Cheesy Chicken Tomatillo Casserole

Oct 23 2017

CHEESY Chicken Tomatillo Casserole recipe! This easy dinner Mexican casserole uses 1 pound of tomatillos to make a creamy sauce that is layered with tortilla chips, chicken, black beans and cheddar cheese! I love to make this simple dish when my garden tomatillo plants give me too much and I’m left asking asking “What to do!”.

I’m back with another tomatillo recipe! With another 20 pounds of tomatillos picked from the garden I’m trying to think more outside the salsa verde box and wondering what to do with them! For dinner I wanted to make a easy casserole that included chicken breasts, tomatillos, black beans and cheese so this Cheesy Chicken Tomatillo Casserole was born!

If you love Mexican casseroles I think you’re going to like this dish! The tomatillos are thrown into the food processor with a onion, green pepper, jalapeno pepper, cilantro and spices to make a creamy simple sauce.

Oct 02 2017

EASY, OVEN ROASTED Tomatillos Recipe! Shows you how to cook tomatillo! This tomatillo sauce is DELICIOUS and can be used as a soup stock, chicken tacos salsa, served over rice and so much more! This recipe is canning and freezing friendly, perfect for preserving a overabundance of garden tomatillo plants!

This year our tomatillo plants did a great job in producing tomatillos! We started growing tomatillos a few years ago on the roof and they were so successful, and easy to grow, we made them a permanent plant in the garden. Of course, when we first started growing tomatillos I think we had 6 plants, but as is garden life, now we’re up to 20 something plants.

In all honesty, it might be too many tomatillo plants for the average person but if you love salsa verde and tomatillos as much as me it’s just the right amount! One reason why I love growing a overabundance of tomatillos is becase I get to make Oven Roasted Tomatillos!

Tomatillo Recipes

These Oven Roasted Tomatillos are so easy to make and are perfect for the answer to the question “I have too many tomatillos, what can I make?”. Not only can you serve them immediately for dinner (recipe ideas below!), but they freeze and can amazingly well!

I just froze 10 full bags of these Oven Roasted Tomatillos so I make make Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos in the Winter! Who doesn’t love garden goodies on a cold Winter day?

Oct 04 2016

Slow Cooker Mexican Vegetarian Tomatillo Soup is a comforting recipe filled with healthy vegetables. Unlike other Fall comfort soups this one is low calorie. Soup ingredients include fresh tomatillos, tomatoes, onion, jalapeno, corn and black beans!

I didn’t plan on posting 2 tomatillo recipes this week but when you have a 10 pound basket full of tomatillos staring at you from the kitchen counter you might be persuaded. It finally feels like Fall in NYC and I wanted to use the tomatillos in a Fall recipe instead of the usual salsa I make. W

henever I think of tomatillos my mind always goes to soup so I decided to follow this path and come up with a Mexican inspired soup that uses tomatilos, as well as other garden fresh veggies: black beans, tomatoes, onion, jalapeno and corn.

This tomatillo soup tastes delicious and has a deep flavor due to the vegetables and spices. It’s a comforting soup but doesn’t feel heavy like many other Fall soups. I suggest serving this alongside some rolls or biscuits for dipping.

It warms my heart (literally) to see so many of the vegetables we grew in this soup. The stars of this soup are the tomatillos which are filled with tasty juices that are going to be released in the slow cooker.

The other personal star in this soup are the black beans. Last year we started growing our own dry beans and since then I’ve been hooked. We grow a few different dry beans during the Summer so we can enjoy them in the Fall and Winter.

This recipe calls for 1 cup dry black beans but if you don’t have the time to soak them you can also use 1 can of black beans.

Oct 02 2016

This recipe for Roasted Tomatillo, Onion & Jalapeno Salsa is delicious for dipping chips in! The vegetables are roasted in the oven which creates a creamy salsa!

