We’re feeling a {bit} more alive over here. We’ve done errands, relaxed, drank coffee, and soon, I’m going on a run. Sunday started off rough, but it’s getting better. 
Our errands included more furniture shopping for the new clinic, as well as the weekly Sunday grocery trip. Now that my brother-in-law lives with us, our fridge always seems SO full. Well, at least on Sundays. Saturday is a different story…
I let the men handle the groceries, and I whipped up this lovely casserole. It’s actually for Nick since I can’t eat dairy right now (here’s why). He wanted to make a casserole to last him through the work week, and I told him that he had to try my Santa Fe Casserole.
This is a slightly different version of the original recipe, just tweaked slightly to accommodate new veggies.
Really and really, I believe my top three recipes EVER are Santa Fe Casserole, Quiche Cornbread, and Pancake Truffles. But this casserole may be numero uno. It’s that good.
Santa Fe Casserole (Remix)
Ingredients:
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1/2 cup red onion, chopped
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1 tablespoon garlic
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1/2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
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Pinch of salt
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1/2 tablespoon chili powder
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1/2 tablespoon pepper
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1 can dark kidney beans, rinsed and drained
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3/4 cup milk
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1 and 1/2 cup brown rice, cooked (I used white in this version because we’re all out of brown)
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2 eggs, beaten
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1 and 1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
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1 red pepper, sliced
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1 cup white mushrooms, sliced
Preparation:
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Heat oven to 350 degrees and spray a casserole dish with cooking spray.
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In a skillet, cook the onion, garlic, and oil on Medium High until tender. Add the salt and chili powder.
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In a large mixing bowl, mix together the pepper, milk, beans, COOKED brown rice, eggs, cheddar cheese, red pepper and mushrooms.
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Pour mixture into casserole dish and sprinkle with extra pepper.
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Bake casserole for 25 minutes or until center is firm.
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Let cool 5 minutes and serve.
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Enjoy!
In other news…
I have been logging every minute of my day by activity in accordance to the book 168 Hours, a time management guide. After a week, I’m going to crunch the numbers to see how, exactly, I spend my 168 hours. It’s interesting (and scary) to say the least.
What did you spend the most time on this weekend? Besides sleep, I spent the most time on baby care and errands. I wish I had spent more time outside – off to remedy that right now!
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{ 41 comments… read them below or add one }
caitlin,
glad your day is getting better. i bet a little sleeps helps a lot! why didn’t you make the casserole with vegan cheese like daiya? i bet it work out beautifully . looks delish either way though and now i have got to check out your pancake truffles!
It bet it would work!
I spent most of my weekend at work, yay for productivity!
hmmm I’m not sure, probably walking around/riding the bus and hopefully a lot was studying… haha.
I need to try this casserole but I’ll probably add a ton of veggies to balance out the cheese (hey- I’m from Wisconsin and need to balance my cheese to veggie ratio somehow). I worked more than anything this weekend. And I worked a ton on a baby afghan I am crocheting for my best friend who is having her first baby in January!
My Sunday was relaxing, going to the gym, and then laundromat (ugh). Tonight will be dinner and probably TV with the boyfriend – relaxing Sunday for sure!
Hahaha I literally just pulled this out of my oven without reading this post first. Great minds think alike
That looks delicious! Henry looks so strong on his tummy!!!
I spent the most time wedding planning! We visited four venues, started our registry, and began researching photographers. PHEW.
The casserole looks awesome!
Could your baby be any cuter? Seriously.
I am going to try your casserole this week! I also avoid dairy most of the time, so ill probably use daiya. Have you tried dairy free cheese?
I have not! Let me know how it goes.
That looks delicious!
That sounds like an interesting book! I’m looking forward to reading about what you discover.
That casserole looks amazing!
I’ve spent the most time of breastfeeding and eating large amounts of fruit and liters of water. Can’t. Stop. Eating. Always. Seem. Dehydrated!
Happy Sunday, girl!
Most of my day was spent caring for my 5 week old son and pumping (blah to the pumping – i feel like it’s attached permanently to me)
Try reading a book while you pump
It helps pass the time and gives me something to look forward to.
I spent the weekend cooking and resting. The baby and the six year old are sick, and they gave it to me. I’ve been trying to rest, drinking tea,eating chicken soup. The baby wants to nurse more frequently too.
