Dinner is Served: Quesadilla Casserole

Remember that awesome post that Blogger deleted back when it decided to crash a few months ago?? Guess what?!?! I found it. It just showed back up one day disguised as a draft. I decided since I didn't have nearly enough posts going on this week, to post it today. Hope y'all get to make this soon! :)

Original post date: May 17th, 2011 

I had quite a few ladies ask for the recipe for my Quesadilla Casserole. I cleverly omitted the fact that I didn't invent this. 

McCormick did...

But it's really good, so don't not try it just because I didn't come up with it. *ahem*. I got this for about $2 at Winn-Dixie. My Mama has been talking about how McCormick was coming out with these Recipe Inspirations for over a year now, but the Wal-mart in Springville doesn't have them. And Lord knows Mr. Burton isn't going to carry them. 

They're located on the spice aisle/baking aisle next to the other McCormick products. Our Winn-Dixie carries 6 different recipes. This is my favorite so far. (The Rosemary Chicken and Potatoes is really great too!) You can check out their other packets here.



Each packet comes with all of the pre-measured spices you'll need for each individual dish and a recipe card to add to your box. On the back of the package is a check-list of the other ingredients you'll need. If you don't plan on going and buying one of these, I'll go ahead and list the spices too. If any of you are like me, you don't use these spices everyday, so it's more beneficial to buy the spice packet. lol.

Ingredients

2 tsp. McCormick Chili Powder

1 tsp. McCormick Ground Cumin

1 tsp. McCormick Minced Garlic

1/2 tsp. McCormick Oregano Leaves

1/2 tsp. McCormick Crushed Red Pepper (optional)

1 lb. ground beef (you could use turkey too)

1/2 cup chopped onion

2 cans (8 oz. each) tomato sauce

1 can (15 oz.) black beans, drained and rinsed

1 can (8 3/4oz.) whole kernel corn, undrained**

1 can (4 1/2oz.) chopped green chiles, undrained

6 flour tortillas (8-inch)

2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions

1. Brown beef and onion in large skillet on medium-high heat;drain. Add tomato sauce, beans, corn and green chiles; mix well. Stir in all of the Spices except Red Pepper. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to low; simmer 5 minutes. Add Red Pepper to taste, if desired.

2. Spread 1/2 cup of the beef mixture on bottom of 12x9x2-inch baking dish sprayed with no-stick cooking spray. Top with 3 of the tortillas; overlapping as needed. Layer with 1/2 of the remaining beef mixture and 1/2 of the cheese. Repeat with remaining tortillas, beef mixture and cheese.

3. Bake in preheated 350°F oven 15 minutes or until heated through. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Seriously, let it stand 5 minutes. It thickens up then and it's easier to serve. Otherwise you'll have it dripping down the side of the stove. Or maybe that's just me. I am a klutz.



**Note: I couldn't find a can of corn this small, so I just used a regular-sized can. It works just as well. So don't waste a whole lot of time searching for a smaller can.

Banana Sour Cream Bread

This yummy Banana Bread is so easy to make and tastes de-lish!
But first, this {I typed this up as soon as I got home, so I wouldn't forget.}...
I just met the strangest man at Winn-Dixie. I was almost finished shopping for my banana bread recipe and was looking at the butter when I noticed an older man sitting on the display case in front of the cream cheese. I asked him if he was ok (I thought he might be feeling sick or something.) and he said he was fine. Here's our brief and awkward conversation:

Me: Do you need anything?

Old Man:  No, I'm fine. No, I'm not ok.  I do need something. I need a girlfriend.

Me: yeah?

Old Man: Yeah. I need a girlfriend or maybe just a friend. I need someone to talk to.

Me: (trying to laugh it off like he was joking.) I'm married, I don't think my Husband would like that very much.

Old Man: I don't mean you personally.

Me: (Ignoring old man now...jeez way to embarrass yourself Whitney...) *looking at butter*

Old Man: People don't understand that I need someone to talk to.

Me: *crickets* (Wow, this butter is so expensive... and that old man is seriously disturbing.) Wow, that's expensive. (yes, I actually talked out loud to myself. The old man was doing it too!)

After ignoring him for several minutes whilst perusing the butter selections, he huffed up and I heard him mumbling, "I guess I'll move, I can see they don't want me to sit down. I just need to sit down somewhere."

Or something like that. And he wandered off with his buggy.

I moved on to the section where he was sitting and overheard one employee talking to another about the Old Man. The male employee asked me if I was offended by the Old Man. I said I was creeped out, but not offended. The lady employee said he does this all the time. While she was helping me to find some crushed walnuts, she told me, "He's a Vet (as in veteran, not a veterinarian... It's ok. I thought the same thing.) and he's off and thinks the CIA is out to get him." (I was thinking, why does a vet think the CIA is out to get him...and then I thought about it for a minute and realized she meant he was a WAR VET. Doh!)

