Cookerati » Casserole

Chicken, Broccoli and Rice

Diana — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 20:30:00 +0000

My husband snarfed the leftover broccoli from the band competition and asked if we should take it. I said sure, I can freeze some and use some to make dinner. He did a little happy wiggle (he does that) and asked if we could have the chicken and broccoli casserole that we love to eat. I told him sure, especially since it’s an easy meal to prepare and really delicious. There are never leftovers of this.

I have a small kitchen, so when I pull out my rice cooker I make extra rice and put it in the freezer. If you have frozen broccoli, and rice, you can defrost them in the fridge during the day to make this a quick and easy dinner to pull together. This casserole is very customizable, use your favorite ingredients to make it taste the way you like it best.

Ingredients:

1 full size chicken breast

1/2 onion

1 cup cooked rice ( I love a wild rice mixture)

1 cup broccoli

1 can of cream soup (use your favorite – cream of broccoli, cream of chicken, cream of celery, cream of mushroom, etc)

1 cup milk

1 cup shredded cheese (cheddar, colby, colby jack, etc)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray casserole dish with oil spray. Throw some herbs and spices that you enjoy onto your chicken. I used thyme, paprika, salt and pepper. Slice onion, place onion and chicken onto heated oiled grill pan, or frying pan and cook through. If your broccoli is fresh, blanch it and pat it dry. If the broccoli is frozen, rinse with warm water and pat dry. Layer your rice on the bottom of the casserole dish, then place broccoli on top, spread out. When chicken is cool enough to handle, pull apart into shredded chunks and layer in and around the broccoli. Whisk together the cream soup and milk in a separate bowl, then pour evenly over the top of the chicken and broccoli. Top with shredded cheese in an even layer. Place into oven for 20 – 30 minutes until top is melted, and the soup is bubbly around the edges.

Sausage & Chard Crustless Quiche

Diana — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 02:49:38 +0000

I like quiches a lot, but more without the pie shell. I’m that way with pies too, I like the insides the most. This was our breakfast this morning. I used some herb garden chevre in it that we got from the cheese guy at the farmer’s market and some gouda (because it’s good-er that way). Quiches are fun because you can change it up a little – put in a different meat, or a different cheese, use some other veggies and it changes the taste for a whole new type of quiche.

Ingredients:

turkey sausage – 6 breakfast links, cooked and crumbled
handful of chard, stems removed
shallot – diced
6 eggs
2 tbs evaporated milk
2 tbs herb garden chevre (you can substitute another herby chevre)
1 tbs gouda
salt, pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Instead of butter, I used an olive oil spray and sprayed a glass pan. Spray a frying pan with olive oil, tear up chard and sauté the chard and shallots together until wilted. Take off the heat. Throw in the crumbled turkey sausage and the chevre. In a bowl, beat the eggs and the evaporated milk together. Stir in the sausage chard mixture, add in the gouda, salt and pepper. Pour into the glass pan and bake in the oven until the egg is cooked through. I think it took 20 – 30 minutes, but my pan was oval and not round, so the mixture spread out more. If you are using a glass pie pan, you might need to cook it a little longer.

Shredded Vegetable Bake

Diana — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 04:06:00 +0000

I tried out this recipe from the Vegan Cook’s Bible by Pat Crocker. We’re not Vegans, but we do enjoy all different types of dishes. While my kids and husband are good about trying all different types of meals unlike their friends, they are really great about eating meatless meals. The Shredded Vegetable Bake was delicious and used vegetables from my garden. We served it with a tomato, cucumber salad on the side.

Ingredients:

3 potatoes shredded
1 onion shredded
1 carrot shredded
1/2 rutabaga shredded (I used two turnips)
1 cup whole wheat breadcrumbs
2 tbs nuts
2 cloves garlic minced
3 tbs olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
1 can chickpeas drained and rinsed

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 F. Lightly oil 2 9X13 in baking pans.

In large bowl toss together potatoes, onion, carrot, rutabaga(turnip), bread crumbs, nuts, garlic and oil. Divide in two and spread in a thin layer on prepared pans. Sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Bake in preheated oven for 20 min.

Stir and spread in a thin layer again and grind more salt and pepper over vegetables and bake for another 20 minutes.

Divide chickpeas in half and stir into vegetables in pans spreading out. bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until vegetables are crisp and lightly browned.

We’ll definitely have this again sometimes. It was delicious.

Ground Lamb & Cabbage Casserole

Diana — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 22:06:00 +0000

Plenty of cabbage growing in the garden this year, so I’m trying it out in lots of different ways. Ground Lamb from the Farmer’s Market, cabbage from the garden, wild rice from the freezer, and this dinner makes itself in very little time. Top it off with a little sour cream for a little extra flavor, and the family loved it.

Ingredients:

1 lb Ground Lamb
1 Medium Onion – diced
2 cups Cooked Rice
1/2 head of cabbage – outer leaves removed
Caraway seeds
Salt
Pepper
1/4 cup white wine
1/2 cup chicken stock
Sour Cream

Directions:

Sauté the onions and the ground lamb – drain the grease away. There was a little grease in my ground lamb, but not a lot. Spray a little oil around the bottom of a deep dish baker’s pan or casserole dish. Dice the cabbage up and line the bottom of the pan. Mix the ground lamb, onions and the wild rice together, along with the salt, pepper, and a generous sprinkling of caraway seeds. Layer on top of the cabbage. Pour the wine and the stock over the top of the lamb mixture, and use a spoon to slightly stir, trying not to disturb the cabbage too much. Place in the oven at 300 for 20 minutes – half hour. You could do it longer if you like the cabbage really wilty, but I like a little crunch so we don’t heat it up too long. Just before serving, top with dollops of sour cream. MMMM – good stuff.

Taco Casserole

Diana — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 22:31:00 +0000

My dinner companions are usually my husband and my son, both who appreciate good regular food more than anything else. I can try to impress them with fancy things all I want, but it’s the ground beef casseroles that set their salivary glands into motion. I had a bag of crushed chips that weren’t good for salsa scooping, so I based my dinner on how to use those up. They didn’t come from the store that way, there was a mishap and they were smooshed good, but that doesn’t mean I throw them away. The flavor didn’t leach out – just the calories, right? You can halve this recipe, we needed leftovers for tonight so I made a good amount – probably 6 –8 servings.Here’s my recipe for Ground Beef Taco Casserole.

Ingredients:

1/2 bag blue corn chips (O Organics )

2 lbs ground beef

1 onion diced

1 green pepper diced

2 packs taco seasoning mix (or your own spices if you prefer)

2 cups corn, or one can, drained.

1 can kidney beans (you can substitute chili beans for a little more spice) – drained (unless flavored)

I can diced tomatoes

4 ounces colby jack cheese

sour cream

salsa (try O Organics chipotle)

Cook up the ground beef along with the onions and peppers and drain off the oil and mix with the taco seasoning. Layer the bottom of a large casserole dish with the crushed chips, then put the ground beef mixture on top of that. Layer the corn, the beans and tomato on top of that, sprinkle with cheese and cook in a 375 oven until it’s hot and bubbling. Serve with salsa and sour cream. That’s it. If anything, the leftovers were better on the second night.