Updated Chipotle Pizza Casserole

The last time I made this Chipotle Pizza Casserole was around December 20th 2012. Where did the time go? The unfortunate part about food blogging is being focused on learning how to cook different recipes with new ingredients constantly, that I rarely remake anything even if they are really good. The two exceptions are spaghetti and pizza my son's favorites. 

This updated chipotle pizza casserole is amazing. My oldest has already asked when we are going to have it again probably because its a mix of his favorite foods and flavors spaghetti and pizza in one dish. Yum! I am glad I looked back and updated this slightly spicy, meaty, veggie laden (shhh!),  cheesy feast. 

P.S. It makes two casseroles... hello yes. Having my little guy hit 5 months old I am now thankful I have an extra dinner already cooked and in the freezer. This casserole makes enough to feed a family of 4-5 twice. Can I be in love with a food item? Not sure. If I could. This would be it. 

Why did I want update this dish? At first I thought the orginal recipe had a typo (not many meals I make create two casseroles and/or only have 1/2 lb of meat) and I also wanted to see if I could still get my family to eat and enjoy a variety of veggies. So I wanted to experiment on my family, while eating healthy and sticking to my food budget. 

What did I update? Oh everything. Cheese - I cut it down approx 1- 1&1/2 oz. Meat - I used lean ground beef instead of ground turkey. Veggies - I doubled the amount of broccoli and used a quick homemade tomato pasta sauce that had eggplant & red pepper. Pasta - I used a veggie pasta instead of one made with white flour. This also made the recipe pop with color because the noodles are green and orange and red. Wine -  I used red wine instead of white. Last I left out the water that the recipe called for - it didn't seem to need it. 

The ingredient list: 

A whole box pasta (mine was 12oz veggie pasta rotini - corkscrew shape)
1/2 lb of ground beef
4 cups of homemade pasta sauce
1 Tbs olive oil
6 oz frozen broccoli (1/2 of a bag)
1/4 tsp salt plus salt for the pasta water 1tsp or so
5 oz of frozen chopped spinach, thawed, and squeezed dry
4 tsp Italian seasonings
2 tsp minced garlic
8 oz / 1 small package of monterey jack cheese shredded 
1/2 cup grated or shredded Parmesan cheese 
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp pepper
3 1/4 oz (1 package of pepperoni)
1 chipotle in 1/2 tsp adobe sauce, finely diced 
1/4 cup red wine, pinot noir

Please enjoy this updated version with better pictures and simple step by step directions. Since half of this meal was made while holding a baby, all the seasonings this time were eyeballed them instead of exact measurments. This is a very forgiving recipe.

5 Easy Directions

Step 1 - Cook the ground beef in olive oil. Half way through cooking add in the garlic and all of the seasonings. When beef is done deglaze with the red wine. 

Step 2 - Grab the largest bowl you have and combine the meat mixture, pasta sauce, 1 cup of the cheese, the chipotle pepper diced, frozen broccoli pieces, pepperoni, chopped (previous frozen) but defrosted and excess water rung out spinach.

Step 3 - Cook the pasta according to directions on the box, and add it to the bowl. Use tongs to combine the hot food. 

Step 4 - Gently dump the pasta mixture into two rectangle baking dishes and top them with the remaining shredded cheese. 

Step 5 - Bake both dishes for 25 minutes uncovered at 300 degrees, and then increase the heat to 350 for more 5 minutes. Let it cool 5-10 minutes then start digging in! 

*If freezing the second casserole be sure to cool it completely. Wrap it with heavy duty tin foil, and label the top of the tin foil with the cooking temp and times so you aren't scrambling around for the information later. 

from my Az kitchen to yours,

Stephanie

Energy bites & eating one handed

Greetings!

Energy bites are crunchy, slightly sweet, slightly chocolaty, slightly salty balls of healthy ingredients that you can eat with your fingers in one or two bites. Easy to make. Easy to transport. Easy to feed kid(s) and husbands on the go. Speaking of going...  Let me tell you a story. 

These delightful bites got their name "energy bites" a couple years ago when my son needed quick and easy breakfasts before 8 am Saturday morning soccer games. This was as tricky as it was a pain in the butt. My oldest is not a morning person, and eating a any breakfast is hard for him straight out of bed, and a big breakfast wouldn't have felt good later while he was running and active during a game. So I told him if he ate this "energy bites" he would get extra energy and be able to run faster than anyone. That woke him up from his sleepy "I don't want to move faster than a snail routine" and got him thinking. I wasn't completely lying. This whole grains healthy snack/breakfast is full of good nutrients and thus give the body energy. Faster than anyone? well... it worked okay. 

#Parentwin

So I got through a whole soccer season by convincing my son he could run faster than anyone if he ate this particular food. I wonder if he remembers this... 

P.S. Having a no-cook, finger food breakfast also meant he could eat in the car if we were running late. Who decided 8 am was a good time for a soccer game anyways? I would like a word with that person.

Back to present day... we aren't doing soccer right now but just as adventurous we are doing the live, work, go to college with a newborn baby thing. All of this without caffeine - yes my beloved coffee machine is collecting dust. This recipe is absolutely worth its weight in umm... I don't know pick something. Haven't sleep longer than 4 hours at a time... give me a break. 

The day to day details of living with an adorable infant absolutely means eating and cooking becomes an acrobatic sport. There should be division in the olympics for such events. It would look like pairs of individuals running back and forth to check on the little one, hand offs, rocking chair marathons, and of course eating one handed, trying to eat as fast as possible because the partner is holding the baby and his or her food is getting cold, cooking one handing, trying to eat while not spilling anything on the baby who just fell asleep, and my favorite singing mary had a little lamb or jesus loves you 100 times without losing your voice. AND my schedule some days is completely up to the whims and desires of a 5 month old. Let me tell you though, these "energy bites" are the perfect one handed breakfast or anytime snack. You can even mostly make them with a baby in your arms for the most part.

