Tuna Casserole

Serves 6

This is old school food at it's best - one bite and you'll be thinking of lava lamps, the Dick Van Dyke show and shag carpet. Taste it again for the first time!

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• 1 medium yellow onion, diced

• 8 ounces sliced mushrooms

• 2 tablespoons dry vermouth or white wine

• 16 ounces shell noodles

• 10 ounces frozen peas

• 12 ounce can solid tuna, drained and flaked

• 2 cups cheddar cheese, grated

• 14 ounce can cream of mushroom soup

• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

• 1 bag of salted chips

Directions

1. Heat oven to 375

2. Add oil to a pan on medium and cook onions & mushrooms until softened - about 5 minutes

3. Remove pan from heat (so it doesn't flame up) and add vermouth or wine - mix well and return to heat for a couple minutes, then put mixture in a large bowl

4. Cook shells about 2 minutes less than package directions - adding the peas in the last minute of cooking then drain and add to the mushroom mix with the tuna, cheese, soup and mustard - mix well

5. Put in casserole dish and top with crumbled chips

6. Bake 30 minutes and enjoy

Potato Soup

I'll be the first to admit that potato soup sounds boring. But this one isn't. The red onions help it taste great, plus it's way fun because your guests get to customize it themselves with a choice of cool toppings. Think baked potato - but way better. It's so good, just serve a salad with it and you're done.

Ingredients

• 2 big baking potatoes, peeled and diced
• 1 large red onion, diced
• 3 cups chicken broth, diced - just kidding
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 1/2 cups whipping cream
• 1/2  teaspoon cayenne
• 3 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley
• Kosher salt & fresh ground black pepper

Directions

1. Put potatoes in large pot, cover with chicken broth and simmer until soft, about 15 minutes
2. While it cooks, saute onions in butter and cayenne until softened
3. Add about 3/4 of the onions to the pot along with the whipping cream and parsley
4. Continue cooking the remainder of the onions until crispy and blackened - but not burnt
5. Simmer soup on low about 5 more minutes until it thickens a bit
6. With back of large spoon, mash some of the potatoes in the pot while it's simmering (this will help to thicken) - season well with salt & pepper
7. When the soup is the thickness you want, serve in bowls with a selection of the following toppings - add any and all you'd like:

• Crispy bacon pieces (if I said bits, you might buy those crappy artificial ones and I'd be mad)
• Thinly sliced green onions
• Croutons or even crouton remnants - from the bottom of the box
• Crispy thin Asian noodles
• Shredded cheese - cheddar works nicely
• Any hot sauce you like
• Diced leftover chicken, turkey, steak, pieces of a leftover broken up burger
• Anything else you can think of - just look in the fridge

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Chicken Enchiladas

Ok, so there's a little whipping cream in this - just don't eat the whole thing yourself, ok?

Probably makes 8

3 cups shredded cooked chicken - one of those deli roasted chickens is perfect for this

1 cup Salsa Verde (green salsa)

1-4 ounce can chopped green chilies

1-2 tablespoons chopped chipotles in sauce (more if you like it hotter)

8 - taco size flour tortillas

1 cup chicken broth

2 cups whipping cream

1.5 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Chorizo crema (optional, click here for recipe)

Chopped green onions or cilantro for garnish

• Mix first 4 ingredients in bowl.

• Pour 1/2 the whipping cream in the bottom of a 9x13-baking dish.

• Pour chicken broth in bowl and one by one submerge each flour tortilla.

• Place approximately 1/8 chicken mixture in each wet tortilla and roll up.

• Place all 8 side by side in dish, sprinkle with cheese, and pour remaining whipping cream over top.

• Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

• Optional: top with chorizo crema and garnish with green onions or cilantro

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Vegetable Fajitas

Man I love these. You can add a bunch of other stuff like salsa, cilantro or whatever - but I like 'em (as Billy Joel would say) "just the way they are."