This year we’ve grown the most tomatillos in our gardening history so I’ve been excited to experiment with new tomatillo recipes. I usually rely on my Tomatillo Salsa Verde recipe to make with our tomatillos (plus it freezes great for preserving) but I wanted to make a Tomatillo Salsa that was creamy, thick but not too thick and very tasty.

This recipe calls for tomatillos, onions and jalapenos which makes it a triple threat if you have all 3 growing in your garden. Roasting them in the oven gives them a rich, smoky taste and helps in making the salsa creamy instead of watery.

This is a perfect salsa to serve alongside tortilla chips, but it’s also delicious to add on top of tacos, burritos and even chili. If you’re looking for a new salsa to try I hope you give this a shot!

Before:

Sep 21 2016

This recipe is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Minute® Ready to Serve Rice. All opinions on flavor are my own. Enjoy this quick Burrito Bowl!

Vegetarian Mexican Burrito Bowl that includes rice, refried beans, corn, tomato, pepper and salsa. Perfect for work lunches or quick dinners as it only takes 5 minutes to make!

Day 3 of Tomato Week! Monday was Marinated Italian Diced Tomatoes. Tuesday was Creamy Roma Tomato Soup. Now I want to show you how to easily use fresh tomatoes in a Mexican dish.

I am loving this 5 minute burrito bowl right now because it’s quick, filling, delicious and uses fresh vegetables from our garden. It’s perfect for lunch (at home or take to work) because it’s so fast to make. I like preparing 2-3 bowls worth of ingredients in the beginning of the week, so I can just throw everything in a container, head to work and then microwave it once it’s lunch time. If you’re craving a quick Burrito Bowl for dinner, this is the recipe for you too! You could even add some extra protein to it, such as chicken or more beans.

Aug 25 2016

Arugula Refried Bean Burrito is a healthy Summer meal made with canned refried beans and fresh arugula. Dinner is made in 5 minutes!

Can you feel that Summer is here? I sure can. With the temperatures rising, the last thing I want to do is eat hot food. Even worse, I definitely don’t want to turn on my stove! These fresh burritos are full of vegetables and will cool you down. They’re perfect to take already made to work, or you can take all the supplies to the park for a picnic with friends and let everyone make their own.

You’ll need 4 flour tortillas. I found these low calorie (60) sundried tomato and basil tortillas in the grocery store that I love. My favorite canned beans are Goya (especially the Rancheros) and Rosarita. You can eat these directly from the can, or you can heat them in the microwave for 1 minute. If you’re going for homemade check out my Refried Black Beans recipe!

Sep 02 2015

Look at all the green vegetables we picked this week on our NYC rooftop garden!

We’re picking tomatoes like wild people but we’re also picking a ton of other vegetables. Right now there’s tomatillos, peppers (jalapeno and bell), soy beans, green beans, yellow beans, watermelon, cantaloupes, cucumbers, radishes and carrots growing. As soon as the soybeans are picked, broccoli will make it’s way to their bins. Once the carrots and radishes are harvested, a quick seed refresh will be planted to hope we can get them regrown by first frost. In our previous onion 4×4 containers a new batch of sugar snap peas were just planted in hopes they will make it before frost as well, although every year they seem to miss it by a week or two.

What’s growing and what are we picking in the garden that’s green? Let’s dive in.

Beans! Yellow beans, green beans, they’re everywhere! In the beginning years of the garden we didn’t have much luck with pole and bush beans but starting last year we tried it again and it worked. This year we decided to expand to pole beans and they are growing awesome. We added new fresh compost fertilizer to the soil and these beans took off. Matthew is 6 feet so check out how big they’ve gotten. The right side won with getting to the top first. :D)

We have multiple gallon sized bags full of green beans in the fridge with us picking more every day. We’ve been enjoying them for dinner sauteed and in vegetable soup (recipe coming soon) and I’ve been freezing a few bags to save until Winter.

Oct 06 2014

Slow Cooker Tomatillo Salsa Roja Chicken Tacos is a delicious authentic Mexican recipe made in your slow cooker. These are so easy to make and perfect for feeding a crowd!

