Tormented Kitchen

Hi Friends! Today I'm sharing a recipe for a casserole that I learned about when I got my first real job out of college.  It was informally called tamale pie. Essentially, the original recipe consisted of a can of this and can of that layered in a pan. There was corn bread mix from a box, layers of seasoned meat, cheese, salsa or Rotel, beans, and so on. (I'm skipping details on purpose. They're boring.) Then you baked it until it was hot. Yeah, I customized my procedure and ingredients to match what we liked. I started making the mush with a little cinnamon and used regular milk instead of canned milk. I used taco seasoning on the meat and skipped the salsa/Rotel step. I added frozen corn and sliced olives. I couldn't skip the cheese since we love cheese. But it has evolved from the original can of this and a can of that. Now hold on for one second.  Have you seen other tamale pie recipes? You know, the ones that put the corn mush on TOP?  What is that about? F...

Not too long ago, dear hubby and I realized that we were tired of eating the same old thing. We are pretty good meat-eaters, so to change things up, I made something vegetarian. I had some chard in the fridge from our garden and some canned beans in the pantry. I started tossing things in a pot and ended up with a tasty bean stew. If you want to go vegan on this, swap out vegetable broth for the chicken broth and forget the genuine Parmegianno cheese. You might want a soy/vegan cheese instead. Although the cheese adds a nice depth of flavor, it's not required. Also, I made this once without the tomatoes and it was equally tasty. So feel free to leave them out if you're not a tomato fan. Ingredients 3 Tablespoons EVOO olive oil 1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped 2 medium garlic cloves, minced 2 (15-ounce) cans cannellini beans or small white beans, drained and rinsed 1 bunch Swiss chard, stems removed, cut into short ribbons 3 roma tomatoes, diced 1 can lo...