheese mixture.
  • Dot with butter.  I also added a chopped tomato for color. 
  • Bake uncovered in a preheated 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.Serves 8.

    ONION PANADE aka DINNER BREAD PUDDING

    I found this awesome recipe for Onion Panade over at Stone Soup.   She called it the ultimate comfort food or a savory bread pudding so I needed to try that. She flavored with golden brown onions and the fragrance of thyme. Rustic bread provides the perfect contrast of textures.  I changed it up a bit.  You’ll find my changes in red.

    I had couple of pieces of Havarti cheese left so tore them into pieces and added them the last few minutes of baking.

    1 large Vidalia onion 

    1 red onion, sliced into rings

    1 large bunch green onions, sliced thin

    2 cloves garlic, minced
    1/2 bunch fresh thyme leaves, chopped
    1/2 medium loaf rustic bread (1/2lb), torn in to chunks I used sourdough buns that I had in the freezer for future croutons
    5 ounces cheese, grated or crumbled
    3 cups vegetable or chicken stock
    2 cups chopped rotisserie chicken pieces
    • Preheat oven to 400 degrees 
    • Cut onion in half lengthwise. Peel, then slice into half moons about 1/4inch thick. 
    • Heat 4 – 5 tablespoons olive oil in a large frying pan. 
    • Cook onion stirring occasionally until soft and golden brown. 
    • Stir in the thyme. 
    • In a medium heatproof dish layer about a third of the onions. Sprinkle over some of the bread and cheese. Repeat until all the ingredients have been used. You want to be able to see a little of each on the top. 
    • Bring stock to a simmer.
    • Pour over the onion dish. 
    • Season. 
    • Cover and bake for 30 minutes. 
    • Remove cover and bake for another 20 – 30 minutes or until the top is golden and crunchy and the stock has been absorbed by the bread.

    aprons 3

    CHEESEY AU GRATIN POTATOES

    • 1/2 cup butter
    • 16 oz. whipping cream
    • 5 large russet potatoes
    • 1 teaspoon salt
    • 1/2 teaspoon paprika
    • 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
    • 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
    • 1 teaspoon minced garlic (jar) or 1 clove, mashed
    • 2 cups grated 4 white cheese mix (Gruyere, Muenster, etc…)
    • 2 cups rates sharp cheddar
    • Wondra Flour
    1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
    2. Peel and thinly slice potatoes.
    3. Grease 9×13 baking dish.
    4. In a large sauce pan, melt the butter.
    5. Gradually add the whipping cream and spices. Blend well.
    6. Gradually add the flour until the mixture thickens, but it is still pourable!
    7. Mix the cheeses all together.
    8. Layer the potatoes, cheese and cream mixture ending with cheese on top.
    9. Bake 45 minutes or until potatoes are tender and golden brown.

    I developed this recipe for a request from our youngest and it quickly became a family favorite.
     aprons 3

    Potato Salad

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    When peeling potatoes I use a plastic/paper store bag to catch the peels… then when done just wrap up the peels and put in the trash…

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    While boiling the potatoes I like to add pepper…
    Put the potatoes in the fridge for a few hours to chill before adding other ingredients…

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    I’ve been told time and again that I make the best potato salad… however it’s never the same each time I make it…
    And I don’t quite measure…
    Vinegar, but now I have discovered apple vinegar
    White sugar
    Mayonnaise
    Mustard or honey mustard
    Green onions
    Boiled eggs
    Paprika

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    It was great for Labor Day weekend…

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    Happy Eating…

    TURKEY TETTRAZINI revisited as CHICKEN TETTRAZINI

    When I was a kid and just starting to do the majority of the family cooking we had a set group of recipes that were the “weeknight” recipes. One of those recipes that was especially popular during the holidays was Turkey Tetrazzini. We also substituted ham and chicken for the turkey throughout the rest of the year. Back then I prepared the recipes as they were written and they were okay, but the Tettrazzini recipe used ALL Velveeta and canned mushrooms and stuff I wouldn’t think of putting into my body now so it was my goal to create the same recipe in a more health oriented way, but still easy for a weeknight meal.

    CHICKEN TETTRAZZINI
    2 + 3 tablespoons butter
    1 large bunch green onions, chopped
    1 stalk celery, chopped
    8 ounces linguine, broken in half and cooked al dente
    salt and pepper to taste
    2 cups shredded rotisserie chicken pieces*
    3 tablespoons flour

    2 cups milk
    1 cup grated mild cheddar cheese
    1 cup grated Mozzarella cheese

    • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
    • Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a skillet.
    • Saute onions and celery just until tender.  Set aside.
    • In a medium sauce pan melt 3 tablespoons butter.
    • Whisk in 3 tablespoons flour until golden.
    • Gradually add milk, stirring to blend. Cook just until thick.
    • Add cheddar cheese.
    • Add salt and pepper.
    • In the bottom of an 11×7 baking dish scatter first the pasta and then the meat pieces.
    • Pour soup mixture over top.
    • Top with mozzarella cheese.
    • Bake 25-30 minutes.

    *ham and turkey work well too



    CAMPFIRE POTATOES

    Amounts are proportionate and per taste.
    Slice some yukon gold potatoes and Vidalia onions.
    Generously sprinkle with salt and pepper.
    Toss with melted butter until well coated.
    Using heavy duty foil cut out generous sized squares per person.
    Squirt a generous amount of yellow mustard all around.
    Sprinkle with grated cheddar cheese and crumbled crisp bacon.
    Seal well.
    Seal well and toss on grill for 25-30 minutes.
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    NOT YOUR GRANDMOTHER’S POTATO CASSEROLE

    Remember when I found this thrift store find?  Well, here is the first recipe and it was a resounding success. 
    When I actually made this recipe I realized it really was my grandmother’s recipe.  One that was undoubtedly passed around bymany women at neighborhood coffee clatches, tupperware parties and PTA meetings.  I did update it a bit and hubby can’t seem to get enough of it.
    POTATO CASSEROLE
    2 pound package frozen hash browns
    1 can cream of chicken celery soup
    1 teaspoon garlic salt 2 cloves garlic, minced
    1 pint 8 ounces sour cream

    salt and pepper to taste

    12 tablespoons butter, melted, divided 8 tablespoons and 4 tablespoons
    2 cups corn flakes Special K original
    2 cups 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
    1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt  1 teaspoon sea salt
    1/2 teaspoon paprika
    1/2 teaspoon parsley
    • Preheat oven 325 degrees.
    • Rub the inside of a 2 quart casserole with butter or spray with PURE.
    • Whisk together the sour cream, soup, 1/2 cup melted butter and seasonings.
    • In a large bowl toss the frozen hash browns with the wet ingredients and 1/2 the cheese until well blended.
    • Arrange the hash brown mixture in the prepared baking dish.
    • Top with remaining cheese.
    • Top with the Special K.
    • Pour remaining butter evenly over top.
    • Bake 1 hour on lowest shelf in oven.
    Better the next day and the next and the next…
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