Casseroles & Christmas

Peeps, I have been in a mad whirlwind the past week trying to gets all my holiday shopping done. I will tell you that with the exception of a few things, I pretty much did all my shopping online this year. And it was all kinds of awesome. I mean, no running around to stores looking for the right size, or color, or item and being frustrated. Just click, click, click and it comes right to your door. Even gift certificates. It's great. Especially with all the free shipping most sites offer nowdays.

Anyhoodle, I wanted to catch you all up on some of the cookery I have been doing here at Casa Bunny. When going back through my photos, I realized that I have been cooking lots of casseroles. I suppose the cooler weather we have been having (up until this week, anyway, which has been unseasonably hotter than balls) brings out the desire for comfort food. You know, creamy goodness. Carbs. Things with the word "pie" in the title. And that use canned soups.

This recipe is a Publix Apron Meal which rarely disappoint. Publix calls this "Homestyle Chicken Tender Bake." I call this "Chicken Pot Shepherd's Pie."

This is SERIOUS comfort food. Chicken tenders, gravy, mashed potatoes, carrots and peas. It was basic cooking at its best (all cans and jars) but tasty, nevertheless. Next on the list: Chili Cornbread Pie.

I actually gots this idea at Trader Joe's. They used their canned chili, but I used leftover homemade chili. Simply place the chili in the bottom of a 8x8 or 9x9 casserole, stir up a box or two of yellow cornbread mix, pour on top of the chili, and then bake according to the cornbread directions. This was....okay. The cornbread was a little mealy underneath (I guess I did not let it cook long enough??) and the cheese topping just sat there. I wonder if putting the cheese on top of the chili, then topping with the cornbread mix would work better?? Not sure I want to try again to find out. Then, I made these:

Chicken Enchiladas with Green Chili-Sour Cream Sauce. Hot damn, are these delicious. This was a Pinterest recipe. God, I wish I had some now. I made them with leftover Crockpot Mexican Chicken.

What I loved about these enchiladas is that they were seriously creamy. Lots of sauce. Yummy, yummy sauce. If you didn't want to cook chicken, I think they would be great made with shredded-up rotisserie chicken, too. And they made a ton. But we ate a lot. And, then, this week, I made this creamy confection:

Chicken Tetrazzini from Bo over at Bo's Bowl. I have never met a recipe from Bo that I did not like. This one was exceptionally easy and oh-so-frickin' yummers. Yes, it uses three kinds of cream of something soups. Which makes it all the more fabulous in my book. In my culinary dreams, Bo and I rent a house at the beach for a three day weekend and cook, eat and drink ourselves into a stupor. It will be lovely and will involve lots of chocolate, cream soups, and sausage. But NO CURRY, Bo! I just cannot do curry. It's a long story that involves my sophomore-year college roommate, an Indian boyfriend and a couch. Still too traumatized to discuss.

Lastly, this one has nothing to do with cooking but Little Miss Sunshine State asked me to post a photo of our Christmas Closet (where all the Casa Bunny holiday decor is stored) several months ago and I actually REMEMBERED to do it but have forgot to post, until now.

So, here it is, LMSS! It is an elaborate puzzled web of bins, boxes and bags that if one is taken out, all will suffer! It could be a lot better, but it works for us now. As long as we do not buy ONE MORE THING. Right.

Well, I am off. I am trying to get to bed early tonight because I have a busy weekend and need to get some extra ZZZ's. Hope you are all having a great week! XO, Bunny.