Aye Carumba! Protein explosion Mexi-Casserole!

Howdy y'all, Butterballs!

Holy page views, Batman!  Thanks for the love!  You inspire me to continue, and share the love that is the Raffety family kitchen!  I am also inspired by the fact that Matt is insisting on cooking this evening (twist my arm...), and that I stocked up on a WHOLE bunch of Oak Leaf Cabernet at Walmart the other day.  Fun fact: Did you know that the Two Buck (or closer to 3 bucks anymore...) Chuck people make Oak Leaf ($3.77, but still an acceptable level of cheap for the professionals among us...)?  This is mostly a "fun" fact because Charles Shaw is a completely legit, weeknight wine, so buying 8-10 bottles of Oak Leaf on payday is 100% socially acceptable, and maybe you can pass as a connoisseur having a cost-effective party instead of just tired and cheap and probably drinking this in the company of your cat.  At our local Walmart, they've also started wrapping each individual bottle of wine in a wine shaped paper bag.  For those of us that need to haul 10 bottles out to where we parked our car for carpool going on 12 hours ago, this is clearly a very considerate gesture. 

In Missoula at the moment, it is capital W Winter, with all caps SNOW.  Matt and I are the owners of the world's most useless snow shovel.  It is so useless, that if it snows, I am far more likely to choose to use our broom (formerly known as house broom), to SWEEP AWAY all 8 inches of snow than I am to use this shovel.  Matt recently informed me that "it works way better" if you flip it over, and shovel upside down.  Our neighbors already think that we are completely inept 12 year olds (in fact most 12 year olds are probably intelligent enough to abandon a shovel this useless...), so making a show of shoveling upside down would only further cement this perception into their minds.  Long story short, I moved all of our snow off of our hard outdoor surfaces today using an O'Cedar floor broom, then cursed and swore at our shovel, all while still in my dress from taking our 4th graders to the orchestra today (obviously this seems counter-intuitive... don't worry, I changed my shoes).

After you've already had your fill of shoulder toning shoveling, and your dog's belly is two inches below the surface of the snow, making a good walk somewhat of a moot point, what you really need is more protein than a professional body builder consumes in a week.  I have a history of intolerance for Mexican-themed pasta... I can't rationalize it per se, maybe it's my love of pasta combined with mozzarella, who knows?  I scan Pinterest and see a plethora of recipes for lasagna rolls smothered in enchilada sauce and think... well, no thanks.  You could use orzo, or another small pasta as a substitute for the quinoa, because... variety is the spice of life?  Sure.  I just always feel like quinoa is rice's exotic Spanish cousin, and casserole is pasta's cozy Italian bestie, so naturally the two should meet.  Lord knows I love me some CHEESY, CHEEESSSSYYYY casserole.

You will need:
1 and 3/4 to 2 cups uncooked quinoa (you can boil this in equal parts water til all the water absorbs)
2 chicken breasts, seasoned with taco seasoning (another weeknight shortcut, you can sub your own blend, cumin, garlic and salt are most important), cooked through and cubed
1 medium can tomatoes, chilies and onions mixed
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped and browned in olive oil
1 can black beans, drained
1 cup (or more, YOLO, right?  P.S. This is the correct use of YOLO, or "You Only Live Once", as opposed to, "Drank 12 Four Locos and lit my porch on fire today... made s'mores, YOLOOOO!!!) Mexican blend cheese
Parley
Taco Seasoning
Pepper
Chili Flakes (to taste, 'mo spicey, 'mo betta in my book...)
One swirl of Sriracha (because why not?) all around the pan (of course that's a measurement, who asked you?)

Once you've boiled the quinoa and cooked the chicken and onion, you can mix up all the ingredients, minus the cheese in a large pan.  Heat until most of the tomato juice has reduced.  Spoon into medium, round baking dish, cover with cheese, and bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes, or until cheese starts to bubble and brown slightly.  Serve with guacamole, see http://cookingwithbutters.blogspot.com/2011/10/hooray-for-fiber.html for my recipe!  Matt also likes a dollop of sour cream.

I forgot to take a picture, but the thing about pictures of casserole is that they just look like dishes with cheese on top, so here's a picture of Dexter wrapped in Matt's apron:

As always, love and best fishes!  Mwah!

Fall Explosion Squash Casserole!!!!

Hey y'all Butterballs!  Long time no heartburn!
It's that time again!!!  The time of year where yours truly buys 1 bag of Double Stuff'd orange, Halloween Oreos and eats the whole thing in under a week.  Don't try and stop me, I already did it, and I have absolutely no regrets.  My Paula Deen Mystery Pecan Pie candle has also been lit approximately 24 hours a day for the last 2 weeks (the "mystery" is where to find the pie, hardy har har...).  My closet is stocked with corduroy, Matt has begun to wear pants again, and Butters is holed up under the entry way table waiting for the furnace to kick on (joke's on him, I moved the table 3 months ago and the heater is still where it used to be...).  That's right dumplings, it's Fall!  In honor of the first day of fall, I thought I would write a long over-due blog entry about this really Fall-tastic casserole I invented last week.  I was also invited along on a "First Day of Fall" fishing trip by one of my first graders, who I suspect had the slightly impure motive of setting me up with his Dad.  I politely declined.

