King Ranch Chicken Casserole

King ranch is an old favorite around my house.  The story is that the recipe originated on the originaly King Ranch in central/west Texas.  The King Ranch was one of the largest working ranches back in the day - it now only exists in history.

1 whole chicken, boiled and deboned or just get a one from the deli at the supermarket and debone

1 large spanish onion, chopped
2 large hatch, anaheim, or poblano peppers
1 can fat free cream of mushroom soup
1 can fat free cream of chicken soup
1 teaspoon butter
1 can Ro-Tel tomatoes with chilies or 10.5 oz of picante sauce
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/2 pound cheddar/monterey jack cheese grated
1 bag tortilla chips (roughly crushed)


Preheat oven to 350.  Debone the chicken and dice up the meat, put it to the side.  Using a deep skillet, saute the peppers and onion in the butter until soft; add the garlic, soups, tomatoes (or picante sauce).  Spray a large flat casserole dish (9x13x2) with non-stick spray then layer as follows - sauce, chips, chicken, cheese.  End up with cheese on the top.  Bake uncovered for 50 minutes - it will need to sit for a few minutes once it comes out of the oven.  Garnish with pickled jalepenos and serve with black beans and spanish rice.


Enjoy!





Double Duty Shrimp, Tomatoes, and Cannelli Beans

This is a super easy and fantastic dish not only for the supper, but for a great salad the next day.  Here is the recipe..it was inspired by one I saw in Martha Stewart Living, but I made a few changes to suit my family.

Shrimp, Tomatoes, and Cannelli Beans
12-16 oz grape tomatoes
1 can (14.5 oz) cannelli beans (white beans) drained and rinsed
3 marinated artichoke hearts, diced
2 fresh, small jalepenos, sliced
1 tablespoon minced garlic (about 4 medium cloves)
2 tablespoons EVOO
Coopers Seasoning
Coarse salt
Pinch cayenne pepper
1 pound shrimp, can be frozen and cooked or can be fresh, shell and take the tails off either way
3/4 cup of chicken stock
Sliced fresh basil leaves

1. Heat the broiler in the oven to high.  Put a large, oven proof skillet in the oven dry to heat it up to screaming hot - you CAN use an iron skillet, but I just used my stainless and it was fine.  This takes about 15 minutes.  Meanwhile, toss together the tomatoes, beans, artichoke hearts, garlic, 1 tablespoon oil, and 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt in a bowl.  Shell, devein (if needed), and remove tails from shrimp and toss them in a separate bowl with 1 tablespoon oil and 1/4 teaspoon Coopers seasoning (check out my links to buy this seasoning - if you don't have it, something like a grill seasoning will do).

2. Remove skillet from the oven and add the tomato mixture.  Put it back in the oven for like 15 to 20 minutes - until the tomato skins are charring and they are looking kinda wrinkled - anywhere from 5-10 minutes.  After that, take that screaming hot skillet out again and add in the shrimp and chicken broth.  Put it back in the oven for about 3-7 minutes just until the shrimp are done if raw, heated if frozen cooked.

3.  Remove the skillet, drain the liquid if it hasn't been absorbed, dust it with some cayenne and chopped fresh basil and serve.  DELICIOUS!

The next day, for the cold leftovers, just add a basalmic vinegar mixed with a little oil, some italian dressing, or any other type of vingarette and toss - serve on butter lettuce and its fantastic!

This is a totally healthy dish and just screams summer.  I am in Texas, so beleive me, summer will last until...lets say...December? 

Chicken Spaghetti and Fresh Green Beans

Chicken spaghetti is a great stand by, stick to your ribs, everyone loves it food.  Totally simple to make and very inexpensive.  Here we go:
1 whole chicken, cut up
4 cups chicken stock
4 cups water (can just use 8 cups of water instead of combination of chicken stock and water)
4 or 5 ribs celery, chopped
1 large red onion, chopped
2 medium carrots, diced
2 cloves garlic
olive oil
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tbls herbs de provence
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp lemon pepper
3/4 box whole wheat fettuccine noodles (can use regular noodles)

Saute onions, celery, carrots, and garlic until onions carmelize.  Add everything else except the noodles.  Boil on medium high until chicken comes off of the bone.  Take out chicken but leave the broth boiling - add the noodles to this broth and cook until al dente.  While that is cooking take the meat off the bone, dice and when the noodles reach the al dente stage, add in the chicken, cover and turn the heat off the burner.  Let sit about 20 minutes for the broth to absorb into the noodles.  Meanwhile, cook the green beans - just cover them with water, add a little diced onion, a turn of olive oil, salt and pepper and cook for about 20 minutes, drain and re-season if necessary.  Serve the chicken spaghetti with fresh basil.

Makes enough for about 8 people or 3 people with left overs.  Also, this is a really good dish to take for a covered dish supper as it travels well (not sloshy).  It's kid friendly and for those who are lactose intolerant, a great meal that does not miss the cheese.  You can top it with parmesan cheese if you have to have cheese - it will be a little saltier.

Let me know what you think :)

Veggie Tray

Ok, so who hasn't bought one of those pre-made trays at the grocery store?  It's a total crap shoot as to how fresh the vegetables are and if the dip is edible.  Making one on your own is MUCH better, cheaper, and guaranteed to impress.  Did I mention that it tastes better?  Plus, you can customize the veggies to what your family likes.  Starting with the cherry tomatoes (that were grown in my home garden!) going clockwise - 1 english cucumber sliced, baby carrots, celery sticks, marinated button mushrooms, pepper slices (red, orange, and yellow) and baby corn.  The dip is home made ranch dip - just sour cream, a ranch packet, and some extra dill to taste.

Remember, we eat with our eyes first then our mouths, so presentation does make a difference.  Showing up with this tray at any meal will have everyone loving veggies!

Rum-Lime Cocktail

One of my absolute favorite drinks in the summer is this rum/lime cocktail. 

Here is the recipe:

Use a 4oz glass...

1/2 glass good rum (such as Captain Morgan's Private Selection)

1/2 glass Perrier or other sparkling unsweetened water

2 lime slices

ice

Throw it all together and stir - ready to go.  If you want to make a pitcher of these just increase the quantities to fit the pitcher.

Excellent end to a Monday!

Savannah Seafood Gumbo

Savannah Seafood Gumbo is Paula Deen's dish that I modified to fit our family.  It takes a long time to make, but it's SOOOO worth the work.  I would also advise doing all the chopping and getting all the ingredients together before starting.  The original recipe can be found on foodnetwork.com - my modifications included using a full pound of lump crab meat, only 4 andouille sausage links rather than 8, and instead of the green peppers I use mixture of anaheim peppers and jalepenos.  I also cut the red pepper back to 1/4 tsp since I did add jalepenos.  The house seasoning was replaced with Cooper's BBQ seasoning (can be purchased at http://www.coopersbbq.com/) - no, its not a BBQ rub, but a salt/pepper/spices mixture that could actually make a shoe delicious.  I used olive oil rather than vegetable oil in the roux as well.

This makes a ton and can feed about 12 people.  Of course, being gumbo, rice is essential.  I love making this dish because of the rave reviews of the family.  It tastes better the second day as the flavors will come together nicely.  Let me know your thoughts if you make it!