Foodie Friday - Fiesta

I was picking Sarah up at school the other day and it happened to be her teacher that helped her into my car in the car line. This was fortunate because she was able to tell me about a room mom meeting that was happening that afternoon with all the 2nd grade room moms. Yes, of course, I can go.

After the meeting her teacher told me a little Sarah story that I thought I’d share.

Earlier that day she had noticed Sarah just kind of staring at her. I don’t know if it made her uncomfortable, but she did notice it. She said that then, all of the sudden, Sarah hopped up, ran over to her and gave her a hug and said, “You look like my mom. I love you and you look like my mom.” She said it was really the sweetest thing. We figure she just got to looking at her and saw brown hair, brown eyes, olive-ish skin and thought she looked like me.

I got to thinking about this story more later and I think that’s why we like people like Beth Moore so much. We just want to just hug her neck because she looks like our Heavenly Father and His Son. In fact that’s what one Siesta did during the question & answer session on Saturday. She simply asked if she could give Beth a hug. We just want to say, “I love you and you look a lot like Jesus.” Because she does.

So, in honor of the Siesta Fiesta last weekend in San Antonio, I’m sharing a very Texan recipe for King Ranch Chicken that I made for my friend Beth D. as she was laid up on bed rest last weekend.

By the way, Beth D. saw her doctor on Monday and was released from bed rest and was just told to take it easy. Praise the Lord!

King Ranch Chicken
(from Cooks Country magazine)

Ingredients

12 (6 inch) corn tortillas

1 tbsp unsalted butter

2 med onions, chopped fine

1 - 2 jalapenos, minced (to taste)

2 tsp ground cumin

2 (10 ounce) cans Ro-Tel tomatoes

5 tblsp all-purpose flour

1 cup heavy cream

3 cups chicken broth

1-1/2 lbs chicken

2 tblsp minced fresh cilantro

4 cups shredded Cojack cheese

Salt and pepper

2-1/4 cups Fritos crushed

Directions:

Heat oven to 450. Spray tortillas on both sides with cooking spray and place on cookie sheet. Crisp in oven (about 12 minutes) and break into pieces.

Heat butter in Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Cook onions, chiles, and cumin until lightly browned (about 8 minutes). Add tomatoes and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated (about 10 min). Stir in flour and cook 1 minute. Add cream and broth, bring to simmer, and cook until thickened (2-3 minutes). Stir in chicken and cook until no longer pink (about 4 minutes). Off heat, add cilantro and cheese and stir until cheese is melted. Season with salt and pepper.

Spray 13x9 inch baking dish with cooking spray and scatter half of tortilla pieces inside. Cover with half of the filling, rest of tortilla pieces, and then rest of filling.

Bake until filling is bubbling (about 15 minutes). Sprinkle crushed Fritos evenly over top and bake until Fritos are lightly browned (about 10 minutes). Cool and serve.

I love to serve this with a caesar salad using a southwestern caesar dressing.