Tamale Casserole Recipe

We had a long day of driving back from southern Illinois today and my bf and I were tired and hungry when we got back. I made tamale casserole for dinner from a recipe that I adapted from one of my Cooking Light emails. We almost finished off the pan. It takes no time and tastes awesome.

Tamale Casserole
What you'll need....
1/4 cup and 1.5 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend
1/3 cup skim milk
1/4 cup egg substitute
1 tsp cumin
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1 can (14.75 oz) cream corn
1 box corn muffin mix (8.5 oz - I used Jiffy)
1 can green chiles (7 oz) - drain off some of the liquid
1 can enchilada sauce (10 oz - I used my favorite... Old El Paso)
2 cups shredded cooked chicken breast (If you don't feel like cooking chicken breasts... get a rotisserie chicken and shred the breasts)

What to do...
- Preheat oven to 400 deg

- Combine the 1/4 cup cheese, the milk, eggs, spices, cream corn, corn bread mix and green chiles in a bowl (it mixes very easily)
- Pour into a 13x9 in pan thats coated with cooking spray.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until set (watch it because the original recipe calls for 15 minutes, but mine took approx 23 min).
- Pierce liberally with a fork and pour enchilada sauce on top.

- Top with chicken and 1.5 cups cheese.

- Bake again for approx 10 min (cheese should be melted).
- Remove from oven and let stand for 5 min.

- ENJOY!!!

The reason why I called this blog So Full in the Windy City.....

When looking at food blogs makes you nauseous... that's how you know you're SO FULL. OH MAN... WHAT A MEAL. Had a rough day at work and my foot hurt and I was tired and crabby. Cue my boyfriend. "You had a bad day.... why don't we have another date night (another because we had date night on Friday and Saturday this weekend)?"

We've been wanting to try Volare, an always busy Italian restaurant that's close to our apartments. We've tried to go on a random Tuesday without a reservation and the wait was over an hour. So we called to get a last minute reservation and much to our surprise, we were able to get in at the last minute.

We sat in the heated, closed-in outside seating area which was a little quieter than the inside of the restaurant. Here's the review....

Volare (http://www.volarerestaurant.com)

Location: 201 East Grand (just a block off of Michigan Ave).

Food:  We ate a lot and it was good. They bring out a basket of 2 types of bread... a baguette and a delicious focaccia. There was olive oil and a bowl of parmesan on the table to dip the bread in as well. We started off with the steamed mussels in a white wine and garlic sauce. The mussels were on top of two delicious crostinis that were soggy from the sauce... amazing. There was plenty of sauce left to dip the bread in.... it was a tough decision on which to use... the broth or the olive oil/parmesan combo. Here's a pic of the already eaten mussels. We got so excited, we forgot to take a picture :O)

Entrees: I had the handmade ricotta gnocchi with the Arrabbiata sauce. It was amazing. The gnocchi were slightly less chewy than the potato version and a little more creamy. They were delicious. The sauce had tons of flavor. It's a spicy tomato sauce with pancetta and tons of garlic. I was concerned on whether the flavor and texture of the gnocchi could hold up to the arrabbiata sauce.... it was a great combination.  I ate the ENTIRE plate. 

My boyfriend had the pasta special. It was a handmade ravioli filled with braised beef in a tomato cream sauce with sauteed mushrooms. Again... delicious. The beef-filled ravioli were one of the best fillings I've ever tried. It was a pulled beef (reminded me of durkee beef... which I'll post a recipe for next time I make it). The sauce was delicious as well. This is one of those dishes I must try to duplicate. 

For dessert (yes, we had dessert too!) we had the creme brulee trio... one chocolate, one vanilla, and one Baileys. These were delicious. The Baileys creme brulee may have been my favorite. I even enjoyed the chocolate (and I'm not a huge chocolate fan). 

Drinks:  Great wine list. We were both in the mood for a pinot grigio and picked one out at random. The waiter suggested a new wine on their list that was a similar price and also a pinot grigio. The wine was awesome and really went well with our entire meal. 

Service: Great service. Water glasses were always full and food didn't take very long. 

Atmosphere: Small. Loud. Fun. 

Price:  Fairly typical for a nice Italian dinner in Chicago... let's be honest we ate a ton. Entrees were around $15.  

Another similar spot:   Topo Gigio in Old Town... also delicious. Great outdoor seating when the weather is nice. 

Klay Oven

Oh Indian food.... how I love you.

Last night my boyfriend took me out to dinner at Klay Oven.

Here's my review:

Klay Oven (http://www.klayovenrestaurant.com)

Location: 414 North Orleans (a quick walk from Merchandise Mart Brown Line stop).

Food:  This was my first time at Klay Oven. I've frequented Indian Garden and India House on multiple occasions, but I think Klay Oven is my favorite so far.  We always order too much food when we go to Indian Restaurants and last night was no different. 


We started off with the samosas. I love samosas and have been spoiled in the past because my friend's mom makes amazing samosas that she often shares with me.  The samosas at Klay Oven were delicious. Great seasonings (ginger, coriander and mango) and filled with potatoes and peas. They were cooked perfectly... crisp shell, not too oily.  And the chutneys were good as well. See picture below (from their website).

As far as the main course goes, one of my favorite Indian dishes is Chicken Tikka Masala, so we usually get it as one of our dishes. The Chooza Tikka Masala at Klay Oven was very good but fairly standard (fyi: standard for me = delicious). The chicken was soft and cooked well and the seasonings were great (as usual per my opinion). The website describes it as boneless chicken cubes marinated in yogurt and fresh lemon, roasted in a klay oven and stir fried in gravy. Mmmm... I'm about ready to dig into the leftovers right now!


We also got the Hing Dal. Wow! Delicious. Yellow dal seasoned with asafoetida. I just looked this spice up and it's interesting. It's an herb that native to Iran that gives foods a onion/leek and garlic flavor when cooked.  This was without a doubt, my favorite yellow dal dish I've ordered thus far. It was spicy but not hot. Man, the flavors in this dish were amazing. I highly recommend this dish if you enjoy dal. 


Our third dish was mushroom muttar... and this one was our favorite. The dish is sliced mushrooms and peas seasoned with herbs and spices in a delicious curry sauce. The mushrooms were fresh (not soggy or rubbery) and the peas were even really good. The gravy was amazing. LOVED THIS. Also spicy but not hot. 


To go with the meal, we got the rice with peas and one order of plain naan, one of garlic naan. The rice was awesome! Flavored well and the peas add a nice touch. The naan was good (garlic is my favorite). 


Drinks: We both enjoyed a Kingfisher. They also had a wine list and a few cocktails. 

Service: Good service. Water glasses were always full and food didn't take very long. 

Atmosphere: Relaxed and comfortable, but still nice. 

Price: Indian restaurants are always a little on the more expensive end in my opinion but maybe that's because we always order a lot of food. Bill was around $60 but we had a lot of food and lots of leftovers.  

Another similar spot:  Indian Garden and India House.... both good, but I liked Klay Oven the best. All three of these places have a lunch buffett. I haven't had the lunch buffett at Klay Oven yet. The buffett at India House is GREAT. Good variety and food is fresh. Indian Garden's buffett is good too.