Ingredients

• 1 green pepper, thinly sliced
• 1 red pepper, thinly sliced
• 1 zucchini, thinly sliced
• 1/2 large red onion, thinly sliced
• 1/2 teaspoon each cumin, garlic powder, oregano & cayenne
• Sour cream
• Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• Tortillas

Directions

1. Heat olive oil in large skillet
2. Add both peppers and saute for 5 minutes until they begin to soften
3. Add onion and continue for another 5 minutes or so mixing well, then add zucchini
4. Saute all for another couple of minutes, then add about 3 tablespoons water and cover pan with a lid for 2 minutes - you want everything soft
5. Remove lid, add herbs and mix well
6. Turn down heat, and warm your tortillas
7. Place a little sour cream, some vegetables and a little cheese in each cooked tortilla and roll up

Tuna Tacos with Mango

Makes 6

I'll be the first to admit that tuna tacos don't really sound very good - but they are. In fact, they're deeelicious.

Ingredients

• 1 ripe mango, diced small
• 2 tablespoons red onion, diced
• 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1/4 fresh lime, squeezed
• 3/4 pound yellow fin tuna, uncooked and diced medium
• 2 tablespoons taco seasoning
• corn tortillas
• 1 tablespoon oil

Directions

1. Mix first 4 Ingredients and set aside
2. Heat oil to almost high
3. In medium pan and add tuna
4. Saute quickly & when almost done stir in seasoning
5. Put in a warmed tortilla and add mango salsa
6. That's all - ok, so it wouldn't kill you to add a little extra squeeze of fresh lime

Mashed Potato Tacos

Makes 4

You know those left-over mashed potatoes you don't know what to do with? Well here's the answer...

Ingredients

• 4 corn tortillas

• 2 tablespoons sour cream

• 1 cup leftover mashed potatoes

• Hot sauce - I like Cholula, about 4 teaspoons

• 1/3 cup green onions, chopped fine

• 4 handfuls of potato chips - preferably the extra crispy kettle kind

Directions

1. Heat the tortillas in a non-stick skillet until just beginning to get a little color in spots

2. Heat potatoes in a small pot of in the microwave

3. Spread some sour cream onto each tortilla

4. Add about 1/4 cup mashed potato to each tortilla

5. Drizzle with the hot sauce and then sprinkle with the green onions

6. Take a handful of the potato chips and crunch them over the top of each taco

7. Fold in half and eat

WATCH ME MAKE THIS, AND A BUNCH MORE

Mixed Jambalaya

Makes 8 - 10 servings

Simple as pie, or in this case Jambalaya - which normally tends to not be so simple.

Ingredients

• 1 pound spicy smoked sausage, the fully cooked kind - cut lengthwise and then into 1/4 inch half circles
• 1 pound raw shrimp, peeled and de-veined (31/40's are perfect)
• 2 cups cooked chicken, shredded into bite sized pieces
• 1 1/2 cups uncooked rice (not instant rice)
• 4 cups chicken broth
• One -7 oz can diced green chilies
• 1-2 tablespoons Creole seasoning

Directions

1. Put everything into the rice cooker, stir well, close the lid and turn it on
2. When the rice cooker goes off - it's ready...and really great

Chicken, Bacon & Tot Hot Dish

Serves 6-8

Think of this as a cross between a casserole and a chicken pot pie, only with tots instead of pie dough. And how can that be bad?

Ingredients

• 1 yellow onion, diced

• 8 ounces mushrooms, sliced

• 1/2 pound uncooked bacon, chopped

• 2 tablespoons dry vermouth

• 2 cups cooked chicken - shredded or chopped, either is fine

• 1/4 cup flour

• 1/2 cup chicken broth

• 1/2 cup milk

• 1/2 cup frozen peas

• 1/2 teaspoon each dried thyme & sage

• Kosher salt & fresh ground pepper

• 1-2 tablespoons Sriracha

• One 26 ounce bag Tater Tots

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350

2. Cook bacon in a large pan until about halfway cooked - then add onions

3. Cook a couple more minutes and add mushrooms - continue until mushrooms are softened and bacon just getting done

4. Add vermouth and cook for 2 minutes

5. Sprinkle in flour and stir until everything is coated

6. Stir in chicken stock and milk, mix well

7. Add peas, thyme, sage & season generously with salt & pepper

8. Add Sriracha to taste, stir thoroughly

9. Pour mixture into a greased 9x9 baking dish and top lovingly with frozen tots

10. Bake for 30 minutes or until tots are crispy