Thursday, October 05, 2006

Sometimes your wildest dreams can come true!


Quick Tamale Casserole
365 Favorite Brand Name Hamburger Copyright 1997

1 ½ pounds ground beef
¾ cup sliced green onions
1 can (4 ounces) chopped green chilies, drained and divided
1 can (15 ¼ ounces) whole kernel corn, drained
1 can (10 ¾ ounces) condensed tomato soup
¾ cup salsa
1 can (2 ¼ ounces) chopped pitted ripe olives (optional) I added these
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon chili powder
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
4 slices (3/4 ounce each) American cheese, halved I used Longhorn cheddar
4 corn muffins, cut into ½-inch cubes I crumbled them
Mexican Sour Cream Topping (recipe follows)(optional)

In skillet, brown ground beef with green onions. Drain. Reserve 2 tablespoons chilies for Mexican Sour Cream Topping, if desired. Stir in remaining chilies, corn, tomato soup, salsa, olives, Worcestershire sauce, chili powder and garlic powder until well blended. Place in 2-quart casserole. Top with cheese, then evenly spread muffin cubes over cheese. Bake at 350 degrees F for 5 to 10 minutes or until cheese is melted. Serve with Mexican Sour Cream Topping, if desired.

Mexican Sour Cream Topping

1 cup sour cream I used lite sour cream
2 tablespoons chopped green chilies, reserved from above
2 teaspoons chopped jalapeño peppers (optional) I added these
2 teaspoons lime juice

Combine all ingredients in small bowl; mix until well blended.
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Sometimes I like to take a break from reality and imagine what things would be like in a 'perfect' world. I could eat anything and not gain weight. I'd never have to clean up after myself. I could buy as many groceries as I'd like. People would send me cookbooks out of the blue.

Well, most of that is pure fantasy but my online friend Tammy (Mickey15 to my KT friends), contacted me and asked me if I wanted some cookbooks she was getting rid of, fulfilling at least part of my dream. She sent me this book, a local cookbook, a couple of Pampered Chef cookbooks (I think the stoneware one has the pizza dip recipe that I've been looking for), a couple of Christmas cookbooks. Oh, a crockpot book too. Thank you Tammy!

I have a smaller Favorite Brand Name Hamburger cookbook that only has a small portion of the recipes in this book. This book has recipes for all the ground meats, not just beef. I know this cookbook will be used heavily. I had some Cornmeal Cheddar Muffins in the freezer and a can of condensed tomato soup in the pantry so this recipe caught my eye right away. My son loved it. I loved it too. The sour cream topping was great but not necessary since the casserole isn't very spicy. You could turn up that heat if you'd like to. This could be played around with quite a bit - beans would be great in it too.

A Blast From The Past: Tex-Mex Cavatappi from February 2006. Great stuff.

Question of the Day: I have a single pastry pie crust I need to use up - what should I do with it (what would you do with it)?

8 comments:

MommyProf said...

It's fall, so I'd do an apple pie with a streusel top.

Heather said...

I have one of those too. I am going to make a pie and donate it to a fundraiser here in town.

Annie said...

I just recently saw a really simple way to use a store bought pie crust. It was on Real Simple on cable.

They just filled the unbaked crust with thawed frozen peaches, cinnamon, sugar, etc. and folded up the sides around the peaches-free form. Then brushed with egg wash and sprinkled with sugar and baked. It looked great!

Unknown said...

This looks really good. I may try it later with ground turkey. Mmmm.

If it was summer, I would make a strawberry pie. Right now...quiche or pecan pie. You could also make little cinnamon sugar snacks by cutting the crust into little pieces, brushing with butter, sprinkling with cinnamon-sugar, and baking until browned. These are good and I have done this with crust scraps. It's also useful when you buy a pie crust and it is torn before you even touch it (RRRRRGGGG!).

Anonymous said...

My Mother made these "pie crust cookies" when I was a child and I continued with my children and grandchildren. When you make your own pie crusts, there are always scraps left. Now that I use the Pillsbury roll crust, I don't have the opportunity as often, but when I do, it's a treat. I put the cinnamon and sugar on first, then a bit of butter.

Jan

Anonymous said...

Pumpkin pie or a berry cobbler...Mmmmmmmmm. Pumpkin pie just screams "Fall" to me. Just wish our temps would be more fall-like!

DancesInGarden said...

Seeing as it is the Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend, I second the vote for pumpkin (even though I don't eat it LOL). If it were me, I would be more likely to go the quiche route. Or an open-faced tourtiere type pie.

Brown ground pork with salt and pepper and poultry seasoning, onion powder (or a finely minced onion). Add chicken stock, pork stock, or water to make a gravy and simmer for at least 10 minutes (to flavour it). Add 1/2 cup thereabouts of whole wheat bread crumbs, and stir well. Let the crumbs thicken the juices and let them bubble for a bit.

Taste for seasoning. I would prebake the shell to just done but not browned, pour in the meat filling, and bake together until the edges are browned.

Eat with brown gravy, or add extra broth at the beginning and drain some off to make gravy with while the pie is baking.

Anonymous said...

When I have an extra crust I spread it with mayo grate lots of parmesan cheese on top of it then top it with thin slices of tomato and some slivers of onion or little pieces of broccoli. It is a flaky delicious starter or snack.