The Perfect Pantry®

Chicken tortilla casserole recipe

Most of the time, I'm not the person who encourages you to open a bunch of cans and call it cooking. Today, I'm that person. Some regional ingredients, like the enchilada sauce and roasted green chiles in this chicken tortilla casserole, are hard to find in my part of the world in any other form, and if that's your situation, you have my permission to reach for your can opener. Although I call this a tortilla casserole, the recipe only calls for two tortillas -- oat bran tortillas, which are low in calories and carbs. Swap in your favorite whole grain tortillas, but don't omit them; they keep everything else from collapsing before the casserole cooks through. For an easy worknight dinner, use a rotisserie chicken or any leftover cooked chicken. You can prep the chicken-and-bean filling a few days in advance and store it in the refrigerator. Then, when you're ready to serve the casserole, assemble the layers with tortillas and cheese, and bake. Serve with traditional tortilla toppings like chunks of avocado and sour cream on the side.

Four favorite ways to use smoked paprika

How does an ingredient earn its way onto The Perfect Pantry's permanent shelf space? One of two ways: It must be something I use in many recipes, or something indispensable to one treasured recipe I make over and over again. The premise of this blog always has been to encourage you to buy an ingredient called for in one recipe by promising to share more ways to use that ingredient. Have you tried smoked paprika yet?

Recipe for slow cooker chicken and pinto bean burrito bowl

I'm a gal who loves a good burrito, the overstuffed kind that dribbles down your chin when you bite into it: meat, beans and rice, guacamole, maybe some sour cream, and salsa, bundled up in a tortilla. I love it all. Everything except the tortilla goes into this slow cooker chicken and pinto bean burrito bowl. You probably have all of the ingredients in your pantry, and the slow cooker works its magic while you're out for the day. You can roll the filling into a tortilla for a traditional burrito, but if you're cutting down on carbs, like we are, you'll love it in a bowl. All you have to do is add some fresh garnishes -- avocado, chopped cilantro, sour cream, shredded cheese -- and you can sneak a few tortilla chips on the side.

Recipe for turkey, kale and cheese quesadillas

To tell you my husband Ted and I loved these quesadillas would be an understatement. So, I'll just tell you that we devoured them three days in a row, which, if you have lots and lots of turkey leftovers, is a good thing to know. Pull out any shredded cheese you have in your freezer, any salsa (or chutney, or even leftover cranberry sauce) from the fridge, and any type of tortillas you have on hand; I love these habanero-lime tortillas from Trader Joe's, which are both orange and spicy. Cook the kale with salsa or sofrito to give it a bit of a kick, and you have a quesadilla so good you'll forget you're eating Thanksgiving leftovers.