Best Ever Classic Tater Tot Casserole

Since it is almost October and fall is very much upon us, that means it is food coma - comfort food time. And in my humble opinion (which holds the most weight around here) nothing says comfort food like a really creamy cheesy casserole. 

I couldn't believe I have never in the history of my family actually made Tater Tot casserole For my family. How could I be denying them like this?! Do you think my older kids will grow up to be normal without having this in their young lives. (Probably not, but that can't all be blamed on the lack of meaty-cheesy-totty goodness)

Ingredients

1 lb ground beef, salt and pepper to taste

½ medium onion, chopped

1 tb Worcestershire sauce

½ cup sour cream

1 can condensed cream of chicken soup

32 oz or 4 cups of frozen tater tots

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (both mild and sharp work well)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees

Cook the beef in a non-stick skillet with about a tablespoon of olive oil. Add salt and pepper to your liking.

Chop ½ of the medium onion and add to the beef when the beef is about 80% cooked

While the beef and onion are cooking, mix the Worcestershire sauce, sour cream, and soup in a medium-sized bowl

When the beef and onion are cooked, add them to the sauce mixture in the bowl and mix well

Place the sauce, meat, and onion mixture in a glass baking dish. 

Top the mixture with frozen tater tots and bake for 30-40 minutes.

When the tater tots are crisp, add the cheese to the top and return to the oven until the cheese is melted (about 5-7 minutes).

Serve and, if you desire, add your favorite spicy topping and devour!

 

Kids' State Dinner

I love cooking with my kids and getting my kids excited about cooking. One of the biggest factors to help contribute to getting your family to eat healthier is to get them involved in making their own choices. Kids (and adults too) make better choices when they are eating, when they understand WHY it is important to make good choices.

Educating and Empowering people with food and in the kitchen is a huge part of Food $ense and the programs like them that are run by Snap-Ed.  One of the events / programs that I have started looking forward to every year is the Kids' State Dinner.  It is another one of the awesome things funded by Let's Move!

The Kids' State Dinner happened this summer, but it is an on-going program that inspires kids to get in the kitchen, create some recipes and get them submitted to be in the Kids' State Dinner Cookbook and to then be prepared and served at the awards ceremony.

This is the third year that this has happened and each year the recipes just get more fun and more creative. You can access all three years of the cookbook from Here.

2014 Healthy Lunchtime Challenge Cookbook

2013 Healthy Lunchtime Challenge Cookbook

2012 Healthy Lunchtime Challenge Cookbook

Spanish Macaroni - Create a Skillet

Sometimes in spite of our best planning and most earnest efforts dinner goes awry. Soccer practice runs long and you don't get home in time to get the meat out to defrost. Sometimes you end up missing ingredients even though you could have sworn they were in your pantry. Who knows all the reasons it can happen, the fact of the matter is that even if you everything you can to avoid it, sometimes you are faced with dinner time and not a lot of options. 

This is a dangerous time for all of us. We can easily fall prey to fast food or what we used to think of as "the easy way out". But nowadays we have kitchen confidence! We are masters of our own dinners and we are in control! I have realized that I can have dinner out of the pantry and onto the table in the time that it would take me to get into town, go through the drive-thru and get back home. 

This is a classic Food $ense recipe. It is available on the Create a Skillet handout. 

Spanish Macaroni

• ½ cup onion, chopped

• ½ green pepper, chopped

• 1 ½ cups water

• 1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce

• 1 (15 oz.) can tomatoes

• 2 (15 oz.) cans pinto or kidney beans, drained and rinsed

• 2 teaspoons chili powder

• 1 teaspoon cumin

• 1 ½ cups macaroni (uncooked)

In large skillet, sauté onion in 1 tablespoon water on medium 

heat until translucent. Add green pepper and cook another 

2 minutes. Add remaining ingredients, except macaroni, and 

cook until vegetables are tender. Stir macaroni into mixture 

and reduce heat to low. Cover and cook until macaroni is 

tender, 10-15 minutes, adding additional water as needed. 

Yield: 4 servings

This is a super quick recipe because you don't have to pre-cook the pasta, it cooks right in the dish. It also contains beans as the protein so it is a Great vegetarian option (and this also helps with the short cooking time - since their is no extra step to cook the meat). 

We topped ours with cheese and sour cream, because that is just how we roll at our house. (Plus it was a little bit spicy for some of the younger ones).  Enjoy!! 

