John Frank & the kids in my life

Since Tbug did so great with the horses at the Vet on Saturday, after we went to church on Sunday morning we headed to my parents house so she could ride with daddy and grandpa.  I figured while she rode, it’d give me a chance to take a few pictures, but also dirty up momma’s kitchen.  Right now hubs and I can’t have cinnamon rolls, but I got to thinking, you know how long it takes to make homemade cinnamon rolls?  I used to have a stock pile in my freezer so all we had to do was thaw them and then reheat them, but well, they all got eaten, but not solely by us.

So I dirtied up momma’s kitchen by making cinnamon rolls to go in our freezer.  Now again cinnamon rolls take a while to make and we had to have Tbug back to her mom at 5 and then head to Sunday night dinner so I decided to make our SND contribution at mom’s as well.  Early was making Chicken Cordon Bleu so I told her I would bring a side and dessert.

At first I was just going to take green beans, because, well hubs and I can eat those and after all it’s about us right?  LOL, but I’ve been reading Linda Evans book, Recipes for Life: My Memories.  It’s a great quick read btw, anyway in there she has John Wayne‘s Favorite Green Chile and Cheese Casserole recipe.  Supposedly he carried it around in his shirt pocket to every shoot he went on so someone could make it for him.  Now, it sounded fantastic, and it really was, but the change I would make, is turn it into a dip and eat with tortilla chips.  Otherwise it was fantastic!  And truthfully, it was great without chips, I couldn’t have had chips anyway.

But the best part of the evening…

T (Pokey & Early’s son, 7), Z (youngest boy of the group, S & C’s son, 5), M (P&E’s daughter, 6) & Mc (S&C’s daughter, 8) were sitting at the kiddy table.  Early told T, who loves westerns and the sorts, that it was John Wayne’s favorite casserole.  So then we hear this conversation at the kiddy table:

Mc – This is John Frank’s favorite food, but I don’t know who he is…
Z – Boy this John Frank sure loves this chicken and casserole
M – I don’t know who John Frank is, who is he anyway?
T – It’s NOT John Frank, it’s John Wayne and it’s his favorite food.  Gah!
Z – This is John Wayne’s Favorite meal, Chicken and Casserole

Yes we all got tickled at this conversation!

So without further adu – John Frank, errrr  
John Wayne (LOL) Favorite Green Chile & Cheese Casserole.

1 pound coarsely grated Jack cheese
1 pound coarsely grated cheddar cheese
2 (4-ounce) cans diced green chiles
4 eggs, separated
1-5oz can evaporated milk
1 tablespoon flour
1/2 tsp Tabasco
2 tomatoes, sliced

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat oven to 325°.

Layer Monterrey Jack, green Chile, & Cheddar cheese in a 2 quart baking dish until all layers are in.

Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form.

In another bowl combine egg yolks, milk, flour, salt and pepper and mix until well blended. Fold beaten egg whites into yolk mixture.

Pour  half the egg mixture over cheese in casserole.  Then with a skewer poke holes in the cheese mixture so some of the egg mixture can seep between the layers.  Then pour the rest of the mixture over the top.

Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and decorate with diced tomatoes (that have the skins removed also). Bake 30 minutes longer or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let stand a few minutes to set; serve.
Serves 6-8

I wasn’t able to get you a completely finished product picture because I ran out of time before we had to head to our meeting place to send Tbug home with her mom.