Breakfast Burrito Casserole

It's the most wonderful time of the year!!!

You must be thinking, it's not Christmas yet?!?! Well in my world, the most wonderful time of the year begins with football season!

Oh how I love game days, whether it be attending the game, tailgating, watching at a bar or watching with friends, football just make me happy!  The other day, the Cardinals game was starting at 10 am, so we decided we should make brunch and watch football, which made for an excellent Sunday!

Those of you that know me, know that I am NOT a morning person!  I love, love to sleep in; so the thought of getting up early to make something before I went to my friend's house for the game was not appealing, so I decided I needed to find something that I could prepare the night before and just pop in the oven the next morning.  I had quite a few recipes saved in my google reader that fit these requirements, but for one reason or another they just weren't right, then I stumbled upon this one from Lynn's Kitchen Adventures, and I knew it would be the one!

It was simple, didn't involve a lot of ingredients and was Mexican themed, which is always a bonus in my world.  This was really easy to put together, and you could substitute the sausage for bacon or ham, or even try it vegetarian style with black beans!  I baked this up in the morning and served it with salsa and avocado slices, to our crew, and everyone raved about it!  It was soooooo goood!  Touchdown!!! (Sorry, couldn't resist)  We ate the whole dish and I was already thinking about when I could make it again, which just might be this weekend.

Breakfast Burrito Casserole

adapted from Lynn's Kitchen Adventures

1 16 oz. pkg. pork sausage, cooked (I used light)

10 - 12 small tortillas (I used corn, but you can also use flour tortillas)
2 c. shredded cheddar, pepper jack, or colby jack cheese, divided
2 c. half and half (you can use milk, but half and half is better)
6 eggs
1/4 tsp. salt
For serving: salsa, avocado slices, sour cream

In a large bowl combine meat and 1 1/2 cups of cheese.  Put about 3 tablespoons of filling in each tortilla, and fold in half (you may need to warm the tortillas in the microwave first).  Place filled tortillas on their sides, overlapping slightly, into a 9×13 pan.

In a bowl combine eggs, half and half, and salt. Mix together well and pour over filled tortillas.  Sprinkle remaining cheese on top. Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight.

In the morning, remove them from the fridge and let stand at room temperature for about 30 minutes.

Bake covered at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Uncover and bake about 10 minutes more.

Serve with salsa, avocado and/or sour cream and enjoy!

Bacon Pierogi Bake

I actually have this baking in the oven right now, but the picture below is from I made it for the first time a couple of weeks ago.  This is a yummy, comforting casserole that came from Cooking Light of all places!  I am not sure how I missed it when I got my issue, but all of a sudden it started popping up all over the other blogs that I read, so I knew that I had to try it!  When I found my copy of the magazine, I realized why I may have skipped over it, the picture just didn't look that good, I guess we really do eat with our eyes!  The pictures on the other blogs were so bright and colorful, but the magazine made it look burned, boring and dry!  I think the dryness is maybe what threw me when I first looked at it, so when I made it I decided to double the sauce, making it extra saucy and extra good (but definitely not extra Light, ha!). The version I posted below is the double sauce version, but you can cut it back if you must!

This was really easy to throw together, and I had all the dishes done while it baked for just 20 minutes in my toaster oven.  I used the mini pierogis when I made it, although the original calls for the regular size, but I think I would stick with the mini, they are more fun!  This is creamy, salty, and fresh tasting all rolled into one!  I think it could easily be adapted for vegetarians by omitting the bacon and just cooking the garlic in a bit of olive oil or you could cook the bacon separate and just put it on individual portions!  Whatever you do, you must make this!  It is starting to get warm here in AZ, but with the fresh tomatoes on top, I can still consider it a Spring dish!

Bacon Piergoi Bake

Adapted from Cooking Light - December 2010

1 (16-ounce) package frozen potato and cheese pierogies (such as Mrs. T's) - I like the mini's
Cooking spray
4 center-cut bacon slices, chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced
2/3 c (6 ounces) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese
1 c. fat-free, lower-sodium chicken broth
1 c (4 ounces) shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 c thinly diagonally sliced green onions
1/4 c chopped seeded plum tomato
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper


Preheat oven to 400°.

Arrange the pierogies in an 11 x 7-inch glass baking dish coated with cooking spray. Cook bacon in a saucepan over medium heat until crisp; remove from pan. Set aside.