Mexican Corn Salad - Elote

Corn has quickly become our most favorite vegetable around here. It is probably the novelty of being able to eat it off the cob since that never happens in the winter, fall or spring time. It is a pure summer luxury. 

I even still have helpers that don't run from the kitchen when I ask for help husking the corn! 

But after we had it the other day, I was left with a few ears of corn that didn't get eaten. I was pretty excited about this, because I have been wanting to try a twist on Mexican Street Corn.  I have heard lots of talk about how delicious and special it is. With the tang of the cheese, and the zip of them lime mixed with the spice of the jalapeno and chili powder. 

This had all the makings of a recipe that I needed to be making asap. Plus, I'll be honest with you, as much as I love the taste of fresh corn, I have been getting pretty darned tired of flossing it out of my teeth!

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter

3 cups corn (about 4 ears), cut from the cob

1/2 jalapeno, seeded and finely diced

3 tablespoons mayonnaise

1 glove garlic, grated

2 green onions, sliced

1 handful cilantro, chopped

1 lime, juice

2 tablespoons cotija (or feta), crumbled

chili powder to taste

Directions

Melt the butter in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat.

Add the corn, toss and let it sit cooking until charred, mix it up and let it char again, about 6-10 minutes.

Add the jalapeno, saute for a minute and remove from heat.

Mix everything and serve warm or at room temperature.

Option: Adding one diced avocado is so amazing!

Layered Greek Dip

This is going to be my new go-to party dish! I made it go with the pitas and because I had some Greek Kalamata olives lingering on the fridge door that were begging to be used. Plus, a few fresh cucumbers and a couple of lingering tomatoes that were just screaming for me to eat them up. 

Layered Greek Dip
Serves 16
Prep time: 20 minutes
Chill time: 2 hours

Ingredients
• 8 ounce package reduced-fat cream cheese, softened
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
• 1 (10 ounce) container hummus (I used Sabra)
• 1/2 a medium cucumber (about 1 cup), diced small
• 2 Roma tomatoes, diced small
• 1 (2 ounce) can sliced black olives ( I used Green and Kalamata because I had jars of them in the fridge - if you have access to them - Use Them!)
• 1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 1 scallion stalk, chopped
• Pita chips (We used fresh Pita bread and when we ran out of that, we used plain tortilla chips.)

Directions
In medium bowl with an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese, garlic, lemon juice, and Italian seasoning until thoroughly combined and smooth.

Spread cream cheese mixture into a deep 9-inch pie plate (or shallow serving dish.) Evenly spread hummus on cream cheese layer. Top with cucumber, tomato, olives, feta cheese, and green onions. Cover and refrigerate for 2 to 24 hours. Serve with pita chips.

This takes quite a new twist on the old 7 Layer Dip stand by and it is incredible. Your family (and guests if they are lucky) will go bonkers over it.  You'll be asked to make it and bring to parties - who know! It may even get named after you. 

Homemade Pita Bread

This recipe is a life changer! Prepare to be Wow-ed and Amazed by your own baking and creating skills.  Homemade pita will change your life and have your family thinking that you are magical in the kitchen. 

Traditional Greek Pita Bread.

Prep Time: 25 Minutes

Cook Time: 2 Minutes

Total Time: 1 Hour, 30 Minutes

Makes: 8 Pita Rounds

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup hot water, but not boiling

2 teaspoons active dry or instant yeast

2 1/2 - 3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon olive oil

INSTRUCTIONS:

Mix the water and yeast together in the bowl of a stand mixer (a large bowl will also work if you do not have a mixer), and let sit for about five minutes until the yeast is dissolved. 

Add 2 1/2 cups of the flour (saving the last half cup for kneading), salt, and olive oil. If using a stand mixer attach the dough and need the dough on medium speed for 8 minutes, adding more flour until you have a smooth dough. If using your hands sprinkle a little of the extra flour onto your clean work surface and turn out the dough. Knead the dough for about 5-7 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic. Add more flour as needed to keep the dough from sticking to your hands or the work surface, but try to be sparing. It's better to use too little flour than too much. If you get tired, stop and let the dough rest for a few minutes before finishing kneading.

