A Couple Of Casseroles For A Bachelor

It’s that time of year when Bev, Pat and various friends of theirs head to the time-share condo for two weeks on Marco Island, FL while the three dogs and I hold down the fort at home.  During these times, I’m faced with the situation of cooking for a single and one of my strategies is to make casseroles – fortunately I like reheated leftovers and don’t mind eating the same things several times in a row such as this piece of breakfast casserole.

The girls left on Saturday so Sunday I made up and baked both a breakfast and a supper casserole beginning with the EasyChicken Enchilada Casserole from Tricia at her Saving Room For Dessert blog.  I changed it up a little so I could make it in my larger 12”x12” casserole dish so check her blog for the original recipe and some awesome pics.

Easy Chicken Enchiladas (casserole) – Adapted from Saving Room For Dessert

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil

10 oz pkg frozen spinach (more than called for)

3 tablespoons water

3 cups diced cooked chicken – I used rotisserie chicken

1½ teaspoon ground cumin

3/8 teaspoon salt

¾ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

1 (16-ounce) jar red enchilada sauce

1/4 cup sour cream

2 chipotles in adobo sauce, minced (more or less to taste)

10 corn tortillas, cut in half

1½ cup onion, diced

2 -3 cups shredded Mexican blend cheese

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. Add the olive oil to a large oven-proof skillet over medium-high heat. Once shimmering, add the spinach and 2 tablespoons water. Cook stirring frequently until the spinach is wilted. 3. Add the chicken, cumin, salt and pepper. Stir gently until combined and heated through. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl. Set aside.

4. In a medium bowl whisk together the enchilada sauce, sour cream and the minced chipotle peppers. Spoon enough sauce in the dish to lightly cover the bottom. Layer tortillas over the sauce, overlapping the edges to cover the bottom of the dish.

5. Top the tortillas with half the chicken and spinach mixture. Sprinkle with 1/3 of the onions and 1/3 of the cheese.

6. Spoon half the remaining sauce over the casserole, then repeat with more halved tortillas, the remaining chicken mixture, half the remaining onion and half the remaining cheese.

7. Top with a final layer of tortillas, all the remaining sauce, then the onions and cheese.

8. Bake the casserole about 30 minutes covered then uncovered for 10 more minutes. 

9.Sprinkle with desired toppings before serving.

I thought it was very good and I like having a recipe for both this red sauce version and the green sauce one I made for Thanksgiving.

For the breakfast casserole, I found one from Steph on her Plain Chicken blog that contains hash browns, sausage, and eggs - what could be much better.  Since I made it per the recipe (except using mild sausage) I won’t repeat it here so you can check Steph’s blog for some good pics and the recipe for Sausage and Cream Cheese Hash BrownBreakfast Casserole.  I did bake it for 30 minutes before adding the cheese and baking 10 more minutes.

This casserole was also very good and as expected from the assembly, when finished it was pretty much a layer of potatoes, then a layer of sausage and finally a layer of eggs.  While I don’t know that it will change the flavor, I believe the next time I will mix everything together before adding it to the casserole dish just to see how it works that way.

These two dishes should get me through my first week then I’ll see what I come up with next, but I’m sure some fish will be involved.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

12/8/18 Event Date