Add garlic to drippings in pan, and cook for 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Add cream cheese to pan, and cook for 1 minute or until cream cheese begins to melt, stirring frequently. Gradually add chicken broth to pan, stirring with a whisk until smooth. Pour the cream cheese mixture evenly over pierogies. Top evenly with cheddar cheese. Bake at 400° for 20 minutes or until bubbly and thoroughly heated. Remove from oven, and sprinkle with bacon, green onions, tomato, and pepper.

Jalapeno Chicken Casserole

Well, looks like the cat is out of the bag, Laura (my sister) if you are reading this, please forgive me!  Why am I asking for her forgiveness?  I may or may not have not mentioned the word jalapeno when I invited my sister over for dinner and told her what I was making!  My sister is a wimp when it comes to spicy food; for instance, she claims to LOVE buffalo wings, but then wipe all of the sauce off of each one before she eats it....so weird!!!  So when she asked what I was making, I told her Mexican Chicken Casserole, she said yum, so I said see you at 6!  I knew that if I mentioned the "J" word she would not even try it, so I had to be a little bit sneaky....but isn't that what big sisters are for???

So at 6 last Sunday night, my sister and my parents arrived for dinner; we sat down and ate, and guess what?  They all liked it!  My sister made a little mention that a few of her bites were a little spicy, but like I said before, she is a major spice wimp.  This was really good, and fresh tasting.  I liked that it didn't use a canned soup as the base, which I am not against at all, but they can sometimes make dishes feel really heavy.  I also really liked the addition of the spinach, it was a good way to get in some veggies, this almost tasted like a spicy spinach dip with chicken, which is definitely not a bad thing in my opinion!

My only suggestion when making this would be to use more chicken.  The pound of chicken called for in the recipe seemed a little sparse to me, but do what you like!  I was also thinking of maybe instead of adding more chicken, to just use a can of black beans, or even use no chicken at all and just black beans....mmm beans....well they don't call me The Bean Queen for nothing!

I am really sorry I didn't get a picture of the insides, but trust me, it was very pretty!

Jalapeno Chicken Casserole

adapted from Chaos in the Kitchen

2 Tbsp. butter

1 onion, diced

3 jalapenos fresh, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. flour
20 oz chicken stock
salt and pepper, to taste
10 oz pkg. frozen spinach, thawed and drained
2 Tbsp. pickled jalapenos, diced
2 Tbsp. jalapeno pickling liquid
2 c. light sour cream
4 green onions, tops only, diced
2 Tbsp. lime juice, or about 1 lime
1 large bag of tortilla chips
1 lb chicken, cooked and chopped
2-3 c. cheddar and Monterrey Jack cheese, shredded
fresh cilantro, chopped

Melt butter in a large pan over medium heat. Pre-heat the oven to 350°F. Saute onions, jalapenos, and garlic until soft. Sprinkle flour over jalapeno mixture and cook for several minutes until golden. Add chicken stock to pan and stir until smooth. Cook, stirring often, until simmering and slightly thickened. Season sauce with salt and pepper, to taste.

Meanwhile in a medium bowl, combine spinach, pickled jalapenos and liquid, sour cream, lime juice and green onions. Add chicken stock mixture to sour cream mixture and stir thoroughly until mixed.

In a 9 x 13 baking dish, layer a handful of crushed tortilla chips, chopped chicken, and half of the sauce mixture. Sprinkle with half of the cheese. Add another layer of crushed tortilla chips, and the rest of the chicken and sauce mixture. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Top casserole with another layer of crushed tortilla chips and sprinkle with fresh cilantro.

Bake casserole for 30 to 40 or until hot and browned. Top with fresh pico de gallo, if desired.

I served mine with a big pot of pinto beans.....mmm mmm good!

Bacon Mac & Cheese

Up until about a year ago, I had had a subscription to Cooking Light Magazine for almost 10 years, but when it came up for renewal the last time, I broke up with Cooking Light. It is not that Cooking Light hadn't been good to me and provided me with lots of delicious food over the years (I can honestly say, there wasn't a recipe that I tried that I didn't like), it was just that over time, it's offerings became less and less appealing to me. I am not sure if it was the mile long ingredient lists, or the obscure ingredients for that matter, but I hadn't tried a recipe out of my last 10 issues....so it was just time to move on.