Clean the bowl you used to mix the dough and run it with a little olive oil. Set the dough in the bowl and turn it until it's coated with oil. Cover with a clean dishcloth or plastic wrap and let the dough rise until it's doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

At this point, you can refrigerate the pita dough until it is needed. You can also bake one or two pitas at a time, saving the rest of the dough in the fridge. The dough will keep refrigerated for about a week.
Gently deflate the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured work surface. Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces and gently flatten each piece into a thick disk. Using a floured rolling pin, roll one of the pieces into a circle 8-9 inches wide and about a quarter inch thick. Lift and turn the dough frequently as you roll to make sure the dough isn't sticking to your counter. Sprinkle with a little extra flour if it starting to stick. If the dough starts to spring back, set it aside to rest for a few minutes, then continue rolling. Repeat with the other pieces of dough. (Once you get the hang of it you can be cooking one pita while rolling the next one out.)

Warm a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat (you want a hot pan). Drizzle a little oil in the pan and wipe off the excess.Lay a rolled-out pita on the skillet and bake for 30 seconds, until you see bubbles starting to form. Flip and cook for 1-2 minutes on the other side, until large toasted spots appear on the underside. Flip again and cook another 1-2 minutes to toast the other side. The pita should start to puff up during this time; if it doesn't or if only small pockets form, try pressing the surface of the pita gently with a clean towel. Keep cooked pitas covered with a clean dishtowel while cooking any remaining pitas.
These are best eaten fresh, but will keep in a ziplock bag for a few days or in the freezer.

You won't have to worry about saving them and keeping them fresh though, They will get gobbled up as fast you can get them off the grill. 

I know they might seem a little bit intimidating to be making, but they are so incredibly easy and the flavor of them is incredible.  I didn't double the recipe because it was a "test" recipe and I wasn't sure how well it was going to turn out (and whether it was going to be worth the work) But there were several people at my house that were wandering around the kitchen wondering if there were going to be more pitas coming their way. 

Picky Teen Eaters - The Chopped Champion

Are you aware of the popular competition cooking show where chef'-contestants are given a basket of mystery ingredients and then asked to make an amazing "creative" edible dish that is then judged and critiqued and then after a small session where the chefs are given their reviews one of them is sent packing and the next round starts. 

Does this sound like dinner every night at your house?  A pantry of mystery ingredients, strange foods from the back of your fridge and forgotten purchases at the grocery store and a panel of hungry "judges" ready to find fault with the plate put before them. "Is this what you call presentation?!!" 

I feed quite a variety of judges / diners everyday. I am lucky enough to have a child or two that appreciate everything. (or at least are willing to TRY everything). I have a toddler that is wary of new foods and I have a kindergartner that bases what he likes wholly on what his siblings think of the dinner offerings. (Which is why no one is allowed to say anything is "disgusting" no matter how much they personally don't like it). But the pickiest of all my children is my oldest. Feeding a picky teenager is going to seriously be the Death of Me!.

 Not only does he eat just a few things, but at time, I feel he prides himself on being such a picky eater. I have my fair share of teenage boys who are willing to eat anything and everything, but having a teenage picky eater can be a challenge all its own and there doesn't seem to be a lot of helpful ideas to overcome it like there are with toddlers and preschoolers.  

The very first thing you want to be aware of is that a lot of eating disorders can begin in the pre-teen and teenage years. Take a step back from the situation and look at what you are dealing with: is this basic fussy eating or something larger and perhaps more serious.  If your teenager suddenly loses a large amount of weight or criticizes her weight and appearance, she might have an eating disorder. Other symptoms of eating disorders include major changes in her eating and exercising habits and physical complaints, such as a headache or stomach ache, that can't be explained by other ailments. If your teen develops an eating disorder, make an appointment with her doctor to develop appropriate treatment options so her long-term health doesn't suffer.

If you feel like you are dealing with regular run-of-the-mill (but still very frustrating) picky eating, sit down and have a heart to heart talk with your child. You don't have to raise the white flag and give up, but open the conversation and really express how you feel. Explain why you feel like eating a balanced diet is so important (especially for growing bodies) Don't just surrender your position and allow your child to pursue an unhealthy diet. That won't do anyone any favors. At the same time, you cannot afford to make this discussion into a power struggle. Its possible to outlast an upset child, but a teen has a will and the energy to match your own. Furthermore, they are just discovering their independence. If you appear to be trying to stifle it, you'll lose.

Instead, you are going to have to meet your child half way and treat him or her like the rational adult that they are becoming. Begin by allowing your child to speak about the food issues. Really listen to what he or she is saying so that you can get down to the underlying issues that have caused this struggle.

Make sure that you insist on certain concessions even as you are preparing to negotiate. You are the parent and your concern for your child's health should trump frivolous grievances. Suggest that you will not force your child to eat food they find distasteful if they will commit to a balanced and nutritional diet made up of their favored foods. Also ask that the child continue to try new foods, suggest that they take at least one bite of everything served before they reject it.

