Chicken Tamale Casserole

This delicious recipe is now a family favorite at our house! If you like Mexican food, you'll like this. Just enough spice and flavor. We served it with rice and salad. Everyone at my house ate it and loved it! The story along with the recipe said that it's creator was looking for an easier way to make tamales. I think he / she did this very well. This isn't the prettiest photo ever placed for a dish, but I think you get the idea. It truly is a casserole, it cuts nicely into squares and I think it would be perfect for a pot luck too. I ground my own cumin and red pepper in my mortar and pestel, but you can purchase these already ground.

ENJOY!

Chicken Tamale Casserole Serves 8 (dinner sized portions)

1 c. (4 oz.) shredded 4-cheese Mexican blend cheese

1/3 c. milk

1 egg, beaten

1 t. ground cumin

1/8 t/ ground red pepper

1 (14 3/4 oz.) can cream style corn

1 (8.5 oz.) box corn muffin mix

1 (4 oz.) can chopped green chilies, drained

1 (10 oz.) can red enchilada sauce

2 c. shredded cooked chicken

1/2 c. sour cream (optional, but almost necessary)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Combine 1/4 c. cheese with milk, egg, cumin, red pepper, corn, muffin mix and green chilies in a large bowl; stir just until moist. Pour mixture into a 9 x 13" baking dish that has been prepared with non-stick cooking spray.

3. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes or until set. Remove casserole from oven; pierce entire surface of the casserole with a fork; pour enchilada sauce over entire top. Sprinkle shredded chicken all over top of casserole; top with remaining cheese. Place back into oven for 15 minutes or until cheese melts.

4. Remove from oven; let stand for 5 minutes before serving. Cut and place 1 dallop of sour cream on each serving.

Rowley Family Chicken Pot

Sorry that my posts have been few and far between. This happens every year with a new start for school but I also added in a new position within our soccer organization and the bakery is going full speed ahead. I will be posting only 3 recipes a week, but the good part is, they will all have photos. I like color photos that show what a dish is going to look like.

This is more of a creation recipe for my family. I took all the things I love about my grandma's chicken dish and added a few new elements and it came out very tasty! The little drop noodles (or dumplings if you prefer to call them that) are so easy to make and they don't care if you make them a little bit smaller or larger. ENJOY!

Rowley Family Chicken Pot Serves 8

Chicken Pot:

1 whole pick of the chick (whole chicken, cut up)

3 c. water

2 chicken bouillon cubes

2 cans cream of chicken soup

1 can stewed tomatoes (if you love tomatoes, use a large can, if not, use a smaller one)

2 cans (from cream of chicken soup) of milk

2 cans (from cream of chicken soup) of water

2 t. garlic powder

2 t. onion powder

2 t. dried basil

2 t. dried tarragon

1 t. parsley

1 t. salt

1 t. pepper

1 recipe drop noodles

Drop Noodles:

3/4 c. sour cream

3 whole eggs

2 c. flour

salt

1. Place chicken, 3 c. water and chicken bouillon cubes into Dutch oven or roasting pan. Cook chicken for 45 minutes - 1 hour at 350 degrees. Be sure chicken is cooked through. Remove all bones from chicken. Cut chicken meat into larger chunks or shred if you prefer. Set aside.

2. Strain chicken broth into a saucepan, heat to boiling. While broth is heating, mix sour cream and eggs. Add 1 c. of flour, stir. Add second cup of flour along with about 1/2 t. salt. With the side of a spoon, create little moons, drop dough into boiling liquid. They will float when they are done. These drop noodles should be on the small side, but not tiny. You can make them larger if you like, but they will take longer to cook. Place cooked noodles into a bowl. Set aside.

3. Into your Dutch oven (do not worry about cleaning after the chicken has cooked in it, unless you want to). Place all the other ingredients for the chicken pot. Add chicken and begin to heat on medium low. Once everything is mixed together and smooth looking, add your drop noodles. If this is too thick of a dish for you, add more milk or water (milk makes it creamier, water makes it more soup like).

4. Serve either on dishes (if you make it more creamy) or in bowls (if more soup like). We serve with a warm bread and salad. You can change this dish to suit your taste also. Add paprika, more salt, less salt ... however your family prefers.

Ice Cream Cake

My son just turned 16! I love that my kids give me their "birthday meal" list. My son always puts dessert first! This year it was an ice cream cake. We have had some from ice cream stores and from the supermarket ice cream case. NOTHING compares to how delicious this one is. This isn't even a recipe, it's more a "how to do it" blog post. Nick chose Red Velvet Cake (I prefer to use Duncan Hines cake mixes when I use a cake mix), chocolate ice cream and we buy our Bettercreme at Gordon Food Services (I think you can find this at Sam's Club or Costco also).

You can change to flavor to suit your tastes and at the bottom of the post, you will see some great flavor combinations that will help your cake creative juices flowing. ENJOY!

Ice Cream Cake Serves 8 - 10

(2) 8" round cakes

(1) 1/2 gallon of your favorite ice cream

(1) liquid container of Rich Foods "Bettercreme"

1. Bake your 8" round cakes. Cool cakes on cooling racks. After cakes have cooled, level them off and place into the freezer for about 1/2 an hour.

2. While cakes are cooling, place ice cream onto a dish on your counter. If it's hot in your kitchen, it won't take that long for the ice cream to soften. You don't want it runny, just softened.

3. Once your ice cream is softened. Place a piece of plastic wrap inside one of your 8" baking pans. Be sure there is enough plastic wrap to cover over the ice cream. Place softened ice cream into the baking pan; cover and freeze for an hour or more.

4. Remove ice cream pan from the freezer, allow to sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes. Place (1) cake round onto a platter (or cake board). Remove ice cream from cake pan and place onto cake round; be sure you have the cut side up on the cake. Place the second cake round onto the ice cream; cut side down onto the ice cream. Put ice cream cake back into freezer for another hour, or so.

5. Whip 1/2 the container of Bettercreme (if you are using the quart container), according to the directions. Remove cake from the freezer. Begin icing cake by "filling in", using the whipped topping like spackle, fill in any gaps. Freeze again for 10 minutes. Place cake back onto your counter and beginning with the top of the cake, frost entire cake.

6. Decorate the cake as you like. Bettercreme is fine for light coloring and you can easily pipe with it.

7. Place back into freezer until about 10 minutes before you plan on serving it.

** Tips:

You can add ice cream topping flavors to the Bettercreme and create a flavored frosting

some good cake combinations:

white cake / butter pecan ice cream (add a layer of caramel ice cream topping - freeze between cake / caramel layers)

chocolate cake / chocolate ice cream (add a layer of dark chocolate fudge topping - add some fudge topping to the whipped cream for chocolate bettercreme)

strawberry cake / vanilla ice cream (add a layer of strawberry jam)

Coconut Cake / Lemon sherbet or rainbow sherbet (add coconut sweetened / shredded to the top)

**** Let me know if you make any of these, I would love to post photos of your creations ***