So it only figures that since I decided to go and break up with them, they have changed their format and started putting out much simpler (and more personally appealing) recipes! I saw this recipe posted on a couple of different blogs, and all gave it rave reviews. My current Mac & Cheese favorite was a stove-top version that I had gotten out of an older version of Cooking Light, so I was eager to try a new version. Let me just say one word about this version....WOW! This is hands down my new favorite Mac & Cheese, it is so simple, so delicious, and it came from a light cooking magazine; does it get any better?

Oddly enough, the item that I think gives this the most flavor punch is actually not the bacon, but the green onions! I happen to love green onions, and the flavor of them, mixed with the creamy cheese and the bacon was amazing! Another thing that I really liked about this recipe is the way that it reheated in the microwave, it came out really creamy, not clumping up like some reheated versions.

So with fall upon us.....it is time for some comfort food....and this certainly fits the bill!

And now I am left to ponder if I really should have broken up with Cooking Light after all!

Bacon Mac & Cheese

Adapted from Cooking Light September 2009

3 1/4 tsp. salt, divided

12 oz. elbow macaroni

4 tsp. flour

1 1/2 c. skim milk, divided

2 c. shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese, divided

1/4 c. green onions, sliced

1 tsp. hot sauce

1/4 tsp. pepper

4 slices center cut bacon, cooked and crumbled

Cooking spray

Preheat broiler

Bring 6 quarts of water and 1 tablespoon of salt to a boil. Add pasta; cook al dente, drain.

Combine flour and 1/2 cup milk in a saucepan over medium heat. Gradually add 1 cup milk, bring to a boil. Cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; let stand 4 minutes, or until it cools to 155 degrees. Stir in 1 1/2 cups cheese. Add 1/4 teaspoon salt, onions, hot sauce, pepper and bacon; stir. Add pasta; toss. Spoon into a 2-quart, broiler safe dish coated with cooking spray; top with 1/2 cup cheese. Broil 7 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Tuna Mac and Cheese Bake

I had such high hopes for this dish, but ultimately, I was disappointed. It is filled with things that are tasty; Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, tuna, peas and french fried onions...it should be good, right? Well, I am not sure if I just wasn't into it because I have been battling a cold and my taste buds are screwed up, or if I just didn't care for it, but whatever the case, it is going to be having a date with my garbage disposal very soon! I think one of my main issues (even taking into consideration my altered taste buds) is that it was soupier than I generally like things, and the soupyness really drowned out the cheesy flavors. The recipe calls for a can of cream of mushroom soup AND 1 1/3 cups of milk....just too much liquid!! The macaroni is already cooked, so there just wasn't enough stuff to absorb the liquid. I am usually a big fan of leftovers eaten cold, and I thought that in this dish's case it might help it, so I even came home for lunch today to have some cold, but it still was too soupy and turned to mush! I think this could possibly be saved by omitting some of the milk, but I am just not sure that I will try it. But I am still on the lookout for a good Tuna Noodle Casserole recipe...so if you have one...send it my way!

Tuna Mac and Cheese Bake
adapted from Taste of Home's Simple & Delicious Jan/Feb 2009

1 pkg. (7-1/4 oz.) Kraft macaroni and cheese dinner mix
1 can (12 oz.) chunk white water-packed tuna, drained and flaked
1 can (10-3/4) oz. condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
1-1/3 c. milk (I really think this is way too much)
1 (16 oz.) pkg. frozen peas and pearl onions
1 can (3 oz.) french-fried onions, divided

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Prepare macaroni dinner mix according to package directions. Add the tuna, soup, milk, peas and half of the fried onions. Place in a greased 11 x 7 inch baking dish. Bake, uncovered, for 25 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining onions; bake 5 minutes longer or until heated through.

Tamale and Corn Casserole

I have a lot of cookbooks. Let me correct myself: I have a lot of cookbooks that I have never cooked anything out of! I always purchase them with such good intentions, with plans to make many of the delicious items that cover the pages, but for some reason, I just never get around to it, and they sit and gather dust on my shelves. I have really scaled back on my habit; when I was in high school, I was constantly buying cookbooks at Ross and TJ Maxx and at rummage sales. I loved collecting them, and even had two entire shelves in my closet devoted to them, forcing my other favorite item to collect (shoes) to be forced to be kept on the floor (gasp)! I had all different genres of books, and even starting collecting really weird ones, like Miss Piggy Cooks and the Wizard of Oz cookbook! I guess cookbooks were really just another hobby for me, and still to this day I love getting in bed at night and reading through a cookbook from cover to cover. I finally got rid of most of my collection a few years back when I realized just how neglected they had been, still sitting in the moving boxes they were lovingly packed in years before. So the other night I started sifting through a book that I had bought probably two or three years ago and realized that this was another of the lonely and forgotten books on my shelf. But as I looked through it, I couldn't figure out why, there were a ton of recipes that I wanted to try, so I started marking them like crazy! On Tuesday night, I got home from work early so I decided that I was finally going to give this book a try.