Oh you slow cooked tacos with tomatillo salsa roja.

How many ways do I love you? Many.

I made these last week. We already had them twice. They are already being requested a 3rd time. They are out of this world tasty.

What makes them that special? They are slow cooked, they are made with fresh ingredients and they have that authentic taste. Yeah, they are really good.

For this recipe it’s full of fresh ingredients, down to the salsa which is made from just picked tomatillos, so let’s get started!

Salsa Verde Tacos

The salsa is a mixture of salsa verde + red mexican sauce. For the salsa verde I use my favorite recipe (found here) but I cut it in half. If you can’t make it homemade, just buy a jar of it.

The Red Mexican Sauce includes includes tomatoes, peppers, onions, salt, garlic and coriander. In other words, it’s delicious.

Slow Cooker Tomatillo Salsa Roja Chicken Tacos Recipe

Just mix these together and we have our Tomatillo Salsa Roja already made! I always take a spoonful of this right away. You know, just to check… 🙂

To give it a little bit of a extra kick I like to add green pickled jalapeno peppers to the slow cooker. Once slow cooked the pickled flavor isn’t strong, but instead it’s more about the spice of the jalapenos.

You’re also going to add some dry black beans to this recipe. See these gorgeous black bean? Yeah, we grew them. And yes, I’m totally proud of them.

When it’s almost ready for dinner time, start preparing your toppings and shells. I like to use tostadas. Tostadas are basically a flat taco shell. They are made with corn and extra crunchy. I can usually find a bag of 25 at the bodega for less than $2 so it’s also a steal.

For more toppings, we love cheese, tomatoes, cilantro and lettuce. Why not throw on some sour cream and avocados too?

I always love to have a little bit of salsa verde left so I can pour on a big spoonful on each. I’m a big salsa verde lover, I can’t get enough.

And hello beatiful, let’s eat these!

Crunch Crunch. Delicious!

Hope you guys enjoy these tacos! Make it for a Mexican fiesta one night this week!

Pin for later:

Slow Cooker Tomatillo Salsa Roja Chicken Tacos

Slow Cooker Tomatillo Salsa Roja Chicken Tacos is a delicious authentic Mexican recipe made in your slow cooker. These are so easy to make and perfect for feeding a crowd!

Course Main Course

Cuisine Mexican

Servings 8

Ingredients

For the tomatillo salsa roja

6 ounces tomatillos husked
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1 jalapeno pepper chopped
1 tablespoon cilantro
1 tablespoon lime
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
pinch of pepper
1/4 cup water
1 chicken bouillon cube
7 oz can of La Morena Red Mexican Sauce

For the Slow Cooker Tacos

Tomatilo Salsa Roja that you made above
2 pounds skinless boneless chicken breast - cut in half
1 cup dry black beans
8 oz frozen corn
1/3 cup of La Morena Pickled Jalapeno Peppers - drained

Other

Tostadas

Toppings of Choice

Shredded Cheddar Cheese
Diced Tomatoes
Lettuce
Sour Cream
Avocado
Cilantro

Instructions

To make the salsa

Place all ingredients except bouillon cube and Red Mexican Sauce in a blender. Blend until everything is combined and is salsa consistency.
Pour salsa verde into saucepan and heat on medium high heat. Bring to a boil.
Add bouillon cube and Red Mexican Sauce and stir into salsa verde.
Once boiling simmer for 15 minutes.

To make the Slow Cooker Tacos

Add salsa, chicken, dry black beans, corn and jalapeno peppers in slow cooker.
Set on low for 7.5 hours.
Shred chicken with 2 forks, put back in slow cooker. Cook for additional 30 minutes.
Serve on tostadas and top with your favorite toppings (I do cheese and tomatoes!).

Easy Tomatillo Salsa Verde Recipe

Aug 11 2014

The best Salsa Verde recipe using fresh tomatillos and onions. This recipe is easy to make and freezes great too!

This was the first year trying to grow tomatillos and it was a great big experiment. I was buying a bottle of Salsa Verde almost once a month and then I got Matthew hooked on it too. Then I decided we must grow our own.

