Mexican Casserole Recipe

One regular meal we have at my house is Mexican Casserole. It is a vague name, because "Mexican Casserole" can mean  a lot of different things, depending on what ingredients I have on hand.

It usually consists of chicken or beef with at least one type of bean that I cover/layer with cheese and put into the oven to let the flavors simmer together. The following recipe has about fifty different variations, but I'll try to give a basic template of how to make this dish.

First thing I do is cook the meat. This time I used chicken, so I boiled one and a half chicken breast with 3 cubes of chicken bouillon. You can cook it different ways, but I like the flavor and consistency of boiled chicken breast in broth for this type of recipe.

After the chicken is done I shred it up with two forks. Then I empty the broth that it was cooked in until there is about a quarter of a cup or less left in the pan.

I add the chicken back to the broth and add  the seasoning. I used fajita seasoning this time, because that's what I had. Sometimes I'll add jalapenos, but this time I used half a can of green chilies. I put in a bit of minced garlic, but sadly no onion, because the rest of my family doesn't like them.

I simmer that for a few minutes while I put whatever beans I am gonna use in an oven safe casserole dish. This time I used homemade refried beans and black beans that  I had from the freezer. I layered the refried beans on the bottom, then a little cheese and then I added the chicken, and then about a half cup of black beans. I put some cheese on top of that and bake it covered at 350 degrees for around 30 minutes. Serve with tortilla chips, corn chips, or tortillas.

Oven Roasted Drumsticks

Since I mentioned that drumsticks, and thighs were on sale nearby on my page I thought that it might be a good time to also make a quick blog entry about my favorite way to make them. This method is not only tasty, but it's quick, and easy, too!

All you need is the chicken, whatever your preferred seasoning is, (I use garlic salt, usually) and a broiling pan. If you don't have one you can also use a cookie sheet covered in foil with a cooling rack on top. like this:

First: preheat oven to 450 degrees, and spray your pan with cooking spray.

Kitchen Space Saving Tip- How to organize storage container lids

One of the most frustrating spaces in a kitchen for me is the storage container cabinet. If the containers aren't put away just right things won't all fit, and you end up with a containerlanche when you open the cabinet door. 

The lids are especially hard to organize, and keep stacked without falling, or taking up a lot of space. One of the ways that I have found to remedy this is by organizing them into storage bags by either shape, type, or size.

Like this:

This is all of my round container lids

Here we have all of my square, and rectangle lids

 

 

 

See how they all stack nicely without falling?

For more tips, and ideas be sure to follow The Frugal Matriarch on Facebook HERE

Don't Throw Away Those Crumbs! Use Them for Dinner Instead!

We all have those little bits of chips, and crumbs that is left at the bottom of bags, and boxes that we usually throw away without thinking twice about it. What if I told you that you could those crumbs in everyday recipes?

Instead of tossing the crumbs out I put them into sandwich bags that I store inside a freezer bag inside of the freezer. Sometimes, I will write with Sharpie the date, and/or contents.

The crumbs can be from chips, crackers, or even broken up taco shells. Sometimes, it's not even just crumbs that I save. If I have some crackers, or chips going stale I might go ahead, and add them to the freezer bag, too. That way I am not tossing them out, and wasting food.

So what can you do with these crumbs?

No Bake Chocolate Chip Cheesecake

I usually make this for holidays, or special occasions. It is so easy, and quick to make, yet absolutely delicious.

What you'll need:
* 8 oz. block cream cheese (softened)
* graham cracker/oreo pie crust
* whipped topping
* 1 box instant chocolate pudding
* 1 can sweetened condensed milk
* chocolate chips (about 1/2 cup worth)

Directions:

Mix together cream cheese, condensed milk, pudding mix, and a few spoonfuls of whipped topping. Keep mixing, and adding whipped topping until the filling looks to be about the right texture. It will take at least 2/3 cup. When the filling is mixed thoroughly, and is completely smooth spoon into crust. Sprinkle chocolate chips on top, and chill. That's it!

* Note: I always soften my cream cheese by putting an unopened package into a glass of warm water for a couple minutes.
 

Homemade Popcorn

My kids really love popcorn, but I don't love all the stuff that's in microwave popcorn! My solution was to come up with a simple, quick, tasty way to make popcorn from scratch. After I figured out the details I will never pay those high prices for processed microwave popcorn again! It  took a lot of tweaking, and trying all sorts of methods I found on the internet to get it right.

This is what I came up with.

First you have to have a glass type of bowl. Mine in Corell, but you can use Pyrex, too. Plastic will melt, even hard plastics! Once you have a big microwave popcorn safe bowl ready pour in your popcorn kernels. For my bowl about 1/4 of a cup does nicely. Pour some olive oil over the kernels. I use almost enough to cover them, but you can use more or less depending on your taste. Then I liberally salt the kernels.

It should look like this.

Then I get out a plate to cover it with. It's best to leave a tiny bit of space for the steam to escape, but it's not a must.

Then cook it until there are a few seconds between pops. In my microwave it takes about 4 minutes. Leave it in the microwave for a minute or so to be sure it's done. It will be VERY hot when you get it out. Be very careful of the steam when you take the plate off.

Season as you wish. My kids like to sprinkle butter flavor that you can find sold by the popcorn at the store. Sometimes I like to make honey, and nut snack mixes with it. It's such a healthy low cost snack.

Crock Pot Fajitas

This recipe is so easy that I can leave instructions for my kids to put it on if I'm not at home to get it going. It's really, really good, too!

All you need is some chicken, green peppers, onion, and whatever seasoning you'd like to use. I find the packaged seasoning to be too expensive. I prefer to either make my own with some cumin, chili powder, and garlic salt. I found some Mrs. Dash Fiesta Lime on sale for $1.30, and it is really good, as well as lasts a long time.

Different crock pots cook at different speeds. I find mine to be pretty quick, so you may need to adjust the times to suit your crock pot.

First put your chicken in the crock pot. You can use chicken breast, or skinless, boneless chicken thighs.
Then sprinkle your seasoning over the chicken liberally.  Pour 1/4 of a cup of water over chicken, and set to cook on low for about 5 hours. In my crock pot I can go to 6 hours, but after that it gets pretty overdone.

After about 4 hours put in onion, and green pepper. You don't want the vegetables to be in there for much more than an hour or they start to get all mushy.

After 5 hours take chicken out, and shred. It comes out so tender that this is really easy to do. Put back in the crock pot, and mix with the seasoned sauce. Serve on warmed tortillas.