Enchilada Casserole

My mom mentioned to me one time that she had came across a recipe that tasted like enchiladas, but did not require all of the hassle of trying to roll the ingredients into a tortilla shell like real enchiladas and was more filling, while feeding larger quantities of people. If you are having a bunch of friends over or are just celebrating Cinco de Mayo, this recipe is ideal for a Mexican occasion.

Ingredients:

• 14 ounce jar of Enchilada Sauce
• 3 cups of Monterey Jack Cheese
• 6 corn tortillas
• 1 can of refried beans
• 1 cup of brown rice
• 2 chicken breasts

1. Cook chicken until thoroughly cooked, then cook for 5 minutes covered in enchilada sauce on medium heat.

2. Meanwhile, bring boiling pot to boil and begin cooking rice. Preheat oven to 375 F.
3. Once chicken and rice has cooked, mix in 1 cup of the Monterrey Jack Cheese and refried beans with chicken and rice.

4. Grease casserole dish and begin layering the casserole.

5. First you want to place one tortilla shell in the bottom of the pan, then layer the chicken mixture on top of the tortilla shells, then cheese.

6. Continue to layer the mixture as follows: tortilla shell, chicken mixture, cheese, tortilla shell, chicken mixture, cheese, etc.
7. After it is all layered, place in oven for 35-45 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and golden brown.

8. After it is done, take out of the oven and let cool for 5-10 minutes then serve.

This dish goes exceptionally well with whole kernel corn and tortilla chips and salsa! I believe that this dish does well when you want to put a Mexican twist on dinners at home. I personally believe that many Americans love to change dishes up every now and then and allow other cultural foods to become part of their diet. It does not always have to be Mexican, it can also consist of Chinese, Thai, and German foods. According to http://apt11d.com/2014/02/why-americans-pay-so-much-for-housing/, about 13% of money is spent on food, so everyone might as well spend it on foods that they are going to thoroughly enjoy!

Country Fried Steak

Do you remember the one main course dish your mother used to make that you always got excited about when you found she was cooking it for dinner? I know that I used to get extremely excited when I found out that my mother was cooking Country Fried Steak with homemade pan gravy. So to introduce you to this dish, you must first have the following ingredients:

• 4 cubed steaks
• 3 c. flour
• 2 tablespoons of salt
• dash of pepper
• half of package of saltine crackers or an individual package of Ritz crackers, crushed
• 1 c. milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 beef bouillon cube
• 1 c. water
• 1 c. vegetable oil

* To make the country fried steak:

1. In a skillet, warm vegetable oil until sizzling.
2. Meanwhile, in a bowl whisk together 2 eggs and 1 cup of milk.
3.  In another bowl, mix together crackers, flour, pepper, and half of salt.
4.  Then dip each piece of meat in the egg mixture, then in the flour mixture until completely covered.
5. Then place in the skillet and cook on medium, covered, until brown on both sides. Approx. 5-7 min. on each side.
6. Once the meat is cooked, take out of pan and place on a plate covered by a paper towel to drain some of the grease.
7. Meanwhile you will make the gravy.

* To make the gravy:

1. DO NOT throw out the left over flour or grease from earlier.
2. In pan, there should still be the grease you will then place the leftover flour in the grease and mix until the grease it dried up.
3. While that is taking place, put water with the bouillon cube and put in the microwave for 2 minutes, until the cube is dissolved.
4. Once the flour has dried the grease up, pour the water/bouillon cube mixture into the skillet, continuously stirring.
5. After 3-4 minutes, the water should have mixed with the flour and should have became a gravy mixture. 
6. Then turn the stove off, place the meat in the gravy and you are done!