Sherry Ruddell

MEXICAN VEGETARIAN CASSEROLE…A FRIDAY FREEZER MEAL!

I’m excited to share this recipe with you. This is a yummy recipe that my family loves…especially my daughter, who isn’t a fan of a lot of meats. This is also a good recipe to use right now, when grocery supplies are low, and people aren’t wanting to go to the store. Is the Corona Virus taking its toll on you and your pantry? I had everything for this recipe, in my pantry or refrigerator, except for the bunch of green onions. I purchased that. I’m not sure of the origin of this recipe, because I typed it up for my files. I will tell you that this is not my original recipe.

This recipe says to spoon into a greased 13 x 9 inch baking dish. I decided to use two 8×8 pans. One of the pans, we had for dinner. The other one went to the freezer. Be sure and label the recipe name, the date, and instructions for baking. It’s so nice to be able to pull out a meal from the freezer, when you have a busy day planned. I usually thaw mine over night. I covered mine with foil, for the first 30 minutes, and then removed the foil so the cheese could melt nicely. Enjoy!

MEXICAN VEGETARIAN CASSEROLE

1 c. uncooked rice

1 – 15 1/4 oz. can whole kernel corn, drained

1 – 15 oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 – 10 oz. can tomatoes and green chiles (Rotel or store brand)

1 – 8 oz. Carton sour cream (you can use low fat but not fat free)

1 – 8 oz. jar picante sauce

2 c. (8oz) shredded Cheddar Cheese

1/4 teaspoon pepper

Cook rice according to directions. You should have about 2 1/2 c.. Cool slightly. Combine rice with above ingredients in a large bowl. Spoon into a lightly greased 13 x 9 inch baking dish or two 8 x 8 inch pans.

Sprinkle with:

1 bunch green onions, chopped

1 – 2 1/4 oz. can sliced ripe olives

1 – 8 oz. pkg. Monterey Jack cheese, shredded

Bake one at 350* for 50 minutes.

TO FREEZE: Cover the pan with foil. Label with the recipe title, the date, and cooking instructions.

TO COOK FROM FROZEN: Remove from freezer and thaw overnight. Bake as noted above. I sometimes add extra minutes to the cooking time. Remove the foil for the last 10 minutes of cooking.

It’s hard to mess up this recipe. The last time I made it, I started putting in all of the ingredients and got carried away. I put the green onions and sliced ripe olives in with the rest of the ingredients. Then I looked at the recipe for the topping, and went OOPS! So I dug out a bit of green onions and a few olives, and put them on top. I also added some whole ripe olives, and then the cheese. It all tasted good.

Leave me a comment to let me know how you liked this recipe. Subscribe to my blog.

Have a great day!

Grandma Sherry

What’s New at Nana School?

Nana School had school picture day! What else has been happening? Check out here!

Here we are, in week four,of the Corona Virus “Shelter in Place” mandate. I’m in Texas, so you may be in week seven or eight. Four weeks is enough to drive people a bit batty. We’re being very careful about trying to stay home, most of the time. Thankfully, we can still go out for walks or biking. I don’t know how many young families are coping with trying to homeschool the kids, through Zoom or otherwise, and also working at home, as adults. My daughter is working at home, and we are watching her three year old, Isaac, three days a week.

Isaac and I have “Nana School”. He’s at that age where he’s like a little sponge….just soaking up everything he can. Luckily, he still takes naps, right after lunch. I don’t know how much longer that will last. He likes to cook, play with cars and puzzles, and be silly. Last week, he heard somewhere that some kids get “school pictures” made. He wanted to get his school picture made. LOL So, he came all dressed up, and I dressed up. We did school photos.

Even Bill, the dog, posed for this photo.

We’ve been working on learning the alphabet and making little words. He’s learning to count to 20. Those numbers between 10 and 20 are tricky. Once you get to 20, it’s Easy-Peasy! He uses the counting bears to count the numbers, and also makes patterns with them.

Number puzzles. Never mind the dirty table!

Today, we did some Science. I brought out Dick’s shell collection, a book about shells, and a magnifying glass and glasses. Isaac sorted, listened for the ocean, and just enjoyed seeing them. We compared some to others. It turned out to be a great experience.

