As a mother of two – a preschooler and a toddler – life in my kitchen has gotten really slim. Meaning – I used to love being in my kitchen. But, now I’m multi-tasking and keeping an eye on the kids and an eye on the stove – its a wonder I don’t burn dinners and chop off my thumb in the process.
My friend Kristin over at Dine and Dish (you so have to check out her blog for everything) did an enchilada casserole. I had been trying to make it for two weeks but kept either using an ingredient for something else, or forgetting an ingredient. So, I just changed the recipe. Thanks for the inspiration!
And my family loves some Mexican food. Wait, I love Mexican food. Therefore, I impose it on my family. I hope they don’t mind. This dish took 20 minutes to put together, takes 25 to cook, and it is great for leftovers. I call that a win – win – win. And it is only made better by avocados and more cheese – that has to be a good dish.
Mexican Lasagna
Recipe Type: Main Dish
Cuisine: Mexican
Author: kd316
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 8-10
Easy layered Mexican lasagna perfect for any time of the year
Ingredients
3/4 lb ground chuck (or whatever ground beef or turkey is cheapest)
1 onion, chopped
2 cups black beans (I used dry beans and cooked them down)
1 can whole kernel corn (frozen would work too)
juice of half lime
1 14 oz can of diced tomatoes
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 tsp taco seasoning
6-8 flour tortillas, soft taco size
1 bottle green salsa (I used Trader Joes because it is Whole30 compliant)
1 can refried beans (or you can make them yourself)
Mexican blend cheese
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350.
Cook the meat until almost done. Add onion and cook until meat is done. Drain. (This is a good tip. You can buy cheaper meat with higher fat – just drain it really good when its done cooking.)
Put the meat and onion mixture back in the pan. Add corn, lime, beans, tomatoes, and seasoning. Let simmer for 3-5 minutes.
Start your lasagna with 2 tortillas in the bottom of a 11×7 pan. Then spread those with 1/3 of the can of refried beans. Then scoop up some meat mixture and layer that on top. Top with cheese then salsa. Then repeat.
I left mine topped with cheese (just because I ran out of tortillas).
Bake at 350 for 25 minutes.
Eat it with a green salad. You can also serve tortilla chips if you want crunchiness and sour cream and more cheese and avocado are a must!
Food is definitely a love language of mine – so I love to share it with others – especially my little men. I’ve felt so bad that in this busy toddler and preschooler season I’ve not cooked near as much as I normally do – and I think my men suffer for it. But, hopefully I will get these done this week:
Lemon Cake with Sugared Cranberries (Happy Jesus Day cake) = this is our first year doing this. I’d like to make a main cake each Christmas and have it be Jesus’ birthday cake. Sing happy birthday to Jesus and maybe start giving a gift to Jesus (our Lottie Moon offering, or gift to another Gospel-centered something)
Who doesn’t like bread? Ok – I know some people can’t eat it for health reasons or allergies, and some people don’t eat much of it because they don’t want to gain a lot of weight – but seriously – the smell of yeast in my kitchen mixed with melted butter, or garlic, or cheese – bread is a good things.
Blogging for Books gave me the book Hot Bread Kitchen – the new cookbook that not only teaches you how to make bread in many different forms, but also trains and helps women with skills that will improve their futures.
I love the philanthropic nature of Hot Bread Kitchen and what they have set out to accomplish. And I can’t wait to try their breads. The cookbook is not only a book full of recipes and pictures, but stories of women who make them and where they come from.
So, its a little bit of history, bread, photos, bread, women, bread, stories, bread. Can’t go wrong?
There is something about the generations sitting down for a meal – or tossing flour in the kitchen as they make baked treats, or picking oranges from the groves around home. Heritage and generations tell something of history and the future. Hearing how Gigi’s got started about a decade ago – made me love the cupcake brand even more (the amazing Pecan Pie may have influenced my admiration). I love how she is carrying recipes from generations ago and giving it to people (like me, and my littles) to carry on the yumminess to new generations.
My grandmother got me started on Little Debbie’s Nutty Bars. Every time I see them in the store or dare to buy a box I think of her. I don’t remember her baking a lot but I remember her chicken and rice, french fries, and dressing at Thanksgiving. My Papa (her husband) taught me how to fish, make french fries, and eat (and pick) oranges. I’ve learned my parents’ favorite recipes and I look forward to encouraging my boys to love the kitchen (and cupcakes). When I shared one of the mini cupcakes with my younger son this morning, he quickly licked off all the powder blue buttercream. A dude after his momma’s heart!
