Family Favorite Recipe

Many of our family's favorite recipes

are recipes that have been in my family for generations.

Today I am going to share a recipe for

King Ranch Chicken,

which is from my paternal grandmother.

Here is a pretty picture of this casserole

source

 

She and my grandfather are originally from Ohio,

but lived in Houston, Texas for most of the time I can remember.

She loved to cook, but was famous for several dishes.

King Ranch Chicken was one of them...

It is a very popular Tex-Mex casserole,

that supposedly originated on King Ranch in South Texas

(although that has not been proven).

There are MANY variations on this recipe,

but most have the same four core ingredients:

chicken, Ro-Tel tomatoes, cream of chicken soup, and cream of mushroom soup.

 

Here is my Grandmother's recipe

King Ranch Chicken
2 cups cubed or shredded chicken, cooked
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can Ro-Tel tomatoes
1 medium onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
2 Tbsp butter
1 tsp chili powder
dash of Tobasco
dash of Lea & Perrins
2 cups cheddar cheese
12 six inch flour tortillas, torn in small pieces

1. Saute peppers and onions in butter until tender in large skillet.

2. Add chicken, soups, tomatoes, chili powder, Tobasco, and Lea & Perrins,
and cook until hot.

3. Butter bottom of 9x13 pan and cover bottom of pan with tortillas.

4. Add half of chicken mixture.

5. Sprinkle with cheese, and repeat layers.

6. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until bubbly.

I sometimes use crushed Doritos instead of the tortillas.
You can also buy a rotisserie chicken and shred that to save time.
I also garnish with sour cream and black olives.

I debated whether to take some pictures of me making this in my
fabulous 1980's kitchen, but decided it would be too distracting
as everyone would be drooling over my kitchen and not my casserole.
(you can see I went the Doritos route and forgot to buy the green pepper tonight)

 

 

My kids LOVE this casserole.  

 

 

Twins...can they EVER both smile?

 

Sweet D keeping me company while I was cooking...

notice the two computers, ipad, and smart phone...LOL.

Guess who the ham is in this family?

 

  As I mentioned, there are many variations on this recipe...

sometimes I play around with it myself,
but my grandmother's is always the best! 

 

My grandmother passed away many years ago,

but I have her recipe file,

and I love having her recipes written in her own handwriting.
I'll share some more of my family recipes this fall and winter.