So let’s grow some tomatillos.

Tomatillos are a plant of the nightshade family and are related to the gooseberry. They are small, green and grown with a paper like husk around each of them. When growing them first the husk will grow to it’s full size, and then the tomatillo itself will grow next filling the husk. When the tomatillo fills the husk completely then you know they are ready to be picked. Once you bring them into your kitchen, then you peel off the husks and give them a good warm wash as tomatillos are naturally very(!) sticky. From there you can use them in various recipes, freeze or can for later usage.

This year we got some tomatillo seeds and decided to give it a shot. We were pretty unfamiliar with how they would grow, or even what they would look. The season started out a bit rough. Hardly any of our seeds came up when planted inside and we thought it was going to be a bust or only have 1 plant. Having a single plant isn’t the best as most tomatillos need 2 plants to grow successfully for pollination. After hardly any seeds came up, then we planted a few more (also a bust) then a few more. I’m not one to easily give up when it comes to vegetables! We transplanted our single seedling outside in the container and then a few weeks later transplanted a few more once we finally got some actions from the seeds. The tomatillos grew in large size containers and 5 gallon buckets. Right away we realized we underestimated the size and power of tomatillo plants. Here we were double caging the tomatoes to prepare for their height when we should have been getting ready for the incredible growth of the tomatillos instead! These plants grow tall and bushy. They are also extremely hearty and have very strong stems.

You can see the tomatillo plants to the left and in the back.

When the plant started growing we were both surprised (and quite happily startled) by the amount of flowers on a tomatillo plant. Almost every single one of these flowers would turn into a tomatillo! Bees were buzzing happily around these plants pollinating.

Here, the first tomatillo is spotted.

Which then turns into a full size husk. Eventually this will fill up with the tomatillo inside of it.

And then your plants will become taking off and you’ll have tomatillos all over!

This was the first harvest of the tomatillos. I’m pretty happy here! Tomatillos tend to blend in with the plant itself, so finding them basically consists of rooting around in the plant and gently squeezing each husk to see if the tomatillo is full inside. If it is, then pinch it off and throw it in your basket. This here is a few pounds of tomatillos with many many more pounds to pick! From seeds that didn’t come up originally to plants that are now battling for the largest yield of the season these tomatillos have come a long way! They’ll be a permanent fixture in the garden now!

So with all these tomatillos what’s a girl to do besides make Salsa Verde right away? I created this recipe based off many of the backs of bottles ingredient lists that I read over the years of my favorite sauces I buy in store, but keeping it all natural. This salsa is incredibly easy to make and you won’t believe how much it tastes like your favorite brand. It’s really amazing to learn how much flavor a tomatillo has in it’s tiny size!

Your 2 main ingredients in this recipe are tomatillos and a onion. The rest of the ingredients are spices.

We’re going to blend them first instead of blending them later. Why? Tomatillos are juicy inside which means you don’t need to add much water to the recipe itself. If you blend them after the fact, then you need to add water to simmer on the stove which means you’re watering down the recipe. By blending them first we are providing them their natural juices to make it much more full of flavor instead of added water that isn’t needed.

Then after a few seconds in the blender and 15 minutes on the stove, you’ll have some delicious (and amazing smelling!) Salsa Verde!

Did I take a spoonful of this and eat it right away? Yes, I did!
What can you do with this recipe? Well first you can use it as a salsa for chips, it’s incredibly delicious that way.
I love to cook with it though and it’s the perfect sauce to pour over cheesy enchiladas and tacos. It also makes a great companion to creating a Mexican tasting broth for soup.

Only a pound of these tomatillos are going to make 4 cups of sauce. I often make a few batches of this Salsa to both eat fresh, store in the refrigerator for a few days or to freeze. To freeze just pour into a freezer bag and put in freezer. I like to store 1 cup servings in freezer bags as it makes it easier to grab a cup and use in a recipe.

Enjoy!