Another thing that comes along with Fall is school.  I've been teaching music in Stevensville, Montana for the last three weeks.  It is beyond rewarding, but also beyond exhausting.  My cooking has somewhat ebbed in the last month, what with my bedtime being 4:30 p.m.  In fact, aside from my bag of Oreos and the occasional teachers' lounge slice of pie, I have been living off of spinach and a giant milk carton full of Goldfish crackers.  I really didn't see anything wrong with this until a co-worker came to my office to invite me to lunch, and I had already eaten my Dixie cup of crackers by 10:30 in the morning.  I wanted to say I had already eaten, but I knew in my heart it just wasn't true.  I also did not want another Dixie cup of crackers, so I took a raincheck.  The next day I made sure to bring an apple so it would outwardly appear that I had made a purposeful attempt to pack something.  If you bring a carton of crackers to lunch, that looks half assed.  If you put your crackers in a baggy, bring an apple and a cup of coffee, now that's a freakin' smorgasbord.  Can you make a workers comp claim for elementary school related malnutrition?  Then I went home and fell asleep in front of Billy the Exterminator.  When did I have time to invent casserole you may ask?  Oh, around 9:30 at night.  I woke up from a nap with a powerful hankering for spaghetti squash (which could be somewhat related to my separation anxiety since Pecker left for Seattle and took her bountiful supply of spaghetti squash with her...), and before I could go back to sleep I had to roast something out of heartache.

Now, along with the powerful urge to sleep 16 hours a day comes the inability to effectively grocery shop.  If I do go to the store I buy a bottle of wine and a magazine about Snooki's baby.  I bought a box of plums once but that was almost a month ago and I didn't eat a single one.  I would put three in a baggy to take to work, promptly leave it on the counter when I ran out of the house for carpool, and then Matt would take them to work.  Good news:  my husband assumed me much more thoughtful than I actually am for several weeks when he found the plums and thought I had packed them for him to take to the office.  Bad news:  My life has been decidedly plum free.  After this experience I have decided fresh produce is more trouble than it's worth.  My life has somewhat become an hommage to Chopped.  On this particular casserole inventing evening, I had:

16 lbs of elk meat (not an exaggeration)
3 homegrown spaghetti squash
1 giant bag of cheese about to go bad (I've recently cut back on dairy for health reasons, but that is another long and over-informative tale)
1 bag of overpriced raw quinoa
1 can of breadcrumbs
5 lbs (not an exaggeration) of spinach
1 bag of onions
brown sugar
1/2 bag Halloween Oreos
3 bottles of cheap chardonnay
1 6 pack Summer Honey
1 stale bag of cheetos
olive oil
1 jar marshmallow fluff
1/2 of a week old pizza

I  threw the pizza away and set to work.  To make my fall explosion casserole you will need the following:

2 lbs of ground meat, well seasoned (I chose spicy elk breakfast sausage)
1 small spaghetti squash
1 cup of cheese, a shredded jack blend works well
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp of garlic, finely chopped
1.5 lbs (uncooked) spinach
1 cup uncooked quinoa (will yield 3 cups cooked)
3 tbsp bread crumbs (mine were Italian blend)

To prepare squash:
Preheat oven to 400-425 degrees.  I do about 425, but as you may have learned, I am not super patient.  Chop ends off of squash and slice it in half length wise.  Place in baking dish skin side down, add about 1/2 inch of water to the dish, wrap with foil.  Roast for about 30-45 minutes.

I let my squash roast for about 20 minutes before I started the rest of the casserole.

For the Quinoa:
You can prepare this per package directions, but my way is better (no one ever accused me of sugarcoating...).  In a medium sauce pan, heat about 2 tbsp of olive oil.  Add onion and garlic and saute until translucent.  Add a little more oil and quinoa.  Over medium-high heat, toast until quinoa is a mottled brown.  Add in 3 cups of water (or stock if you have it), let the liquid cook out, add more and repeat process until quinoa is tender.  Season with garlic salt, Italian seasoning, cumin and pepper.

While quinoa is boiling, begin browning meat.  Once cooked through, reserve in a large bowl.  Using whatever grease is left from the meat, turn heat to medium and add in spinach.  Add in by handfuls until it's fully wilted.  Add to bowl with meat, and quinoa.  When squash is fork tender.  VERY CAREFULLY (READ: HOT), spoon squash strands into bowl with other ingredients.  Add in a handful of cheese, mix thoroughly.  Move mixture to size adequate baking dish, sprinkle with cheese and breadcrumb, put under broiler until cheese is melted and crumbs are browned.  VOILA!  Fall in a gooey, meaty, delicious package.

This also makes excellent leftovers.  In addition, it is not the least healthy thing I have ever blogged for you, jam packed full of protein!  Yessir!

In parting Butterballs, roll yourself up in a sweater, make a nice sugar based coffee drink, and hook up your pants expanders, Fall is here, and I wouldn't want to be spending it with any cooler cats!