Casserole Call

I am in major need of help. I need something like casseroles that I can put together in the morning / early afternoon (when I still have something that resembles energy) and then just throw in the oven at dinner time. I am majorly struggling with dinner lately. First I am drawing total blanks on what to even have for dinner and then I am too tired/uncomfortable to want to prepare or cook at dinner time. So if you have any make ahead recipes or great casseroles please share them.

White Girl's Enchilada Casserole

I am posting this as my contribution for a casserole call. I love this casserole, but it is another one of those that is not set recipe so I will again just put how I do it. My mom use to throw this together. I tweaked it a bit and added my own snazzy name.

White Girl's Enchilada Casserole

chicken breasts - boil and shred (use enough for your family, I usually use 2-4 breasts depending on their size)
1 c. sour cream
1 can cream of chicken soup
1-2 cans diced green chiles
shredded cheese - a few handfuls or maybe like 1-2 cups (I love cheddar for this but you can use Mexican blend too)

I usually just mix all of the above ingredients in a bowl and use as the filling. You can also mix all ingredients minus the cheese and then use the cheese as its own layer.

Flour Tortillas

Place one flour tortilla on the bottom of casserole dish (i usually use a 8x8 dish). Spread filling on top and then layer with another tortilla (or put cheese on top of filling and then add tortilla). Repeat and top with tortilla and bake in 350* oven for about 25 minutes or until hot and bubbly

Variation:
You can also use an enchilada sauce and spread over filling or mix with filling. We use to do this, but now I just mash up the diced green chiles a bit and it makes for a nicer texture. But it is still yummy with the sauce.

Mongolian Beef

This is a copy-cat recipe I found for P.F. Chang's Mongolian Beef. Although we didn't think it tasted exactly like P.F. Chang's, it was just as good. And this recipe is for 2 servings, but it makes a lot of sauce so if you wanted to make it for 4 servings I think if you could just add more meat and green onions. Also this recipe said to leave the excess sauce in the pan, but we didn't, we ate it all. YUM!!!

MONGOLIAN BEEF

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger, minced
• 1 tablespoon garlic, chopped
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup water
• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
• vegetable oil, for frying (about 1 cup) ( I actually only used a few Table spoons of oil and eliminated a step by not having to dump out the excess oil later.)
• 1 lb flank steak
• 1/4 cup corn starch
• 2 large green onions

Directions

· Make the sauce by heating 2 tsp of vegetable oil in a medium saucepan over med/low heat.

· Don't get the oil too hot.

· Add ginger and garlic to the pan and quickly add the soy sauce and water before the garlic scorches.

· Dissolve the brown sugar in the sauce, then raise the heat to about medium and boil the sauce for 2-3 minutes or until the sauce thickens.

· Remove it from the heat.

· Slice the flank steak against the grain into 1/4" thick bite-size slices.

· Tilt the blade of your knife at about a forty five degree angle to the top of the steak so that you get wider cuts.

· Dip the steak pieces into the cornstarch to apply a very thin dusting to both sides of each piece of beef.

Let the beef sit for about 10 minutes so that the cornstarch sticks.

· As the beef sits, heat up one cup of oil in a wok (you may also use a skillet for this step as long as the beef will be mostly covered with oil). (like I said I only used a few Tablespoons of oil, so the beef wasn't covered.)

· Heat the oil over medium heat until it's nice and hot, but not smoking.

· Add the beef to the oil and sauté for just two minutes, or until the beef just begins to darken on the edges.

· You don't need a thorough cooking here since the beef is going to go back on the heat later.

· Stir the meat around a little so that it cooks evenly.

· After a couple minutes, use a large slotted spoon to take the meat out and onto paper towels, then pour the oil out of the wok or skillet. (If you only use a few Tablespoons of oil you eliminated this step.) :)

· Put the pan back over the heat, dump the meat back into it and simmer for one minute.

· Add the sauce, cook for one minute while stirring, then add all the green onions.

· Cook for one more minute, then remove the beef and onions with tongs or a slotted spoon to a serving plate.

. Leave excess sauce behind in the pan.

. Serve with Rice

Zucchini Stir-fry

I thought we would get in the Olympic spirit and make a Chinese meal. And this is the vegetable dish I made with the Mongolian Beef (not authentic Mongolian food), that I will post too. We really like the whole meal. And even Heidi liked the Zucchini, who hates to eat anything green. Enjoy!!!
Zucchini Stir-fry

• 2 large zucchini
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon minced ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar, or to taste
• 1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine or dry sherry*
  

Preparation:

1. Cut the ends off the zucchini, and cut diagonally into slices about 1/4-inch thick.
2. Pre-heat a wok or skillet over medium-high heat until it is nearly smoking. Add the oil, swirling it around the pan.
3. When the oil is hot, add the ginger and stir-fry until it is aromatic. Add the zucchini. Sprinkle the salt and sugar over. Stir-fry for a minute, then stir in the rice wine or dry sherry.
4. Stir-fry the zucchini until it turns dark green and is tender-crisp (about 3 minutes total). Serve hot.

* You can use apple or white grape juice in place of the Chinese rice wine or Dry sherry, I actually used some crangrape juice I had in the fridge, and it tasted good.