Brittany's Pantry
I never really noticed how unflattering casseroles are until I started photographing them. Can I have a show of hands please? Who else has this problem? Anyone?
In spite of that, this recipe is just too good. I absolutely have to share it with you guys! In these pictures, it is hard to get the point across that this dish tastes incredible. I know I have whined about mexican food in the past, but this meal has got to be my number one exception to not being a big fan of the cuisine. Ok. So if you want to get all technical on me, this isn’t traditional mexican food. Granted, this is a riff on an actual tamale, but it is sooo much easier to make this instead of filling corn husks with masa and chicken and steaming them for an hour. You get the same flavors with all the convenience of a one pot meal. You will love it because it is so easy it can be thrown together (not literally, of course…that would be messy…) on a weeknight! It reheats great which is fortunate because you are going to want it again the next day for lunch. The creamy sweet combo of the corn and cornmeal base is offset by the enchilada sauce. Add chicken and cheese and you have a dish that is crazy addicting. Add a margarita, and you may just want to start taking pictures of it….
One Year Ago: Beef Bourguignon & Tilapia W/Citrus Sauce
Two Years Ago: Buttermilk Bread & S’Mores Bars
Chicken Tamale Casserole
I like to serve this with a big salad on the side and with a big scoop of sour cream on top. Diced avocados are great too!
1 bag (2 c) shredded mexican blend, cheddar, monterey/jack, or co-jack cheese, divided
1/3 c milk
1 egg
1 tsp ground cumin
pinch of cayenne
1 (14 oz) can cream style corn
1 box corn muffin mix, such as Jiffy
1/2 can chopped green chilies, drained-use the full can if you like your food nice and spicy!
1 (10 oz) can red enchilada sauce
3 c chunked or shredded cooked chicken-I like to use the meat from one deli rotisserie chicken
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
In a small bowl, gently mix together 1/2 c of the shredded cheese, and the next 7 ingredients, through the chilies. Pour into a sprayed 9X13 inch casserole dish and bake for 15 minutes or until set and dry across the top. Remove from the oven and using a large fork, poke holes all over the top of the corn mixture. Pour the can of enchilada sauce over top, spreading to cover the whole dish. Top with chicken, and then sprinkle the remaining cheese evenly on top. Bake for another 15 minutes, or until cheese is melted. Let cool for 10 minutes and serve. Top with sour cream and diced avocado if desired. In the rare case that there are enough leftovers, I freeze individual portions for my husband to take to lunch!
Baked Garlic Brown Rice
Brittany wrote this on 8 January 2013
brown rice, chicken broth, garlic, gluten-free
I have a confession to make.
I’ve been holding out on you. (Ooo…this is hard to say…) OK. I’ll just type it really fast! Sometimes I make food and I don’t blog about it! Phew! I’m glad I got that off my chest…
In truth, its good food. Food that you would want to know about and make in your own kitchens and feed to your families and friends. Sometimes it is food I make a few times a year, sometimes it is food I make a few times a month. In my defense, I sometimes don’t blog about things because they really don’t photograph well. For example, I have been making and tweaking and remaking this upside down pizza thing that is crazy good. I mean crazy good. Super easy and a total kid pleaser, but made with simple pantry ingredients. I even had the recipe tested by a few other busy Moms (What up, Alters family and the Lewis crew?!) Unfortunately, my totally yummy dish looks like a dogs breakfast when photographed. I am toying with the idea of posting pictures of bunnies and kittens and sunsets and then just posting a recipe at the end and saying MAKE THIS FOOD! But I am a little apprehensive. I don’t want people to see pictures of kittens on a food blog and get the wrong idea…
The following recipe is one I have been holding on to. I don’t know. Sometimes I feel like I need to have some surprises, you know? But a recent conversation with my closest friend-and fellow Mom-made me want to post this recipe. She mentioned that unless she was going after a specific recipe for something I had made recently, she usually searched for ideas for side dishes when on my blog. She was always looking for new food that she could pair with her tried and true main proteins. This kind of surprised me but it made sense. It gets really easy to do the same salads, potatoes, and veggies when trying to complete your weekly menus.
