March Madness

Typically, March madness is a term used to describe the NCAA basketball tournament, but despite sitting here watching the Indiana Temple game, I'm thinking this year March madness really describes the weather.  It's snowing.  Not just snowing, but snowing large, fluffy flakes and at a fast rate.  I'm so tired of cold and snow.  There should never be a discussion of wind chills in March.  There should also never be a discussion about me being dead last in my NCAA bracket pool.  If Marquette could pull off just a few more wins, I wouldn't even mind finishing last.

I'm starting to let things slide a little bit.  Last week I think the only night I made dinner was Saturday and Sunday and even those were pretty simple meals.  The in-laws were in town so that threw our schedule off a little bit.  They had the kids at their hotel both Monday and Tuesday evenings so it was just the husband and me for dinner.  It was very strange being home without any of the kids.  One night was leftovers, one night we did take out sushi, one night was throw whatever is in the frig into a pan night, one night I went out with friends and Friday was fish fry.  Hopefully this week will go a little better.

Last Saturday I made a chicken tortilla stack casserole using Santa Fe Philadelphia Cooking Creme.  I had a coupon for the cooking cremes that was about to expire so I thought I would give it a try.  I started with a rotisserie chicken.  I shredded the meat from the breast and cut up the leg and thigh meat for the kids.

To the chicken I added one can of diced tomatoes, two sliced green onions and three quarters of the santa fe cooking creme.

After mixing gently, I spread about a third of the mixture on the bottom of a casserole dish.

I topped that with a flour tortilla, half of what was left of the chicken mixture and then added some shredded cheese.

Repeat with one flour tortilla, the last of the chicken, sprinkle with cheese, top with another tortilla and then spread the remaining santa fe cooking creme over the tortilla.

Of course, you can never have too much cheese so go ahead and sprinkle a little more right on top.  Then, pop into a 375 degree oven and bake, covered, for 20 minutes.  Uncover and bake another 5 minutes.

The original recipe calls for black beans but I despise beans so I omitted those.  I thought corn would be a good addition but after searching my freezer I couldn't find so I will have to wait until next time to try that.  We ate it right after it came out of the oven before I even had time to snap a picture.  It turned out pretty well for something so easy.  The cooking creme definitely adds some flavor and it eliminated the need for sour cream.

Sunday was even easier as I made a quick, bean free chili to eat over spaghetti.

I offer the same toppings I always get at my favorite chili place, Real Chili, chopped onions, sour cream and shredded cheese.  I didn't have any oyster crackers but I did make dinner rolls.

Now, unless I plan on a repeat of last week, I should really get to planning at least a few meals for this week.