feeling a little resourceful {recipe}

We had crockpot chicken and rice on Tuesday for dinner. I'm not really a recipe follower, but I find recipes on the interwebs and mix it up or just try and wing it. For the original dish, I took a 3lb bag of frozen chicken breasts and tossed them in the crockpot.  I poured a jar of premade gravy on top and sprinkled it with a packet of Lipton onion soup mix. Set it for four hours on high. Bam. Done. Then I steamed up way more rice than we could ever eat to go with the chicken. Why is it that a cup of uncooked rice makes like six cups of the good stuff?  Don't answer that.  I know why. But why can't I ever remember that I don't ever need a whole cup?  

So what do we do with all the leftovers? We pretend that we love leftovers and wouldn't ever let them get moldy in the fridge.  We try to be resourceful.  We wait a couple of days and make a casserole, of course!  You'll need your leftovers and a few other items for this dish. 

Lunchy's Cheesy Chicken and Rice Florentine Casserole

3 cooked chicken breasts, diced or shredded

2 cups of cooked rice

2 cups frozen spinach

5 teaspoons flour

2 cups milk, divided (I used skim)

1/3 cup light sour cream

8oz shredded cheese, your choice. I used a hodgepodge of white cheddar, Mexican, Italian and goats cheese. Reserve 1/4 to sprinkle on top of the casserole. 

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

In lieu of the salt, pepper and garlic powder, I use Jane's Krazy Mixed-Up Salt...if you've never used it before, it's great for recipes like this one. And on eggs. And a salad. And everywhere. My father used to buy it when I was a kid and I was shocked to find it still being sold a few years back. Now it's a staple in our house.  

Grease your baking dish. Set oven to 350. Mix the chicken and the rice together and spread into your baking dish. Top with frozen spinach. Pour stock over the top of the spinach. 

Now to make the cheese sauce:  whisk together flour and 1/2 cup milk in a small bowl. Pour mixture into skillet over medium heat then add remaining 1-1/2 cups milk. Cook mixture, stirring constantly, until thickened, 7-10 minutes. Remove skillet from heat then add 3/4 of the shredded cheese, sour cream, salt, pepper, and garlic powder, and stir until smooth. 

Pour cheese sauce over top of the chicken, rice and spinach. Bake at 350 until bubbly and heated all the way through, about 25-30 minutes. Because this is a leftover dish, all of the food should already be cooked so basically you're just reheating it all.  Yum!

My cheese sauce looks a little thin because I didn't have quite enough cheese and didn't adjust for that...don't worry, if you follow the recipe, yours will be way better!  Ahhhh...the hazards a of being a self-taught, lazy cook.  I didn't even know how to cook anything when I got married. My husband likes to tell people how I only had a stack of sliced cheese and a case of beer in my fridge when he moved in. After about 14 years, I've learned a thing or two. Now I make at least two meals a day, and typically one is from scratch. I wish I had begun blogging earlier in my journey. When I stayed home with the girls it would have been nice to have a record of our growth together. Way back then, though, there wasn't really a platform for it. 

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feeling a little easy and cheesy

Thanks to my friend Corey over at Family Fresh Meals for this impossibly easy and quick prep meal.  As soon as I saw it posted on her Facebook page, I knew I had to make it.

I modified the recipe a little, swapping out the jarred sauce and canned broth for some I had made and frozen previously.  I love making stock for this very reason!  Every time we eat chicken, I make stock, freeze it in ice cube trays, then store it in a big gallon bag. One ice cube is about one ounce.  Having it frozen in cubes makes it easier to thaw, easier to measure and keeps it from going bad.  Making stock is super easy, too. If you're having chicken, whether it be homemade roasted chicken or even a rotisserie chicken you picked up at the grocery store...make some crockpot stock.  Take all the bones and put them in the crockpot, put a few tablespoons of vinegar in there, fill the crock to the top with water. Then set on high and let it simmer for 12 or more hours...I've let it go for as long as 18-20 hours before. Add more water to accommodate for evaporation. Strain out the bones and let cool in the refrigerator. Once it's cool, there will be a layer of congealed fat on top, spoon that off. Then transfer to ice cube trays and freeze. Once frozen, put in a ziplock bag and label it with the date you made it. I find I use it rather quickly, but I'd suppose the stock would be good for about 6 months in the freezer.