Last night I had the opportunity to head to Gigi’s Kennesaw (just north of ATL) and taste their scrumptious desserts – including pies, cheesecakes, stuffed cookies, truffles, and cupcakes (and their new gluten-free line). It was a fun evening, warm and toasty (even though it was raining outside) with other bloggers in the area and the owner of Gigi’s who as a gracious host. We got to eat until we were full, and laugh, and just hang out. It was a great evening.
One of our had tasks we had while we were there was to test out the new #gfreegigis line of cupcakes. Even though Gigi’s cant be considered Gluten Free because they bake with gluten in the building – they go through great lengths to make sure the gluten stays far away from these cupcakes. They want to take care of their customers – both gluten free customers and ones that aren’t. The normal cupcake eater is not going to be able to tell the difference in taste. Most of us even couldn’t. The only thing I could tell was a slight chewiness in texture with the gluten-free – because of the rice flour and tapioca flour blend they use in the baking. But, it was so delicious. And the best thing is that gluten free doesn’t have to mean you can’t have cupcakes. And there is no upcharge like most bakeries and grocery store items. These gluten free cupcakes are the same price!
And if you just need something to eat besides a cupcake: the peanut butter stuffed cookie was my salty goodness for the evening and like I’ve raved about before – the Southern Comfort pecan pie melted this southern girl’s heart (and taste buds)!
Thanks so much Gigi’s Kennesaw! Y’all definitely pleased my taste buds last night!
I like normal weeks. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love doing fun things and love out of the ordinary with people, and events, and cooking times – but I also like the ordinary weeks. This week…we have no guests, I’m cooking one meal for a family in our church, I will probably do some baking with the boys – but other than that it is pretty normal and I’m trying to use ingredients I already have in my kitchen.
Pepperoni and Cheese Crescent Rolls for a quick dinner for my men on Tuesday night while I run to Target before the ever important NCIS comes on
Broccoli Rice Chicken Cheddar One-Dish Casserole (recipe coming soon on this blog)
When moving to a new place you always want to scout out a couple of things: parks, hiking trails, great local Mexican restaurants, and definitely a favorite sushi/chinese take out place. One of my favorite things to do is to sit on the couch eating take out Chinese. We haven’t done it in a while because we’ve not found a place that’s not really expensive here in our area.
There was a great local dive in Chapel Hill called Charlie’s. It had the best corn egg drop soup and was just down the strip mall from where I worked for a while. I loved everything on their menu. Would love to grab lunch with a sweet friend there or take some home for dinner. This is especially worth it for those cold, rainy winter nights.
It might not be winter yet, but its been constantly raining and cloudy with much of the same in the coming forecast – and I’ve been wanting to try something healthy with cauliflower. Speaking of cauliflower – I hope my Mister will eat this. There are only a few things that my mister doesn’t like – and I’ve changed his mind about one of them already since we got married. So, I think the flavor of this dish will win him over to the cauliflower side!
Sweet Chili Kung Pao Cauliflower
Recipe Type: main dish
Cuisine: Chinese
Author: kcreatives
Prep time:
Cook time:
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Serves: 2-4
A healthy satisfying twist on a Chinese favorite
Ingredients
2 T unsalted butter
1 head cauliflower, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
1/3 cup sweet chili sauce (bottled) – divide into three
1/2 cup chopped sweet peppers (red, orange, yellow)
1 tsp chopped garlic (1-2 cloves)
1/4 cup salted peanuts
2 T water
Instructions
Heat butter in a non-stick pan or wok.
Add cauliflower and season with salt and pepper.
Saute with the water for about 3-5 minutes.
Add some of the chili sauce.
Add peppers and garlic. Saute about 2-3 minutes
Add peanuts and more chili sauce. Stir until all combined
Remove from heat and stir in the remaining chili sauce.
You can add some green onions/chives or more peanuts on top for presentation.
Serve with rice for a complete meal.
3.3.3077
Trader Joes has a great Sweet Chili sauce that we use for some chinese chicken dishes. It was perfect in this dish as well. I also had chopped up some yellow, orange, and red peppers and had them in the freezer. This dish took all of 10 minutes. I love quick dishes – in between refilling preschooler sippy cups and singing the Dino Train song – quick is good for this busy momma!