These types of options allow you to serve both masters by addressing your teen's right to choose their food and still insisting on privileging their health. If your child is truly set against eating a balanced diet, consider suspending the conversation to take them to a doctor or nutritionist for help. If the two of you cannot communicate effectively about the issue, then consider asking a counselor for help navigating it. Do not engage in power games or attempt to lie about food to your teen as that will only erode the trust that you have worked to establish.

Classic Chicken and Rice Casserole

The thing about classic comfort foods is they became that way for a very good reason.  They are the little black dress of the culinary world - except made of sweat pants material. They are fabulous and perfect, everyone looks good in them and they are Sooooo Comfortable! This is actually turning into a terrible analogy that isn't working well at all, Thank Goodness this classic Chicken Casserole from the Food $ense Creates series is delicious enough to make up for all my terrible chatter. 

Potluck Chicken Casserole

• ½ cup chopped fresh mushrooms

• 3 tablespoons finely chopped onion

• 2 garlic cloves, minced

• 1 tablespoon canola oil

• 3 tablespoons flour

• 1¼ cups milk

• 4 cups cooked and cubed chicken ( I used some leftover chicken and a can of cooked chicken)

• 3 cups cooked rice

• 1 cup chopped celery

• 1 cup frozen peas, thawed ( I used a bag of mixed veggies instead of the celery and peas - mostly because I didn't have any celery or just plain frozen peas)

• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

• ½ teaspoon salt

• ½ teaspoon pepper

• ¾ cup crushed corn flakes or breadcrumbs

Sauté mushrooms, onion, and garlic in canola oil until tender. Stir in flour, then gradually add milk and bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 2 minutes or until mixture is thickened and bubbling. 

Remove from heat and add chicken, rice, celery, peas, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. 

Mix well and spoon into 9x13 baking dish.

 Sprinkle corn flakes or breadcrumbs over casserole. Bake uncovered at 350º F for 30 minutes or until bubbly.

Yield: 8-10 servings

Prepare to be amazed at the praise lavished on you from your family and friends. This one is a winner folks! 

Fresh Salsa is Heaven

I don't think my love of homemade salsa is a secret. I love to make it in the blender with canned tomatoes and chilies. I think it tastes absolutely so delicious and I like being able to make it as spicy or mild or garlicky (or cilantro-y) as I like. 

But there are few things I look forward to in the summer as much as I look forward to fresh garden tomatoes.  I would venture to say Nothing, NOTHING inspires home gardeners more than the quest to grow amazing tomatoes. I consider myself a super cheer-leader for this quest and very qualified taste-tester of all garden grown tomatoes.  Here is a little bit of free life advice - make friends with people who garden - they always grow more than they can eat! 

My dad has a gardening friend that like to share with him and gave him a bag of the biggest, juiciest, most ripe tomatoes I have seen all year. They were practically splitting with ripeness and  flavor. My parents had a busy week planned and so I got the tomatoes passed on to me. Am I the luckiest girl on the planet, or what?!  (It really helps to put the word out on the street that your door is open to all food offerings). 

So here at our house, we set out for a late night salsa making expedition.  Making fresh salsa at home, really just involves a lot of chopping. I suggest putting on some music, and getting a helper or two and just making a night of it. If this is your first time, all you need to remember is that good ingredients make for Great dishes. Food $ense has some amazing information available on helping to pick out the freshest and best tasting ingredients. 

Here is the information on Cilantro. And included with it is the blueprint that I use for all my fresh salsa. 

Here is the one for Jalapenos.  (remember to cut them wearing your gloves or wash your hands super super good after cutting them.!)

And two more: One for Limes and one for Tomatoes. 

So now, get out there! Get your chopping buddy and Get some fresh ingredients and get making and eating that fresh salsa.  Do you need some fresh ideas on what to eat it on - 

1. Hummus
2. Pizza (as a topping or condiment)
3. Fish 
4. Lettuce leaves (like a boat, or on a salad)
5. Eggs 
6. Meatloaf (in it or on it)
7. Potatoes: baked, mashed, roasted, hash 
8. Hot dogs 
9. Steak 
10. Noodles (cold or hot: angel hair, ramen) 
11. Soup (chicken, tortilla, corn chowder)
12. Cream Cheese (heated and mixed in) 
13. Grains (rice, farro, quinoa) 
14. Pancakes (instead of syrup or mixed in the batter)
15. Corn bread (just mix it in the batter)