Otherwise, in the house, we’re getting ready to paint some of the hallways, and eventually our bedroom. We seem to have a lot of time to work on things. Dick has been taping the edges. We have really high ceilings in places, and I worry about him on the ladder.

What are you doing to entertain the little people in your house? What about the rest of your families? Leave me a comment either below or to the side of the post, where it says Comments. I need to approve it, usually, and then it’ll show up.

Stay safe. Stay home. Stay sober. Enjoy the down time. Are you organizing, or are you past that? I have a lot to declutter yet.

Grandma Sherry

CHICKEN STUFFING CASSEROLE…A FRIDAY FREEZER MEAL

Who DOESN’T want a good freezer meal to pull out for dinner, in these uncertain times? Check out my recipe for Chicken Stuffing casserole.

Ohhhh!!! Gotta love a good Freezer Meal. I made this casserole yesterday, and had an extra one to put in the freezer. My family loves this recipe. I originally found this recipe in my “Taste of Home Freezer Pleasers Cookbook”. This recipe was originally submitted by Cathy Smith, of Wyoming, Michigan. I highly recommend this cookbook. I find so many good recipes to add to my freezer meals. So here’s the recipe. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

2 pkg. (6 oz. each) chicken stuffing mix

2 cans (10 3/4 oz. each) condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted

1 c. milk

4 c. cubed cooked chicken

2 c. frozen corn

2 cans (8 oz. each) mushroom stems and pieces, drained

4 cups (16 oz.) shredded cheddar cheese

Grease 2 pans, and heat oven to 350*

Put the prepared stuffing on bottom of pan, Layer chicken on top.

Prepare stuffing mixes according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine soup and milk; set aside. Spread the stuffing into two greased 8 in. square baking dishes. Layer with the chicken, corn, mushrooms, soup mixture and cheese. (Could be one 9 x 13 pan.)

Cover and freeze one casserole for up to 3 months. Make sure that you write the date and directions on the foil cover. Cover and bake the second casserole at 350* for 30 – 35 minutes or until cheese is melted.

To use frozen casserole: Remove from the freezer 30 minutes before baking. (do not thaw). Bake at 350 for 1 1/2 hours. Uncover; bake 10 – 15 minutes longer or until heated through. Yield: 2 casseroles (6 servings each).

Note: I had one of my casseroles a little thicker, in a ceramic baking dish. It took a little longer to bake. I left the foil on the pan, until the last 15 minutes of baking, and then baked until the cheese was melted.

This was great with a salad, cheese bread, a veggie and brownies for dessert. My family thoroughly enjoyed this!

Enjoy,

Grandma Sherry

A DOSE OF GRANDKIDS, AND A DOSE OF ORGANIZING

Wow! The world is changing so much! It’s rather crazy out there. Have you washed your hands lately?? Sterilized your light switches and door knobs? Are you under a Lock Down or Shelter In Place? We are learning a whole new way of life, and we are under a Shelter In Place mandate.

We can go to the grocery store, and stay 6 ft. away from other customers. Many of the shelves are bare, because people are hoarding toilet paper, sterilization products and various kinds of food. I tried ordering, online, at our local HEB store. I went and picked up my order. Luckily, I had to wait on the car in front of me to get their order. Meanwhile, they brought another load of groceries out, and called my name. WHAT? I already had my order. The gal had given me the wrong order, and so they unloaded my trunk and put in the new order. They’re doing the best they can, but having lots of people from other departments help them out.

Batman and the Princess…they kind of fought over the magic wand.

And then they mixed the paints together. Oh brother!

At the beginning of our Shelter In Place order, my grandkids came and visited from Austin area. They stayed the week with us…they were on their Spring Break. My youngest grandson, Isaac, came for a couple of days to join them. They were delightful and playing and playing. We did some Nana school, made green pancakes for St. Patrick’s Day, and Batman took care of the Princess. He finally wore out. Boppa and Nana were also worn out. But it was entertaining for us, and it was so quiet after they left.

I discovered Facebook Market Place, about a week before our mandate. I was excited to sell my old milk can to a guy from Wichita. He was so excited! I also sold some old VCR videos that I used in the classroom. Since then, I haven’t tried much to sell anything.

The futon also serves as the garage for the cars.

