Enchilada Casserole: Unintentional Faux Pas Ends in Serendipitous Entrée

If you’re like me, and I suppose like most people who like to cook, new cookbooks “call” you.  I’m always looking for that next great recipe.  A new cookbook always holds so much promise.  However, with the accessibility of the Internet, I have to admit that I’ve cut back on cookbook purchases.  With a click of my mouse, I can instantly have thirty recipe options for whatever dish I have in mind.  I’ve also downloaded the AllRecipes.com app on my iPhone.  Now all I have to do is input the ingredients I have on hand and multiple recipes are suggested.

So, I was pleasantly surprised when I learned that UpperProvidence Elementary School was compiling their own cookbook, entitled, “Planting the Seeds for Success.”  I was even more excited when school’s principal, Dr. Missie Patschke contacted me and told me a copy was waiting for me at the school.  TADITK blog followers will remember the post about the staff pie contest that Steve Bonetz and I judged last November.  In addition to great recipes from staff members and UPES classes, all of the recipes for the pies in the contest can be found in the cookbook.  If you’d like your own UPES cookbook, they are $10.  Call the school office at 610-705-6150, and tell them the Dad in the Kitchen sent you!

During my tenure in Spring-Ford, I had the opportunity to work with many of the staff members who submitted favorite recipes.  As I perused the pages of the cookbook, it was interesting to connect each recipe with the person who submitted it.  One recipe from school psychologist, Dr. Reesa Wurtz provides options.  Isn’t that what any good psychologist should do?  The recipes from Mark Matthews read as long narratives; pretty much that same way Mark conducts IEP meetings.  The recipes from Jean Lare are short and to the point, just the way Jean operates; naturally, because she’s doing twelve things at the same time.

Jean Lare is one of my favorite people.  She is the person that every principal daydreams about.  I’m not talking about having Jean on the teaching staff, although that would definitely be a plus.  I’m talking about having Jean as a parent in your school…which I am fortunate to say I did.  Jean is the most positive, most hard-working, supportive, and understanding parent with whom I’ve ever worked as a principal.  She is a possibility thinker and simply put, she makes things happen.  Often, Jean has a cadre of like-minded, supportive parents surrounding her, all pitching in to get the job done.

Under Jean’s leadership, the little summer enrichment program called “Cool School” that I started at Royersford Elementary School fourteen years ago, grew from just over 100 students to more than 600 children participating in scores of fun summer classes.  (Registration for Cool School 2012 is open now, and Early Bird pricing is available until June 3.  Click here to register!)

The following recipe from the UPES cookbook is a Lare family favorite.  It comes from the days when Jean’s family lived in Texas.  For many years, the Rotelle canned tomatoes called for in the recipe would be loaded into suitcases and “exported” to Pennsylvania by any visiting family member.  Fortunately, you can get them in our area now, and Wegman’s carries them.

I do have to confess that I messed up Jean’s original recipe.  I was supposed to keep the browned ground beef and onions, and the combined Cream of Chicken soup and Rotelle tomatoes separate.  Instead, not following directions, (the result of breaking the first kitchen commandment of not reading the whole recipe before lifting a spoon), I mixed all four ingredients together.  Jean had informed me that the recipe was “not pretty, but very good.”  I was afraid that now I had ruined the “very good” part.  Such was not the case.  The resulting casserole was fantastic, and Jean said, “Yours is even prettier than mine!”  Wow!  So, it’s just like two recipes in one.  You have choices.  Could have come from a psychologist.

ENCHILADA CASSEROLE

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Will it all fit?

Ingredients:

2 packages of Corn Tortillas (approx. 12-16)

1 or 2 15 oz. cans Chili or Kidney Beans, drained

1½ lbs. Velveeta Cheese (I used shredded Mexican mix)

2 cans Rotelle Tomatoes

2 cans Cream of Chicken condensed soup

2 lbs. ground beef

1 medium onion, chopped

2 Tablespoons Chili Powder

Cayenne Pepper

Garlic Powder

Directions:

Brown the ground beef and sauté the onion together.  I also added a small can of mild green chilies to Jean's recipe.  Set aside.  (You can see I didn’t get very far until I messed up!)  