CLICK HERE for Easy Cheesy Tortellini Bake Recipe from Family Fresh Meals

CLICK HERE TO PIN THE RECIPE FOR LATER

I used Buittoni Herb Chicken Tortellini, Hunts Basil, Garlic and Oregano Diced Tomatoes, Kraft Seven Seas Viva Italian dressing and Sargento 6 Cheese Italian shredded cheese. I found that the cheese didn't melt like I wanted it to, so I added another 1/2 cup of cheese and stuck it back in the oven under the broiler for a couple minutes to make it bubbly and a little brown. I kept a watchful eye on it while it broiled so it wouldn't burn. Served with a salad and some garlic bread. Delicious!

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feeling a little vegetarian

 

  BentoForKidlet has a new "Meatless Monday" recurring link party going on over here:

When I saw that she was doing the link up, I finally decided that I would be making a hearty vegetarian meal for the family tonight. When I told my husband my plans of making a meatless dish for dinner...he actually asked if we could put ground turkey in it. WHAT?! No. It's not called "meatless but turkey isn't really meat Monday" is it? Poor guy thinks he will go hungry nibbling on vegetables like a cute little fluffy bunny. Not with this meal, that's for sure.

The recipe comes from Novice Chef Blog  and I found it, where else but Pinterest? I had to modify it a bit to suit my needs, which aren't really needs at all, but things I thought I had, which I didn't, so I had to scurry about to find something that would work instead. Like tortillas. Where on Earth did all those stinking tortillas go? I had two big packs of them in the fridge...gone. Poof. Thank goodness I had some Flat Out Wraps in the freezer. They actually worked quite well. They're bigger than tortillas so they held together nicely and tasted great. I've never made my own enchilada sauce, either...and of course, it was fantastic and way better than the canned. Don't you just hate when people have to point that out (like I just did)? It's like we all know, fresh is better than canned, the book is better than the movie...blah blah blah.

I'm in love with all the pretty vegetables

Roll 'em up

Everything is better with cheese...and bacon, but it's meatless Monday...darn.

Yum...even the hubs had to tell me about twelve times how much he liked it. I think he was surprised that a completely vegetarian meal could fill him up and taste soooooo freaking good.

Copied from the Novice Chef Blog:

Vegetable Enchiladas
ingredients:
4 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs ground cumin, divided
1 tsp adobo, divided
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp white pepper
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1/4 c all purpose flour
1/4 c tomato paste
3 cups vegetable broth
Salt and pepper
1 large onion, chopped
1 10 oz bag fresh spinach leaves
1 can (15 oz) black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (14.5 oz) corn kernels, drained
3 c grated pepper Jack cheese (12 oz)
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped (plus extra for garnish)
16 corn tortillas (6-inch)

directions:
In a medium saucepan, heat 2 Tbs of olive oil over medium-high heat. Add 2 tsp of the cumin, 1/2 tsp adobo, garlic powder, white pepper, coriander, flour, and tomato paste. Cook, whisking constantly, for 1 minute. Whisk in the broth and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook until slightly thickened, about 5-8 minutes. Set aside.

In a large skillet, heat the remaining 2 Tbs of olive oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and saute until softened. Add spinach and saute until wilted, about 2 minutes. Remove pan from heat. Stir in the black beans, corn kernels, cilantro remaining 1 tsp of cumin, 1/2 tsp adobo and 1 ½ c of the cheese.

Preheat oven to 375⁰F. Lightly spray 9x13 baking dish. Set aside. Pour 3/4 cup sauce in the bottom of the baking dish and spread evenly. Spoon about 1/3 c of the enchilada filling into each tortilla and roll up. Place in the baking dish, seam side down. Pack the filled tortillas tightly in the baking dish. Pour remaining sauce over them, making sure to cover the entire surface. Sprinkle remaining cheese evenly over the enchiladas. Bake uncovered until hot and bubbly, about 20 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes. Sprinkle with cilantro, and serve.

Adapted from Martha Stewart

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