Taco Pie

I am having one of those days (you know what I am talking about if you are the person in charge of making dinner). I need to go to the grocery store. I don't have anything planned for tonight. I am missing at least one major ingredient for all my good ole' stand by recipes. So, I went to allrecipes.com and found this recipe for taco pie. I changed mine quite a bit from the original recipe, so I will put my changes in parenthesis.

Ingredients:
1 (8 ounce) package refrigerated crescent rolls
1 pound ground beef (I used chicken)
1 (1 ounce) package taco seasoning mix
1 (16 ounce) container sour cream (since we only had about 10 ounces of sour cream, I just used 8 ounces so I would have some to garnish my plate)
( 1 {7 3/4 ounce} can El Pato Jalapeno Salsa)
8 ounces shredded Mexican-style cheese blend
1 (14.5 ounce) package crushed tortilla chips (I didn't really measure this. I just threw some on the top. Lots of people who reviewed the recipe on the web site said it was too salty, so I cut back here. I think I used 1-2 cups total.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Lay crescent dough flat on the bottom of a square cake pan (I used a glass 13x9 inch pan-some reviewers said to spray a little cooking spray before putting the crescent rolls down) and bake according to package directions. Meanwhile, brown the ground beef in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the taco seasoning and stir together well. When dough is done, remove from oven. ( I layered in this order: rolls, some of the cheese, the meat, sour cream mixed with salsa, crushed chips, then cheese.) Return to oven and bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 10 minutes, or until cheese has melted.

This was a really good recipe. The El Pato is pretty spicy, so you could sub 8 ounces of your favorite salsa (or none at all) for that. I topped mine with some shredded lettuce, tomatoes, and more sour cream. Overall, it was a pretty yummy dish!

This recipe is also not very diet friendly. It has a lot of calories and sodium. If you want to lighten it up, you could use reduced fat crescent rolls, light sour cream, and low fat cheese.

Broccoli Chicken Casserole

I made this one night while Ammon, Jillian and their kids were visiting. We all ate, were full, and had a few leftovers for lunch the next day.

Ingredients:
6-8 cooked chicken breasts, cubed or shredded
2 cups cooked rice
1 bunch steamed broccoli or 1 box frozen (I bought a bag of broccoli florets, steamed them and chopped them up a little since I don't like huge pieces of broccoli)
2 cans cream of something soup (chicken, mushroom, celery)
1 8 ounce container sour cream
2 cups grated cheddar cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients in a casserole dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. (Everything is already cooked so it doesn't have to bake long, unless it has been frozen.)