Monday's Menu

One of Dude's classes at Scout camp was Dutch Oven Cooking this year. He came home talking about all the wonderful things they made (and as it turned out that was his favorite class/teacher).

One of the things he raved about was King Ranch Chicken. I generally stay away from most of these kinds of things because they have canned tomatoes in them. No one here except Hubby tends to like canned tomatoes in any form (with the exclusion of spaghetti sauce-type things) -- not diced, whole, pureed, etc. Even in the few recipes I have that call for them, I have mostly omitted them. Not many fans here.

So I was a little shocked that he seemed to think this dish was so great. His response was that he just didn't notice them. More shocked.

His mention of this dish multiple times led to him making it for us last week on his night to do dinner. He said he liked it better in the regular oven because the chips were still a little crunchy in places. They all got mushy when the scouts made it in the dutch oven.

That's actually a preference thing, I think, since one of the reviews of this recipe mentioned that some of the chips remaining crunchy was NOT good. So if you'd prefer everything moist, you can use his suggestion of substituting torn up corn tortillas.

By the way, the name comes from the King Ranch -- not because there is any ranch flavored anything in there.

Much to Chick's disappointment.




King Ranch Chicken

appx. 3 lbs. boiled chicken, shredded
1 14.5-oz. package corn tortilla chips
1 10-oz. can diced tomatoes (with green chile peppers is suggested)
2 cans of cream of chicken soup (or other flavors if preferred - cream of mushroom is suggested)
1 onion, chopped
3 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread chips in bottom of a greased 9 x 13 casserole dish.

In a bowl, combine tomatoes, soups, and onion. Pour half of mixture over chips. Spread chicken on top. Sprinkle half of cheese on top of chicken. Spoon remaining soup mixture over all.

Bake for 20 - 30 minutes. Top with remaining cheese and return to oven for about 10 more minutes until cheese is melted.