Campers Casserole

Campers Casserole is simple to bring together and I could totally imagine it being cooked in a dutch-oven over a campfire.  Since I was home, I used my trusty casserole dish.  You may want to salt & pepper this dish to your taste.  My husband and son enjoyed this dinner with ketchup on top.  It was very filling and I enjoyed trying this new recipe.  But I'll be honest, it needed an extra spice, maybe oregano or cumin or maybe a green bell pepper?

HERE'S ALL IT TAKES

• 1 pound extra lean ground beef
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 1/2 cups cooked rice
• 1 can (14oz) or 2 cups kidney beans or pinto, drained and rinsed
• 1 bigger can (28oz) diced tomatoes, pureed or use tomato sauce
• 1 cup cheddar cheese, grated

HEAT OVEN 350ºF.

In a large pan or dutch oven over medium heat, brown the beef, onion and garlic.  Season with chili powder.  Stir in cooked rice then transfer mix to a greased 13-inch by 9-inch casserole dish.

Add one layer of beans then pour on pureed tomatoes. Bake, covered, for 40 minutes.  Uncover, sprinkle with cheese.  Return to oven and bake, uncovered for 10 minutes or so, until cheese is melted.  Serves 4 to 6 campers.

Simple Sausage & Bean Stew

A NEW WINNER WITH THE FAMILY, Sausage and Bean Stew got raving reviews!

Family demands it to be in our monthly rotations of family favorites. Use your favorite sausage for this stew, spicy or mild, either will work. Since I have young ones, I went with a mild pork sausage.

HERE'S ALL THERE'S TO IT

• 1 pound sausage, cut in 1/2-inch slices
• 1 tablespoon oil or bacon dripping
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 bell pepper, chopped
• 1 can (28 oz) diced tomatoes
• 1 can (14 oz) or 2 cups kidney or pinto beans, drained & rinsed
• 1 can (14 oz) or 2 cups garbanzo beans, drained & rinsed
• 1/2 cup salsa, medium or mild, you decide
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano

In large pot or dutch-oven, brown sausage in oil over medium heat. You may have to cook half the amount at one time.  The less crowded the faster the meat will brown.  Remove the meat from the pan and set aside on a plate. Drain fat, leaving a tablespoons worth to soften the onion and garlic over medium low heat for 7 to 10 minutes.

Return sausage to pan.  Add rest of ingredients, cover and simmer for 40 to 50 minutes, stir occasionally.  Cornbread makes a great side to this stew.

Serves 4 to 6 folks.

Per serving:  Protein - 27 g, Fat - 26 g, Carbohydrates - 44 g, Calories - 511, Dietary Fiber - 12 g.

Lean Beef and Vegetable Casserole

I introduced this layered casserole to my family last night. It was a simple casserole recipe to bring together. And I liked that it called for everyday pantry items.  Once out of the oven, the aroma of beef, tomatoes and potato reminded us of meatloaf.  We all had the natural urge to squeeze a little ketchup over our plates.  My 9-year old son and husband went back for seconds, if that means anything to you.

HERE'S ALL IT TAKES

• 2 cups or 2 medium potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
• 2 cups or 3 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 pound lean ground beef  (85/15)
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
• 1 normal size red bell pepper, sliced
• 2 cups or 1 can (19oz) kidney beans or pinto, drained & rinsed
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1 can (19oz) diced tomatoes

HEAT OVEN to 350ºF

In a greased 13 x 9 x 2-inch casserole dish, arrange the potatoes on the bottom of the dish.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Layer the celery followed by a layer of uncooked ground beef.  Sprinkle with Worcestershire sauce.

Add onions, red pepper and beans in separate layers.  Sprinkle the thyme and oregano.  Top with the tomatoes.  Cover and cook for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.  Serves 6.

FOR MY DIABETIC FRIENDS
Per Serving:

• Protein 21g
• Fat 16g
• Carbohydrates 36g
• Calories 367
• Dietary Fiber 8g

COOK'S NOTES:

• I would like to try this again with a small of can of tomato sauce or a little ketchup poured over the meat layer.  I kept wanting this to be a vegetable loaded meatloaf.
• 2 medium potatoes was not enough potato for my taste.  Next time, 4 medium or 2 large potatoes should make a creamy foundation.
• I didn't actually measure out the Worcestershire sauce.  I dashed it over all the beef to my taste.  I could have been more generous with it.
• The original recipe called for green bell pepper, but I was very glad that I had used a sweet red bell pepper.  Green bell peppers talk back long after dinner.
• It took the full 1 1/2 hours to fully cook the potatoes.  Even though I sliced them au gratin thin, they needed the full time to get tender.