So here is an easy, super healthy, outstandingly tasty new side dish for you to try. Do not be fooled by its simplicity. Not only is there a ton of flavor here, but it will make your house smell outrageously good. The hands-off method of cooking makes it a nice thing to serve when you are busy. Its not fast (Hello! Brown Rice!) but it is definitely worth it. And don’t worry about all the garlic; it adds lots of flavor but is mellow and not as overpowering as it sounds.
There. Now. Aren’t you glad I shared it with you?
Two Years Ago: Laura’s Salad
Baked Garlic Brown Rice
Recipe inspired by Annie’s Eats
You can easily double this recipe. As long as the rice has room, the cooking time is the same. Leftover rice is great in Sloppy Joes or used in a Fried Rice Scramble!
2 T olive oil, grapeseed oil, or butter
1 c brown rice
5 cloves fresh garlic, minced fine
2-14 oz cans good quality chicken broth
salt & pepper
1/4 c chopped fresh parsley
In a small sauté pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat and add the rice and garlic. Toast lightly over the heat until fragrant, stirring often so that the garlic doesn’t burn, about 3 minutes. Pour the rice mixture into a medium casserole dish with a cover. Add one can of chicken broth, stir gently, cover, and place in a 375 degree oven for half an hour. Stir. If the liquid hasn’t been absorbed yet, cover and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes. Add the last can of chicken broth, stir, cover, and bake for another 30 minutes, or until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is popped and fluffy. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper as needed. Stir in chopped parsley. Serve.
One of the reasons I started blogging was because people would regularly ask me to pass along the recipes that I make all the time; recipes that were my ‘go to’ recipes because they were simple, straight-forward, and tasted good. Well, BEHOLD! This recipe is just that. Classic and great using regular ingredients instead of a package of seasoning mix that has only God knows what in it. It goes together just as fast as the convenience kind but has a ton more flavor and is much better for you. Well, all right. Fine. It isn’t as fast as opening up a can of Manwich and dumping it on your meat, but almost.
You may think that the addition of a grain in this recipe is weird, but to me it is totally normal. My Mom used to add a can of chicken gumbo soup to her sloppy joes, just to give them a bit more substance and to stretch the recipe a bit. She used the chicken gumbo, I assume, because it had peppers and rice in it-two things that go well in sloppy joe mix. I got in the habit of adding whatever leftover carb I had in the fridge and just stuck with it. We always have peppers in the fridge (my kids LOVE them) so it was natural to include them in my recipe too. Both add a hit of nutrition to an otherwise plain meal. The other ingredients come from just trying to copy the flavors of a barbecue sauce because I didn’t want to actually add barbecue sauce. The result? A sweet and tangy staple that I make over and over. The fact that it isn’t to shabby for your bod helps too! Especially now, at the start of a new year. Feel free whip this up and lick your fingers guilt-free!
One Year Ago: Peppermint Meringue Cookies W/Mini Chocolate Chips
Two Years Ago: Shrimp Quesadillas, Alfredo, Filet Au Poivre, Honey Waffles, Hot Wings
Sloppy Joes
You could easily sub out the ground beef for ground turkey to make this even leaner. Leftovers freeze beautifully. I usually serve these on whole wheat buns, but they were out this particular day!
1 lb ground beef, 85 or 90% lean
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 sweet bell pepper, diced
3/4 c cooked brown rice or quinoa (barley would be nice too)
1 T mustard
1-2 T molasses (I use 2 but I like it a bit sweeter)
1 T worcestershire sauce
1 tsp chili powder
salt and pepper
1 (14 oz) can crushed tomatoes
whole wheat buns
In a large frying pan or cast iron skillet, brown the beef in a tiny bit of olive oil over medium heat. Break it up into small pieces as you go. When it is about halfway done, add the onion, garlic, and diced pepper. Once all the meat is cooked through and no longer pink, and the veggies are getting soft, add the rest of the ingredients, through salt and pepper. Let cook gently over medium low heat, stirring often, until the flavors have all come together, about 5 minutes. Add the crushed tomatoes, and bring up to temp stirring often, letting it all cook together for another 5 minutes. Taste for seasoning. Serve on whole wheat buns.
Love a Good Recipe?
Then you’ve come to the right place! I’m Brittany, and I share tested, trusted recipes you’ll love. I prepare & photograph food, obsess over the perfect recipe, and enjoy grins of delight when I serve up something awesome. Enjoy!