I have a 5 month old little girl and I wanted to tell you that we went through the EXACT same thing 2 weeks ago (re: yesterdays posting.) She was waking up every 45 minutes all night for a week. I was losing it. Finally my Mom took her for the night and bottle fed her and she slept all night. Turns out I was underfeeding her. I think she hit the 5 month mark and became way more active (mentally and physically) and all of a sudden needed more calories. I have been breastfeeding, but my husband now gives her about 8 oz in a bottle before bed and that solved the problem immediatly. She’s back to getting up just once or twice.
I know you’re bottle feeding generally so it may work for you, may not, but thought I’d share incase it’s that simple.
Hope you get some sleep tonight!
I think I told you this a couple months ago, but your Santa Fe Casserole has become a staple in my household, too! We have been loving it for about a year now.
Oh my God, Henry is getting cuter as the days go by. He is developing that awesome John Travolta chin! You’re going to have a mob of adolescent girls at your door in about 13 years
I agree with Catherine: Henry is such a handsome little guy.
I’m going to make the SFC this week but might add some more beans (black would be perfect!) and an extra green or yellow pepper.
Do you think a simple homemade GF vegan cheese sauce would work in place of the shredded cheese?
I am inspired to check out this 168 Hours book. I’d be a little scared to take an inventory of how I spend my time, but I imagine it would be illuminating.
So glad you were able to get that nap in and make such a spectacular meal (even if you can’t eat it!). I hope you managed to find way to make one sans dairy for next time.
Henry looks just like your dad!
I think I spent the most amount of time this weekend on transportation- getting to or from somewhere. I chose to walk most of the time instead of taking the (slow and unreliable) bus, but it sucked up a ton of time.
I spent the weekend cooking and working on the food blog I just started. All this website design stuff is a lot to figure out, so I’m probably taking 10x longer than you pros!
Oh, and I went to a fun wine tasting event to raise money for women’s education. Wine is always a good way to spend time. Your casserole looks delicious!
Oh wow, I would be scared to document every hour of my day. But it would be helpful to see where I waste my time…
That casserole looks amazing! I love all the flavours in it.
I probably spent most of my time cooking this weekend! Between making lentil soup, applesauce, and bison steaks with a red wine shallot sauce, I feel like I spent the whole time in the kitchen!
I have a bit of a random question – since you pump exclusively, how do you deal with the cluster feeding that comes with growth spurts/the 4 month sleep regression? Do you start pumping a lot extra and give Henry lots of extra bottles? How do you know how much more to give him? When my girl would go through growth spurts she’d just start nursing like crazy (every hour or two) for a few days until my supply adjusted, so I never had to worry about how much/when to increase her milk intake. I was just curious how you deal with that since you only pump.
And your casserole looks delicious, by the way!
I pump in response to his eating and tay 1 bottle ahead. So I just increase pumping!
Henry is looking more and more like you these days, he is so precious! This weekend I went to a Halloween party, and today I am paying the price. Tired and cranky, but at least it’s sunny out! Havea great day : )
Girl – stop counting up how you are spending your hours and just LIVE those hours. Please. Don’t overthink time. Just use it, do it, be it. I work in an environment surrounded by old people/dying people all day long. It is very difficult and trying…but also very enlightening in that can see how quickly life goes and how sad it can be…
Wow, I wonder how many minutes logging your day’s activity down to the minute takes? ha.
Your son is super cute…I’m biased though because I also have a Henry.
Thinking about, worrying about, and finally running in my first half marathon. Then spent the majority of yesterday in lower body pain from it
Ohh I have most of the ingredients to that casserole in my kitchen already. Love it when that happens! Embarrassingly enough, I spent the most time this weekend on my couch! I have never in my life been so lazy, but it did feel nice to relax and catch up on movies with the bf. Can’t believe it took me this long to see Hunger Games!
Thought of you when I read this, you can freeze coffee creamer for up to four months! May help prevent you from running out. http://www.myrecipes.com/how-to/freezer-storage-guide-10000001826327/
I love that book! Are you going to share you 168hour breakdown? I’d be really interested to read it!
Yup! At the end of the week.
Tried this recipe tonight, it was delicious! I made a couple of modifications but still the same basic recipe. Thanks for sharing!
Long time reader, first time commenter
I just had to say that I made this recipe tonight and LOVED it. So good w/ hot sauce. I’m passing it on to my mom and BF. Thanks!
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