**********************************************

Anywho...found my walnuts, so let's make this Banana Sour Cream Bread! 

I bought a bunch of bananas about a week or so ago at the aforementioned Winn-Dixie and they were quickly going bad,

so I thought to myself..."I like bananas. I like bread. I like bananas in bread. I don't not like baking. I think I'll try to bake some banana bread!" So,  I google easy banana bread recipes and I find this little beauty. Hey, I can do that! So I did!

My cute apron from the thrift store, c. 1963.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 3/4 cup butter
• 3 cups white sugar
• 3 eggs
• 6 very ripe bananas, mashed
• 1 (16 ounce) container sour cream
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 teaspoons baking soda
• 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Perfect! They had NO bad spots at all, and they peeled so easily!

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300° F (150° C). Grease four 7x3 inch loaf pans. In a small bowl, stir together 1/4 cup white sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Dust pans lightly with cinnamon and sugar mixture.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter and 3 cups sugar. Mix in eggs, mashed bananas, sour cream, vanilla and cinnamon. Mix in salt, baking soda and flour. Stir in nuts. Divide into prepared pans. 
3. Bake for 1 hour, until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. {I had to modify this and add an extra 20 minutes at 325°F since they were still "jiggly" after the hour at 300°}

 You may or may not enjoy licking the bowl at this point. I did. If you're like my mother and insist that I'll be sorry later because I'll have salmonella poisoning from the raw eggs, don't lick the bowl. Just call me! I'll come lick it... I mean, do the responsible thing and just rinse and wash your bowl... *ahem*

While it's baking, for an hour (who knew perfection took that long...) you can wash all the dishes you went through. (Maybe this is just me? I used all of my measuring cups and spoons.) Or you can dance around the kitchen with your freshly groomed pup singing along to 90's hits such as, "Whoop There it Is", 98°, No Doubt and Boys II Men... Not saying I did this, 'cuz I didn't....I'm just saying YOU could... *ahem* 

After you let your bread cool, or not... Slice off a piece for yourself and a loved one. :) It goes great with a glass of cold milk! And my Hubby who said he does NOT like bananas just ate a slice and said, "It's good." I'll take that as a compliment! He really means, "Wow, honey! You're the best cook ever! I really do love banana bread! All thanks to you!". Well, something like that.

Random Tuesday Thoughts: I'm going to be an Aunt x4!!!

Random Tuesday Thoughts is usually brought to you by Keely at The Un Mom,

however, she is currently taking a hiatus from hosting. Still, I am keeping up with the 

randomness.

• That's right! You heard it first here. I'm going to be an Auntie x4! (times 4!) My sister, Amanda is pregnant with her third! I went with her to see the first sonogram. And I got to hear the heartbeat! It was awesome. It's a tiny little peanut. :P 
• You know you're an Auntie when you choose what to wear (accessories, how low-cut your blouse is, etc..) according to if you're going to be around your nieces and nephews. LOL. (I almost always wear a necklace and then take it off as soon as I get to my sister's. The Princess thinks necklaces are rattles. Today she pulled the bead off of my shoe.) 
•  I made dinner two nights last week! I'm really proud of myself. The first night was Asian.

 

It wasn't that great if you ask me...

• The next dinner was Mexican. I made a Quesadilla Casserole by McCormick. It was super-easy and turned out awesome! We still have some in the fridge though. Unfortunately for a family of two, the recipe packet serves 8. It's still good even microwaved!

•  J finally got paid and I put the check in the bank yesterday and then went shopping. (He said I could!) Then when we went to Wally World for a few things we needed around the house, our card wouldn't work. I had to call the bank, and apparently they don't even add your deposits until that night! (I put the check in the bank at 10:14am!) Stupid Wells-Fargo. We still got our stuff. 
• I got some paint to spiff up my knick-knack shelves. They're just plain wood, so they look a little drab and old school.
• Last night for dinner we had dessert at Ruby Tuesday's. We split a Blondie for two and a double chocolate cake with ice cream scoops on both. It was so yummy!
• Right now I'm googling how to cook chicken. Because I don't know. I'm not a cook.
• Hobby Lobby is having their metal decorations 50% off, I bought several different things. I will post pics later this week. They also have their Easter stuff 50% off! I got several cute decorations and two 12-packs of white plastic eggs for 38¢ each! I'm going to decoupage them with napkins. I got the idea from another blog I read.
• Due to the business of my day today, this is all the random I can muster. :)

Six Word Saturday

Tonight, we went

Asian for dinner.

No really, I cooked Sesame Chicken!

It wasn't that great, but whatever.

Six word Saturdays are hosted by Cate at Show My Face.
Be sure to check out her blog and join in on this 
awesome meme! :) Did I mention you only have to
post 6 words! That's it! You don't even have to explain!! 

Have a great weekend every one!
♥