Easy Tomatillo Salsa Verde Recipe

2014-08-09 01:43:41

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Ingredients

1 pound tomatillos, husked
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 jalapeno peppers, chopped
2 tablespoons cilantro
2 tablespoons lime
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
pinch of pepper
1/2 cup water
1 chicken bouillon cube

Instructions

Place all ingredients except bouillon cube in a blender. Blend until everything is combined and is salsa consistency.
Pour salsa verde into saucepan and heat on medium high heat. Bring to a boil.
Add bouillon cube and stir into salsa verde.
Once boiling simmer for 15 minutes.
Serve immediately, refrigerate or freeze.

Notes

Makes 4 cups.

Brooklyn Farm Girl https://brooklynfarmgirl.com/

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The best Salsa Verde recipe using fresh tomatillos and onions. This recipe is easy to make and freezes great too!

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Garden Harvest Salsa

Black Bean and Corn Salsa

Diced Tomato Salsa

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Enchilada Taco Casserole

Cheesy Jalapeno Sausage Dogs

Jul 01 2014

These Cheesy Jalapeno Sausage Dogs are quickly becoming a Summertime favorite here! We had them a few nights ago and we’re still discussing how good they were. In fact, I’m planning to grill up a few more for dinner tonight!

Who doesn’t love a grilled sausage, covered in cheese? Throw on some Mexican taste of salsa verde, jalapenos and onions and you got a Sausage Dog bursting full of flavor!

We LOVE this Crockpot Mexican Pumpkin Chili recipe. This slow cooker dinner is filled with vegetables and Mexican spices such as green chiles, salsa verde and cumin! You can freeze leftovers!

Sep 03 2013

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We LOVE this Crockpot Mexican Pumpkin Chili recipe. This easy slow cooker dinner is filled with vegetables and Mexican spices such as green chiles, salsa verde and cumin! You can freeze leftovers!

Now I know what you might be thinking.. usually “Mexican” and “Pumpkin” don’t usually go together, but in this recipe they are best friends. They are holding hands, whispering secrets (not about you), planning adventures – they are great pals. In this recipe we have the usual Chili ingredients, but then we’re throwing in pumpkin because whenever you can you should throw pumpkin into any dish. Here’s the great thing about pumpkin, it’s full of great nutrients but hardly changes the taste of meals. It’s an amazing way to make your dinner or brownies more healthy and better for you. Who doesn’t want that?

Health facts on pumpkin:
It’s full of fiber. Half a cup has 3.5 grams of fiber.
It’s loaded with Vitamin A, alpha and beta-carotenes and is a good source of vitamins C, K, and E.
1 cup of pumpkin puree supplies 3.4 grams of iron which will support a strong immune system and keep you from getting sick.
Pumpkin’s orange color is a clue to its high antioxidant content. Some doctors say that the compounds in pumpkin can help prevent lung cancer, heart disease as well as Type 2 diabetes and arthritis.
It will help support healthy digestion.
One cup of pumpkin puree contains just 83 calories. Compare that to the oils you might use instead!

Pumpkin is amazing – isn’t it?
And don’t forget pumpkin puree is so easy to make!

So what makes this Chili Mexican? Well we’re going to spice it up with green chiles, salsa verde, cumin and we’re going to throw corn into this! If you want you can even throw avocado on top when it’s done!

Other bonuses: Chili freezes amazing, so feel free to make this in advance and keep for that chilly night when your’e feeling lazy and just want to curl under the blankets with your softest socks on!

I love beans so I had to add both black beans and kidney beans. Also I love using ground turkey for chili as a healthy alternative to ground beef.

Once you take the first bite, you’ll be one happy pumpkin loving friend!

Enjoy this Crockpot Mexican Pumpkin Chili!

Crockpot Mexican Pumpkin Chili

We LOVE this Crockpot Mexican Pumpkin Chili recipe. This easy slow cooker dinner is filled with vegetables and Mexican spices such as green chiles, salsa verde and cumin! You can freeze leftovers!