Casseroles aren't pretty.

I refuse to take photos of food that looks like a lump. They aren't colorful or fancy or flashing "eat me!" in anyway. So...even though I made one last night (that is probably my favorite) I have no photos to pass on.

Rachel is still camping out with us, so I'm trying to make stuff that will go further with dinner for three. This recipe was in my 2002 Southern Living cookbook. I've made it a few times and always remember why I like it so much. It's very easy and make a lot of food...but I just don't seem to make it that often. Not sure why...

Easy Enchilada Casserole from Southern Living

• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, chopped (I added this)
• 2 T vegetable oil (I subbed Olive Oil)
• 1 19-oz can Enchilada Sauce
• 1 16-oz can Black Beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 14.5-oz can diced tomatoes with jalapenos (Ro-Tel)
• 1 11-oz can Mexican style corn, drained
• 1 t chili powder
• 1 t cumin
• 10-12 corn tortillas
• 3 cups cooked cubed chicken breast (you can sub 2 pounds ground beef or turkey)
• 3 cups shredded Mexican Style Cheese

Preheat the oven to 350. Saute the onion and garlic in the oil until tender, add all of the canned ingredients, the chili powder and cumin. Stir and simmer until heated through. Spray a 9*13 glass baking dish with cooking spray and spoon 1/3 of the sauce into the bottom of the pan. Layer with tortillas, 1/2 of the chicken and 1 cup of cheese. Spoon another 1/3 of the sauce on top, layer again with tortillas, chicken and cheese. Top this off with another layer of tortillas, sauce and cheese. Bake in the oven for about 15-20 minutes and I usually just serve it with chips and salsa.

The hotel is open again.

Well, Lin & Casi moved out. Jason's friend stayed that Sunday and we thought we had our house back. Well, 4 days later Casi came back. She brought Hurricane Ike with her. Lindsey evacuated to College Station, but Casi stayed for the weekend.

Boy was that a wild ride! The wind Friday night was crazy. I know the three of us got very little sleep. We trekked to my mom's house on Saturday after it cleared up to get her generator. See, we were prepared...for a few days. Then we heard that power outages could take 3-4 weeks to completely restore. Ack! Our food would surely go bad by then.

We managed to get really lucky when we checked on Casi & Lin's apartment Sunday and they had power! After sweating our buns off Saturday night this was music to our ears. We packed up and headed inside the loop. Only to come back Tuesday when our power was back on. I won't lie, Jason and I were happy people. I am very grateful that we lucked out in getting our power back so soon. Today is day 9 (I think) and the people across the street from me are still out. I'm not sure who to thank for our power coming on so soon, but I'll write them a letter. We've been hosting our own little refugee though - Rachel is still without power! We let her "rent" out the guest bedroom. I'm only charging her pizza Sunday night and Chicken Curry this weekend.

Well, since we had Friday off to prepare, I baked cookies. Hey, they're non-perishable, right?

Mini M&M Cookies from the M&Ms website

• 1 cup butter or margarine
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 t vanilla extract
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1/8 t salt
• 1 12oz pkg Mini M&Ms

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugars, beat in egg and vanilla. In a medium bowl combine flour, soda and salt. Blend into the creamed mixture. Stir in the M&Ms. Chill the dough for 15-20 minutes. Scoop by heaping tablespoons full on to a baking sheet (I'm in love with my Pampered Chef stone!) and bake for about 10-12 minutes. Cool completely...if you can!!

Freedom!!!

Lindsey & Casi moved out the second weekend in September. I vowed to start eating better and cooking better and working on my overall health. Things that I forgot to do over the summer, apparently. We were free!

I've been wanting to do something with Pita bread and Kroger had chicken tenders on sale, so I went to work.

I did't measure the seasoning, but I added salt, pepper, basil & parsley, garlic & onion powder, and a little oregano. Jason threw them on the grill while I a Sun Dried Tomato Mayo for the pita sandwiches.

I mixed about 2 Tablespoons of Mayo with 3 chopped Sun Dried Tomatoes and 1 teaspoon each of garlic sal and basil. I added a little pepper at the end and spread that in the pita pockets. I added some spinach leaves, chopped tomatoes and feta cheese.

We paired these with our favorite sweet potato fries, seasoned this time with garlic salt and basil.

Football season is here!

Labor Day weekend we geared up for start of Football Season by heading to College Station for the first Aggie Game of 2008. It was...horrible. Ok, well, let me start from the beginning.

Saturday Jason and I drove to CS to meet my sister and her crew, along with Maegan and my godson, Jett. This was going to be Jett's first Aggie Tailgate! Whoop! We trucked over to the Quad where my mom and step-dad were helping cook for the Corp. To clarify, they were only cooking for one group or division or whatever, not the whole Corp. They had a ton of brisket, sausage and chicken off of the BBQ pit. Perfect with a cold Bud Light.

We moved over to another tailgate closer to the stadium, since Jason and I had tickets to the game. This is where things went downhill. Let's see...we watched half of the game and then headed out. I had a killer headache, it was H.O.T. and I was hungry. Surprise. So, we stopped for snow cones on the way out (see the blue tongue below) and headed over to Northgate for a stop at the Dixie Chicken.

We met up with Bear, Maegan and Jett, made a run for Freebirds and then headed to Bear's house to play the Wii. Let me tell you, I'm sold. I want one so freaking bad I can taste it! And, I'm not being modest, Jett is pretty good at the Wii! Ok, ok, he's funny. But who can complain? He's 19 months old.

Oh, yeah, the horrible part - the Aggies were up 14-6 at the half. They lost 18-14.

Lunch Sunday was at Wings-n-More with my sister and Adam and Jason and I headed back. In case you missed it, Gustav managed to NOT hit Houston, so we were in the clear.

On Labor Day I decided to make use of my crock pot. I try to keep it from becoming for "cheese dip only." I found this recipe from Bridget's blog...but then I forgot to save it. I'd read it and remembered some of the ingredients...and managed pretty well. However, since that was 3 weeks ago I've forgotten my "made up" recipe!! Just follow Bridget's and you'll be fine. Oh, I will say that I did not have the liquid smoke...so I'm not sure how that would taste.

I really loved this as an option to a pork roast. I'm a roast fan, but I just think beef is much better than pork. I think this is my new favorite cooking method for pork roast.