what's cookin

I love cooking, so I thought I would post about it more often.  We had a great super easy meal last night.  Sometimes John and I like to eat together after Joe goes down for the night because it can be a little more relaxing and almost date like :)  (and Joe is down by 7:30 so its really not very late.)  Last night i used ingredients that I had sitting around the kitchen.  It wasn't a planned ahead meal, because, well, I don't have time to plan most of the time.  So, we had baked chicken served on a mound of roasted garlic and parmesan cous cous with a side of John's slaw ( John's being the restaurant not my husband!)

For the chicken marinade...

I mixed about 2 table spoons of pesto sauce with 2 table spoons of roasted garlic and parmesan dressing (Publix brand)... but any olive oil based dressing with somewhat simple flavors would work... then I added a dash of salt and some red pepper flakes.  

I thawed out my chicken breasts with my zip lock bags and bowl of warm water method.  So fast and easy!  

I seasoned the chicken breasts with salt and pepper and then added the marinade and let it sit in the fridge for about 45 minutes.  You don't have to let it marinade for nearly that long especially if you are baking your chicken.  I just did it ahead of time so I could just pop it in the oven closer to eating time!

I preheated the oven to 350 and when it was ready I popped in my chicken, uncovered, for about 28 - 30 minutes.  

Meanwhile, i made my quick cooking cous cous.  It took 5 minutes to cook! super!  I had a box of roasted garlic cous cous, so i cooked it according to package directions but adding a little salt.  (Im a salt lover.) When it was finished cooking, I fluffed it up and added some grated parmesan cheese.  It was yummmmmy!

For the slaw, i just took a packaged of cole slaw mix and dressed it with John's dressing (of John's city diner in Bham)  All the grocery stores in Bham have it...not sure about other states?

It was delicious....and a great date in our living room!

Tonight..can you believe it.. dinner is already made (pretty much!)  That's right.. dinner was put together by 2:45 pm today.  All I have to do is pop it in the oven closer to dinner time.  When Joe went down for his nap this afternoon, I fed Noah and put him on the floor on his over head gym thing and went to work in the kitchen.  It was great inspiration having Top Chef on as I cooked! LOVE that show! 

 What's for dinner tonight??  I'll just call it Misty's Mexican Casserole.  (I'm not a huge casserole girl, but I'm expanding my horizons in an attempt to make cooking quicker and easier!)  I also had most of these ingredients in my kitchen... I just picked up a couple things at the grocery store this morning while Joe was at school :)  I had to make a quick shopping trip for a cous cous salad that I'm making for a ladies get together at church tomorrow night! (We're watching a chick flick and everyone is bringing a salad or dessert to share...I thought it would be a good idea to mix the healthy with the deliciously unhealthy :) )

Ok, so for the casserole...

Brown some ground turkey (or beef, or sautee some cut up chicken) in a pan.  Add taco seasoning and chopped green chiles.  

In a casserole dish or baking pan, place a whole tortilla on bottom (or flour or corn).  

Layer black beans, meat mixture, salsa, guacamole, and shredded cheese (or any number of other toppings you like!...olives, sour cream, rice etc) continue layering as high as you would like, and top with shredded cheese.  

Bake at 375 or so until cheese is bubbly and casserole (or mexican lasagna or whatever you want to call it!) is heated through.  

Serve with a mexican salad or chips and dip, or whatever side you'd like!  

Easy enough, right?!?