Combine the Cream of Chicken soup and the Rotelle tomatoes, (undrained), and heat on medium heat.  Set aside.  Here's what it looks like when all four ingredients are combined.

Line a large, deep (at least 2”) lasagna or baking dish with half of the corn tortillas.  (I used non-stick cooking spray on the dish before lining with the tortillas.)  The tortillas will overlap.

Put the meat and onion mixture on top of the tortillas.  (If you decide to combine all four of the ingredients, (as I did), put about half of the mixture on the tortillas at this point.)  

Sprinkle with approximately ½ teaspoon garlic powder and about ¼ teaspoon of cayenne pepper.  (You may want to add more to suit your own taste.  Keep in mind that the Rotelle tomatoes pack a little “heat” as do the chili beans.)  Next, sprinkle the 2 Tablespoons of chili powder on top, less if it’s spicy.

Add the beans (drained) as a layer.  Jean recommends chili beans, as they have added spices.  I used two cans, and it wasn’t too many.  Sprinkle the top of the beans with more garlic powder and cayenne pepper.  

Lay the Velveeta cheese, or sprinkle the shredded cheese evenly over the entire top.

Lay the other half of the corn tortillas over the cheese layer, 

and pour the soup and tomato mixture, (or the other half of the combined mixture) over the top.

For my “version,” I used 1 lb. of the shredded cheese in the casserole and then sprinkled the other half pound on top when there was only about ten minutes baking time left.

The casserole should be baked at 375° for 45 minutes, covered with foil.  If adding cheese during the last 10 minutes, remove the foil and leave it off as the cheese melts.

This dish will serve better if you can allow it to sit for approximately 15 minutes.  It also keeps well, and leftovers microwave well.

Enjoy!

Happy Mother's Day with a Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie!

In case I forgot to mention it in previous posts, I actually do have the best mother in the world.  Despite the fact that she and my father used Dr. Spock’s Baby and Child Care book, (Remember the controversy over that one?), my childhood was thankfully “normal.”  In many ways, my mother was ahead of the curve with the ways in which she stimulated our little developing brains.  We probably watched too much TV, but then again, how much television could you watch with only three channels: 3, 6 & 10?  When channel 12 went on the air, it was like we hit the lottery.

Mom took care of the “book learning” department, and encouraged us to read, write, and be creative.  She certainly set the example, always writing, serving as a correspondent for The Pottstown Mercury for more than thirty years.  She was always reading a book.  Unfortunately, her ability in the area of music, (she was an accompanist at Parker Ford Church for almost sixty years), did not rub off on us.  Dad was into a myriad of other interests, including sports, hunting & fishing, and things like woodworking, ham radio, and photography (he had his own darkroom).  They complemented each other perfectly.  I’m not sure how many people can say they never heard their parents argue, but I’m one of them.  (My own kids can’t make that claim.)

Mom is the oldest of four sisters whose parents died in their forties.  My mother was just out of high school.  The youngest, Frankie, was in eighth grade.  My mother became the breadwinner for the sisters and they had a chaperone of sorts move in with them.  Needless to say, the Kugler sisters are very close.  My mother has been a consistent diary writer and I’ve read some accounts about my dad coming on the scene, initially helping with mowing the grass and fixing things for the sisters.  I like knowing that about my dad.

In recent years, Mom has experienced some TIA’s, or “mini-strokes” as they are called.  Fortunately, it has only affected her short-term memory, and Mom can function almost normally otherwise.  She just can’t remember what we just talked about, or what she came to the kitchen for, or where she put her glasses.  (Sounds like most of us, doesn’t it?)  When the questions she asks are repeated, I try to answer them like they’re being asked for the very first time.  I do admit that I sometimes change the answers just to entertain myself.