Quick & Simple Chicken and Spinach Pizza

As some of you already know, Friday night is movie and a pizza night for my family. It's one of our favorite nights we spend as a family. The kiddos always want their ham with extra cheese, while Chaz and I like to change it up a bit each week. This week's chicken and spinach pizza recipe is our new favorite combination!

HERE'S ALL YOU NEED

Pizza Ingredients

• 1 package Mama's Gourmet Pizza Crust
• extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup seasoned tomato sauce
• 1/3 package (10oz) frozen whole leaf spinach, thawed and squeezed dryL
• 2 cooked chicken breasts, sliced
• 2-3 green onions, chopped
• 10 grape tomatoes, halved
• 2 oz. Romano cheese, thinly sliced
• 1 cup Mozzarella cheese, grated
• salt and pepper

Salad for two

• 1 container of organic baby lettuce
• 6-8 grape tomatoes
• 1 small carrot, sliced
• 1 green onion, chopped
• a few slices Roman cheese
• 1-2 tablespoons Briannas New American Dressing (creamy balsamic vinaigrette)

Preheat oven with pizza stone to 425ºF degrees.

Go ahead, wash and prep individual salads, then set aside.

To build the pizza:

1. Drizzle 2-3 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil on crust, lightly coat all the crust evenly with fingers, then sprinkle with pepper.
2. Spread around tomato sauce, don't feel like you have to coat the whole crust, just here and there.
3. Layer on spinach, chicken, tomatoes, onions. Sprinkle on salt and pepper, being sure to hit the spinach and tomatoes with salt.
4. Lay on slices of Romano on chicken, and spread Mozzarella all over.
5. Bake on pizza stone 7-9 minutes. Allow to cool a couple of minutes before serving.

ENJOY THIS ON YOUR NEXT PIZZA NIGHT!

Also, be sure to try the Ham and Spinach Pizza recipe.

Sloppy Chicken Enchiladas

Today has been crazy!  The kids and I have been driving all over East Texas.  As soon as we arrived home at 4:05pm, I remembered Max had karate from 5:15 to 6:00pm and my husband is due home by 6:15pm. Yikes! There goes prepping dinner at my usual time.

My plan to have chicken enchiladas didn't look possible.  The recipe called for precooked chicken and I was out.  The chicken breasts I had on hand were frozen.  How was I going to pull this one off?

HERE'S WHAT I HAD TO WORK WITH

• 1 1/2 pounds of frozen skinless, boneless chicken breasts
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 can (10 oz) cream of chicken soup
• 1/2 cup light sour cream
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 can (4 oz) green chilies
• 1/3 can roasted garlic tomatoes, drained
• 7 flour tortillas
• 1 1/2 cups shredded Mexican blend cheese

HERE'S WHAT I DID

Preheated oven to 350F degrees.  I gently defrosted frozen chicken breasts in microwave, enough to cut up easily.  Then I heated a nonstick pan, misted with olive oil.  Cut up breasts in half dollar size pieces and added to pan.  Covered it with chopped onion, added 1/2 cup of water, seasoned with salt and pepper then covered with lid.  Cooked the chicken on med. high heat for 15 minutes, until fully cooked.

While I waited on the chicken, I mixed cream of chicken soup, sour cream and chili powder in a large bowl.  Grabbed my pizza cutter to cut up tortillas into triangle shaped bite size pieces.  Misted my 13x9x2 casserole dish with nonstick spray.  When the chicken finally finished, I emptied the pan (broth & all) into my large soup mix bowl and stirred.  I tossed in the tortillas and stirred them around until they were well covered with the soup mix.  Then, I emptied the bowl into the casserole dish, spread it out evenly then covered it all with the cheese.

KID FRIENDLY TIP
I topped only half of the casserole with green chilies and tomatoes.

Put in the oven for 25 minutes, uncovered.  Set the oven to turn off in 25 minutes.

Dinner was ready when we all arrived home!