I feel calmer now. My daughter painted the big monkey. It’s little bitty dots.

I was thinking about selling the futon, that folds out into a bed, in the playroom. It is a small room, and it just took up too much room. The grandkids don’t usually sleep on it anyway. But when I folded it up, it made such a difference in the room, that I kept it. It was a good place to sit. I organized the playroom, recycling a stacked drawer cart that we had in the garage. I put it in the closet, and put extra things in those drawers. Sent a bunch of things to Goodwill. It all looks a lot neater. Now…just to keep it that way.

We just bought paint to work on the inside of our house. That, and working outside in the flower beds, will be our next project. I’ve started on a closet that is driving me crazy. I gave a couple of piano lessons over Zoom. I have much admiration for teachers, who are using Zoom for their lessons. What a neat app!

How are you doing? Everyone have enough essentials? I’m missing my friends. Need to play some poker!!! Need to play some Bunco! But I’m blessed to be able to walk the neighborhood, and have enough food. Everyone stay healthy! I know it’s hard to respond on here…let me know on Facebook or Instagram as to how you are doing.

Thinking of you,

Grandma Sherry

JUST CALL ME SUCKER!

I AM A SUCKER! Read on to find out why this happened. Oh my!

OK….I’ll get to that part in a bit. I am totally humiliated by the idiotic thing I did. Never let me go shopping again, in a port of call!

We’ve had a good January and February. I’ve done some organizing, and am STILL organizing. We had a Super Bowl party at our house, enjoyed our grandkids, celebrated our anniversary, and went on a cruise.

ORGANIZING…I threw out 3/4 of my tupperware type of containers. Then I bought some new ones, with matching lids. The problem with my containers, is my daughter and family come over for dinner, and then they take home food in one of my containers. Somewhere along the way, things disappear. So now I have less things and everything has lids. Woohoo!

This week, I watched “Jamie’s Journey”, on You Tube, and admired her clear plastic bins that she had for her refrigerator. I thought that could be a big improvement for mine, so I ordered a set. When my husband saw the box, he said “where are you going to put them? The refrigerator is full of food!” Silly man. I cleaned out the fridge, and organized things in my containers. You can’t see them very well, in the photo, but it’s so much nicer.

We had the Super Bowl party at our house, and I won $80. Woohoo! Had several young teenagers here, plus Isaac. Good game and ads, but we felt the half-time show was pretty risque. Suddenly, during half time, I looked up and it appeared we had our own half-time show! My daughter was riding the tricycle. My word!

We used to live in Toledo, OH, for 14 years. About 16 years ago, we moved to Texas. But we still keep in touch with the fun group we used to hang out with. When we lived in Toledo, our “gang” took a cruise together. We celebrated our 25th Wedding Anniversary on that cruise. Last week, we toured again, and Dick and I celebrated our 44th Anniversary. We had so much fun! We miss having a fun group like this to hang out with.

Well….here’s my Sucker Moment on the cruise. I went down the main shopping street in Nassau. There was a gal, standing outside of a store, with a sample of a skin care pad. I took one, and she lured me into the store to try out a cream to fix the bags under my eyes. She put on some nice cream, and then the pressure started to have me buy it. It was ONLY $1,000! WHAT??? No way. Well, she could make a deal with me….(she whispered this)…she had a pkg. that had a torn area in the celephane covering. She could sell that to me for $130. So…SUCKER…SUCKER…SUCKER…I bought it.

Oh my gosh! What was I thinking? It doesn’t look like the same stuff, though it’s in a pretty container. When we returned home, I looked up the company and the reviews. Everyone said that it was a big fraud and it wasn’t the same thing that they thought they were paying for. So I say unto you…don’t let them sucker you into the store! DON’T BUY IT!

Have a good week. Let me know what time, if any, that YOU got suckered into something.

Toodles,

Grandma Sherry

Author: Sherry Ruddell

MEXICAN VEGETARIAN CASSEROLE…A FRIDAY FREEZER MEAL!

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What’s New at Nana School?

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CHICKEN STUFFING CASSEROLE…A FRIDAY FREEZER MEAL

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A DOSE OF GRANDKIDS, AND A DOSE OF ORGANIZING

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JUST CALL ME SUCKER!

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