“What are you doing now that you’re retired?”

“Well, I thought I’d do things that I’ve never done before.”

“That’s nice.”

“Like robbing a bank.”

“Well, I can’t support that!”

She has never lost her sense of humor.  She also always has a crossword puzzle close by, and after reading the front page headlines and the obituaries, completing the crossword puzzle (in pen!) is next on her agenda.

Thanks for everything, Mom!  You really are the best!

In honor of my mother, I’m naming this smoothie recipe for her.  It’s the "Kugler Special."

“Kugler Special” Smoothie

(Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana)

Ingredients:

1 cup milk

4 Tablespoons hot cocoa mix

2 Tablespoons creamy peanut butter

1 medium banana

¾ cup vanilla ice cream

Directions:

Blend the mixture each time you add an ingredient.  This cannot be beat!  Well, it can be blended…but not beat!  This smoothie is not for the faint of heart.  Check out the calorie count:

1 cup milk - 122 calories

4 Tablespoons hot cocoa mix - 140 calories

2 Tablespoons creamy peanut butter - 190 calories

1 medium banana - 200 calories

¾ cup vanilla ice cream - 210 calories

TOTAL - 862 calories

Oh, what the heck.  It's Mother's Day!  Take your time drinking it, as it will want to slide down quickly.  Savor the taste!

Happy Mother’s Day!  Enjoy!

Peach Crumble

I know.  It’s not peach season, but for whatever reason, I had a hankering for peach cobbler or crisp this week.  It probably had something to do with my visit to Royersford Elementary’s Career Day last week.  As a cooking blogger (my "career"), I decided to have the students create fruit smoothie recipes.  I packed up a produce section's worth of assorted fruit.  One of the ingredients I selected was frozen peaches.  Not only did the picture on the package look inviting, but that peach taste whetted my appetite for more.

Fresh peaches were not an option at this time of year, so I bought several jars of canned peaches.  At that point, I didn’t even have a recipe, but knew what I wanted.  I toyed with the idea of using my new cast iron Dutch oven to make peach cobbler.  I decided that the gratification with that route would be too delayed, what with making a fire and using the coals to bake it.  (A Dutch oven recipe is in the future, so stay tuned.)

A search online revealed a variety of cobbler and crisp recipes.  Cobbler is traditionally made with a wetter, biscuit-type dough baked on top of the peaches, as in this previous post:  Peach Cobbler.  Crisp is made with crumbs baked on top.  Then I started to find peach crumble recipes.  So what’s a crumble?

According to the O Chef website (“Answers to life’s vexing cooking questions”), a crumble is “a British dessert in which raw fruit is topped with a crumbly pastry mixture and baked.”  There is an indication that crumbles are like crisps, but not as rich.  That may be so, but this crumble recipe calls for an entire stick of butter.  Feel free to cut that back to 6 Tablespoons.

The recipe also calls for a one-eighth teaspoon of ground cloves.  If you don’t like cloves, leave it out.  Naturally, peach crumble is going to be better served warm with a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.

PEACH CRUMBLE

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Ingredients:

1 can/jar of canned peaches (approx. 24.5 oz.), drained

1 teaspoon lemon juice

For the topping:

½ cup flour

½ cup rolled oats

½ cup brown sugar

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

¼ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¹/₈ teaspoon ground cloves

½ cup (1 stick) butter

Directions:

Drain peaches and placed in the bottom of an 8”x8” or equivalent greased baking pan/dish.  Sprinkle lemon juice over peaches.

Mix dry ingredients together.  

Using a pastry blender, blend in the cold butter until mixture is uniformly crumby.  If you don’t have a pastry blender, just use a fork. 

Evenly sprinkle the crumb mixture over the top of the peaches.  Some crumble recipes stipulate patting the mixture down on top of the peaches.  I chose not to, and it was fine.  Bake at 350° for 45 minutes.

Don’t try to serve like a piece of cake.  Allow the peaches to jumble together with the crumble.  It is so good!

Enjoy!