I decided to try the Tamale and Corn Casserole. To many of you out there, you will look at the ingredient list and not find it to be very appealing, probably mostly in part due to the canned tamales. I myself happen to really like canned tamales and keep them on hand to make my grandma's Tamale Dip recipe. I was excited to find a new use for them. But if canned tamales are not your thing, you could easily substitute any tamale of your choice. This casserole was really easy to put together and I thought it was very tasty, although not pretty once it is served because it is a bit runny. I am a bit confused as to why it was listed in the side dishes section of the cookbook because it was hearty enough to be a meal. I would make this again, but I might tweak a few things. First of all, I would probably leave out the corn, weird I know, but I think this contributed quite a bit to how runny it was, plus you get enough corn flavor from the tamales. And secondly, I would put the green onions on top next time for a prettier presentation. This made quite a bit, so I have a lot of leftovers....but I think it is even better leftover!

Tamale and Corn Casserole

adapted from The New Holly Clegg Trim and Terrific Cookbook

2 (15 oz. each) cans Beef Tamales (I used Hormel)

1 (15 oz.) can cream style corn

1 (4 oz.) can diced green chilies

1/2 c. green onions, chopped

1/4 c. evaporated skim milk

1 (7 oz.) can salsa verde (I used Herdez)

1 1/2 tsp. chili powder

1 tsp. ground cumin

1 c. Monterrey Jack cheese, shredded


Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Spray a 2 quart baking dish with cooking spray. Remove tamales from cans and wrappers, and cut into 1-inch pieces. Place pieces in a single layer in the bottom of baking dish.

Open corn and pour over the tamales, covering evenly.

Spread green chilies over corn layer.

Sprinkle chopped green onions over the green chile layer.
Combine the salsa verde, evaporated milk, chili powder and cumin, whisk to combine. Pour over green onions.

Sprinkle with Monterrey Jack cheese.

Bake for 30 - 35 minutes or until heated through, and bubbling.

Pineapple and what?

My parents love hosting people at their house to celebrate holidays, their motto is the more the merrier. In the past we have had friends from my college dorm, sorority sisters, co-workers, whoever needs a place to celebrate is welcome in their home. Since my mom is always such the gracious host, I like to help her out by bringing a dish. This year, I knew I wanted to bring Pineapple Casserole. I first tried the casserole out last Easter, and I couldn't wait to have it again because it is the perfect accompaniment to ham, and Easter seems to be the only time of the year we ever have a ham.

So I made the casserole and brought it over to Easter, and when we sat down to eat, everyone started raving about how good it was, and wanted to know what was in it. I got a lot of responses that went something like, "Pineapple and what?" As you will see below, when you read the ingredient list, you might turn up your nose....but trust me...everyone that tries it....LOVES it! As my mom says, the recipe looks like it was made up by a drunk person, because who would put these things together....but somehow....it just works!

Pineapple Casserole

2 (20 oz. each) cans crushed pineapple
5 Tbsp. flour
1/2 c. sugar
1 c. sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1 1/2 c. Ritz cracker crumbs
1/2 c. butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease a 2-quart casserole dish with either cooking spray or butter.

Drain pineapple. Place crushed pineapple evenly along the bottom of prepared casserole dish. Mix together the flour, sugar and cheese. Sprinkle evenly on top of pineapple.



Cover with Ritz cracker crumbs. I usually just take 2 sleeves of Ritz crackers and place in a
Ziploc bag. Then I get out a rolling pin and smash away!

The Before

The After!

Melt the butter and pour over the top of the cracker crumbs.

Bake uncovered for 30 minutes, until top turns golden brown and crispy.


And voila! You have the yummiest, sweet, buttery casserole that goes great with ham! Try taking a bite of ham with the pineapple.....it is a party in your mouth!


Hope everyone had a joyful Easter!