There's many ways to make energy bites... this recipe comes from mixing two recipes together from Mindy's Oatmeal Raisin Energy Bites and my own pb oatmeal version. I hope you like it as much as we did! 

Cinnamon Energy Bites

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup of rolled oats
1/4 cup ground flax seeds 
1/4 cup of chocolate chips
3/4 tsp of cinnamon 
dash of salt
dash of nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 - 1 cup of cashew butter (warmed in the microwave) 
2 Tbs honey, raw

Directions: 
1. warm the cashew butter until it looks melted in the microwave - about 30 sec to a minute
2. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl
3. Add in the wet ingredients. Mix it all together. 
4. I put a bit of nonstick cooking spray on my hands - helps a little with the stickiness and start cupping oat mixture and form it into balls just big enough for 1 or 2 bites. 

*NOTE: Start with 3/4 cup of cashew butter and if this is hard (if it feels too dry to bind the ingredients together) add more cashew butter. This mixture is extremely sticky but should come together easily. 

5. Put them on a cookie sheet or large plate. Refrigerate them for an hr or so to firm up before eating. Keep them in the fridge for up to a week in a covered container. They probably last longer than that but they never last more than 2 days so I wouldn't know. 

Black Bean & Sharp Cheddar Burritos

If you like bean burritos like the kind from the store that you throw from the freezer into the microwave or the oven, or like taco bell's bean burritos - you will love these black bean and sharp cheddar burritos. They are quick, easy, super healthy (no preservatives or things you can't pronounce), and still is freezer friendly. So you can make a ton of them, and throw them in the freezer for when you get a craving, need a snack with some staying power (black beans = protein & fiber) or need a quick dinner because an adorable little 4 month old won't stop crying to cook anything else. Happens. 

I love sharp cheddar cheese - okay I admit I love most cheeses. But if you don't, grab another kind - any quick melting cheese will work here such as: mozzarella, Colby jack, Monterrey jack, pepper jack, medium cheddar, or mild cheddar. 

I made two batches one with white flour tortillas and one with whole wheat tortillas. I am trying to ease my family into eating all whole wheat, minimally processed foods - its a process. But use whatever you have or want to use. This recipe makes approx 10 burritos. 

Ingredients:

1 batch of homemade refried beans (click here)
6-8 oz sharp cheddar cheese shredded (1 1/2 cups+)
10-12 soft taco sized tortillas whole wheat or white
*quart or gallon sized freezer bags if you want to freeze extras

Directions

1. Make the refried beans - takes only a few minutes
2. Put slightly less than 1/4 cup of beans in the center of each tortilla
3. Put a small handful of shredded cheese on top of each pile of beans
4. Fold up the tortillas
5. If freezing them put them on a cookie sheet for an hr or two to flash freeze them and then transfer them to freezer bags. If eating them right away, microwave them for a minute or heat them on the stove until the cheese is melted on the inside - only takes a few minutes. 

Serve with sour cream, guacamole, tortilla chips, or spanish style rice. Enjoy! 
From my kitchen to yours

Black Refried Beans (from scratch) & doing dinner with an infant

When I was prego I craved taco bell's bean & cheese burritos sans onions bad really bad. But there were a few problems with this craving. Cravings are never convenient. First, I live out in the middle of nowhere sort of. I am 20 minutes away from my fav fast food place, that one that serves amazing chicken sandwiches and advertise with cows. My son adores those cows. Its quite funny actually. We are surrounded by cow farms and they sink really bad. Yet, he doesn't adore those. There is a large disconnect going on someplace. 

Second, I refused to drive that far in my uncomfortable state in hot Az weather (105+ degrees F) to give in to something that was so nutritionally deficient I couldn't even justify it to myself - let alone let a little helpless baby in my tummy eat some junk like that. True story. Just don't ask me about not caving into an ice cream fast food blizzard craving that made me sicker than I care to remember. Deal? Good :)

So I found this recipe and slowly it has evolved into a "go to" dinner for my oldest son and I. It is especially handy now that my littlest guy is a few months old now, and wants to be held all the time time. I can make this awesome creamy homemade refried beans as a side dish at nap time and then and reheat it later or the next day. You'll need this recipe for delicious taco bell-esce bean & cheese burritos (incase you get umm a crazy craving like I did), bean dip, nachos, for Cinco de Mayo coming up in a few months, tacos, black bean & cheese quesadillas, or if you are already planning ahead for snacks during the first preseason football game in the fall (my favorite sport). 

Here's my recipe adapted from allrecipes.com

Ingredients

2 - 14-15oz cans of black beans, reduced sodium, one can drained and the beans rinsed

(if you forget to keep the other undrained add some water)

3/4 tsp salt

3/4 tsp onion powder

3/4 tsp chili powder

3/4 tsp cumin

2 Tbs oil

2 garlic cloves, peeled but not smashed

4 Step Directions:

1. Heat the oil to medium and cook the garlic cloves in the oil until they are brown on both sides about 4 minutes.

2. Smash the garlic cloves, carefully with a fork, & add in the beans and spices.

3. Stir often cook for 5 minutes until beans are heated. Then smash them your preferred thickness of refried beans. I prefer really creamy ones like out of the can from the store - so I pull out my old hand head mixer and it gets it super creamy - no lumps in about 3 minutes. Note I always use a metal pot just incase the mixer scraps the bottom of the pan - don't want to scratch up a nonstick pot. An immersion blender would be awesome at this too.

4. Taste & adjust salt or pepper if needed. 

Eat while warm or cover and refrigerate for later. 
Enjoy!