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Recipe Exploration: Mexican Chicken Casserole
Name: Mexican Chicken Casserole
By: Renee Valentine
Prep Time: 15 min
Cook Time: 30 min
Servings: 8
Ingredients:
- 4 teaspoons olive oil
- 2 cups fresh sliced mushrooms
- 6 tablespoons sour cream
- 2 cups shredded Mexican Blend cheese
- 4 oz can of chopped green chiles
- 1 package of taco seasoning
- 2 teaspoons Salt
- 1 teaspoon Pepper
- ½ teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- 15 oz can of black beans
- 1 (16 ounce) jar salsa
- 2 cups cooked white rice
- 8 ounces boneless chicken breast halves, cooked and diced
Directions:
- In a skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Saute mushrooms until soft.
- Combine mushrooms, sour cream, 1 cup of cheese, green chiles, taco seasoning, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, cumin, black beans, salsa, rice, and chicken. Place in a greased 9X13 casserole dish.
- Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 25 to 35 minutes.
- Sprinkle remaining cheese on top of casserole and bake until melted.
Notes:
Recipe Exploration: Mexican Style Goulash
By: Renee (modified from All Recipes)
Prep Time: 15 min
Cook Time: 20 min
Servings: 10
Ingredients:
- 2 pounds lean ground beef
- 2 cups chopped onion
- 2 medium green peppers
- 2 (14.5 ounce) cans diced tomatoes, undrained
- 2 (8 ounce) cans tomato sauce
- 2 cups fresh or frozen corn
- 1 cup water
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 1 ½ cups uncooked elbow macaroni
- 1-1/3 cups shredded reduced-fat Cheddar cheese
Directions:
- In a large nonstick pot, cook beef, onion and green peppers over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain.
- Stir in the tomatoes, tomato sauce, corn, water, chili powder, oregano and salt, pepper, and cumin. Bring to a boil.
- Add macaroni. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 20-25 minutes or until macaroni is tender.
- Sprinkle with cheese; cover and cook 2-3 minutes longer or until cheese is melted.
Notes:
- Can use ground turkey or half ground turkey
- This goes well with cornbread.
- This makes a very large batch. Even though it freezes well, if you would like to make a smaller batch
Recipe Exploration: Santa Fe Chicken
Served with Chi Chi's Corn Cake
By: ReneePrep Time: 10 – 30 min (depending on type of rice)
Bake Time: 25 min
Servings: 3
Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons of oil
- 2 cups of uncooked long grain rice (can use instant)
- 2 tablespoons of garlic
- 2 teaspoons of cumin
- ½ of an onion, chopped
- 1 15 oz can of tomato sauce
- 4 oz can of green chiles (use less if desired)
- 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1 packet of taco seasoning
- ¼ teaspoon of pepper
- ½ cup of mexican blend cheese
- Lettuce, Guacamole, and Sour Cream to top
Directions:
- Saute uncooked rice, garlic, cumin, and onion in oil over medium heat for 5 minutes or until onion is tender.
- Add tomato sauce and green chiles. Simmer for 20 minutes if using non instant rice. If using instant rice, simmer until liquid is mostly absorbed. (use less green chiles if desired)
- Place rice mixture into a 8X11 baking dish. Season both sides of the chicken with taco seasoning and pepper and place chicken on top of rice.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes (or until internal temperature of chicken is 165 degrees)
- Sprinkle 4 oz of mexican blend cheese and bake until melted, about two to three minutes.
- Serve chicken lettuce, guacamole and sour cream, topped or on the side.
Notes:
Chi Chi’s Sweet Corn Cake
Renee: and the cool thing is 
tonight? If we need more corn cake? I can just make more. ❤ my corn cake
JJ: Hahah when does more get ordered?
Renee: dunno probably soon. I should probably extend the time. Or eat more corn cake. That’s a good option too
JJ: Oh yeah
Renee: If fix it too much you’ll get tired of it!
JJ: Wonder what else you can do with it? Lol. I just won’t eat it. Lol. It’s kinda like Mexican mashed potatoes 😉
Renee: HAHAHA!
Chuy’s, it’s one helluva drug!
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J: Have you ever been to a restaurant where they exceed your expectations? I mean everything from cost, taste, service and atmosphere? If you haven’t and you love Tex Mex let me introduce you to “Chuy’s”. This place opened here in Louisville in November I believe and it’s simply amazing! Their thing is, is that they make all of their salsa, sauces, fixin’s and other things fresh that morning from fresh materials. Their tortillas are freshly hand rolled as well! Yes they have folks at the little grill hand rolling tortillas!!
Renee: That’s just because your standard for an excellent Mexican restaurant is that it has to have folks hand rolling tortillas. You all should have seen him. He grinned from ear to ear when he saw that. But J’s right. Chuy’s is our go to place for eating out when we can’t think of another place immediately. There is tons of seating but it still fills up quickly during lunch or dinner. The decor is Vegas meets old person’s house. My favorite is the Tacos Al Carbon. It’s basically fajitas but already prepacked in two soft flour (J: hand rolled, fixed that for ya babe) tortillas. I absolutely love these and I can’t help but eat both of them. Plus it helps that it’s under $10. J usually goes for the spicier fare however.
J: You know it! I get the Steak Burrito that’s as big as my head! with the Green Chile Rice and Charro beans! It’s just the right heat! Enough for me to sweat and sniff but really enjoy it. This last time I went I got the Beef Fajitas and Renee can tell you I don’t do the fajitas often but they were good! I had enough to make 5 tacos and oh my goodness I didn’t finish my rice and beans! I have to say this place is amazing and I knew it was when we went on Saturday, came home and was like “We’re going tomorrow”.
Renee: That’s right, we went two days in a row. Two days! I don’t think I’ve done that with a restaurant in..well..ever! The wait staff recognizes us which is slightly embarrassing on my part but the food is too good to pass up. Whoever decided to open a Chuy’s in Louisville made a great choice. Now do you see what you all have done? We give you content about a fabulous Tex Mex restaurant and you make me hungry for more Chuy’s. Ah well, I must get my fix in the next couple of weeks. I know I can never go wrong when J asks me what I want to eat and I suggest Chuy’s. This is clearly our favorite place and has held the top spot for a couple of months.
Service: Good service most of the time. I’ve had a few duds but overall they are there to fill drinks, fill up our chip basket, and offer dessert. 8 out of 10.
Food Quality: Amazing. Everything tastes like it’s supposed to and I’ve never had a bad experience. Can’t rave enough about it. 10 out of 10.
Environment: It’s a little all over the place and it can get a little distracting but it definitely screams fun. 9 out of 10
Cost: Most of the dishes range between $8 and $15. Very reasonable and definitely easy on the wallet.
Overall: In this case, the sum is greater than the parts. The overall experience warrants a 10 out of 10.
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