Mexican Filling

Awhile back I found a recipe for an enchilada casserole – you know the kind; layers of filling, layers of corn tortillas.  The only thing is, I really dislike corn tortillas. I dunno, it’s something to do with their texture that gives me the heebie jeebies.

But, I wanted to eat the filling… oh it sounded delightful, decadent, delicious…

So I made it, the filling only, and made tacos instead.  They were a hit!  This recipe is a perfect blend of flavors that can lend itself to tacos, burritos, enchiladas, taco salads – the possibilities are nearly endless!
The moral of the story: Don’t ever be afraid to take recipes apart and make them your own – you may find a real gem!

Mexican Filling

• ½ pound lean ground beef or turkey
• about ¾ c. chopped onion
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp. chili powder
• ½ tsp. ground cumin
• 1 (15 oz) can of pinto beans, drained, rinsed
• 1 (4 oz) can diced green chili peppers
• ½ c. water
• 2 Tbs fresh chopped cilantro, if desired

Sauté beef, onion, and garlic until meat is browned, drain.  Add all other ingredients to fry pan and cook together until most of the water has evaporated.

Serve as tacos, burritos, enchiladas, taco salads, or however you wish.

Manhattan Meatballs

We first tried this no fry meatball recipe during our move to Texas because our pots were lost. It's a tangy BBQ recipe for beef, but turkey could be a fine substitute. This is the recipe that I first came across, but we prefer to make it with more sauce.

*No Fry* Manhattan Meatballs

• 1 lb ground beef or turkey (get the leanest meat possible since you don’t get to drain it)
• 1/2 c. onion, chopped
• 2 c. soft bread crumbs
• 2 eggs
• 2 Tbs fresh parsley (I substituted about 3/4 Tbs dried)
• 2 tsp salt
• 10 oz apricot preserves
• 1/2 c. BBQ sauce

In a large bowl combine beef, crumbs, onion, eggs, parsley, and salt. Form into balls and place on a greased baking sheet. Combine preserves and BBQ sauce in separate bowl. Brown the meatballs in the oven at 350 degrees (this doesn’t take too long, 5-10 minutes, just keep an eye on them). Place the browned meatballs in a casserole dish and cover with the sauce mix. Put back in the oven and cook for another 40 minutes or until cooked through. Serve meatballs with sauce over rice.

Stuffing Casserole

We had a box of stuffing.  Stuffing that didn’t get used at Thanksgiving and that I didn’t know what to do with now.


I’m not roasting another turkey just to make dollar stuffing, I thought.

But Hubby told me that men need stuffing sometimes and that he knew I’d come up with something.
I usually don’t even like stuffing, but I do like experimenting, so I took him up on the challenge.  I looked over all of the recipes on the box, threw together the parts from all of them that I liked, added what I had in my average pantry and ended up with, Stuffing Casserole:

Easy, tasty, flavorful.  Not a bad use of lost, abandoned, forgotten, stuffing mix.

Stuffing Casserole

• 4 Chicken Breasts, cut into bite size pieces or 1.25 pounds lean ground turkey
• 1 medium onion, sliced or chopped depending on your preferences
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• 1 can reduced fat cream of chicken or mushroom soup
• 1/2 c. skim milk
• 1 c. frozen peas and carrots
• 2 celery stalks sliced lengthwise then chopped medium-thin
• 1 package turkey stuffing (I used Stove Top)
• 1 2/3 c. hot water

Saute meat with onions until mostly cooked, then add celery slices for the last few minutes.  Mix stuffing with hot water and let stand, covered for about 5 minutes. Meanwhile drain excess moisture from the chicken and veggies, then mix them with remaining ingredients.  Prepare a 2 quart baking dish with a little cooking spray, put down a thin later of stuffing, top with chicken mixture, then top chicken with remaining stuffing.  Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.

Happy Cooking!