Still working on bribery

I made my "go-to" casserole tonight, meaning the one I can do in my sleep. For such a simple recipe, I really do love it. So to me, that's the ideal quickie dinner to make--one that's easy, tasty, and already mastered. I "invented" it, but it's so simple and relies on convenience items that I'm a bit loathe to actually consider it a recipe I created. Frozen hash browns (the southwestern style ones), diced canned imitation chicken, cream of mushroom soup, sour cream, diced onion, cheese, and sliced fresh mushrooms tossed together, baked, and voila! It's a healthier twist on the calorie-laden and coma-inducing tater tot casserole. And it really is, especially if you use low-fat mushroom soup, reduced fat cheese, and fat free sour cream.

I probably make the dish once every six to eight weeks. I try to save it for when I'm in a hurry (like tonight) or not feeling up to cooking. The reason I was in a hurry tonight was to get to salsa dancing. I haven't gone in ages, and I was forgetting what little I've learned in the two other sessions I took. Jim was supposed to come with me, but he ended up sitting in the car listening to the Packers/Giants game. It's not like we actually dance together anyway, so it didn't really bother me. He was happier, we got to go out to eat afterwards, and I didn't have to drive there and back by myself. Since Jim wasn't with me, I attempted to bumble my way through the intermediate class after the beginner class ended, bumbling being the key word. I know I probably drive my partners crazy, but I really do learn a lot more struggling. While I am by no means too advanced for the beginner class, it's nice to learn more than the basic two steps. I was glad that I didn't get hopelessly lost until the very end. But I really am hooked on learning salsa.

Cocina Poblana is located less than a mile from the dance studio, and once again it was GPS to the rescue! It's in a residential area, slightly farther away from the freeway than an ideal restaurant location. But inside awaiting a very charming Mexican restaurant that was about as upscale as Mexican gets. There were actually cloth tablecloths and our water glasses were wine glasses. The menu wasn't laminated, and our chips were served in a fancy tray with an avocado-based salsa and a smoky chipotle red salsa.



The menu was a little more gourmet than the usual burrito/nachos/fajitas deal, but we still opted for the basics: Jim got a chicken burrito, and I got black bean nachos. The restaurant was set up in a way so as to allow us to watch our food being made. Unfortunately, we were too far away to say anything when the cook started flinging liberal amounts of sour cream with a spatula onto our nachos. While it made for a beautiful presentation, it rendered the nachos inedible from Jim's perspective. I attacked them with a fork right away and managed to rescue most of them, putting the sour cream in a globby pile on a separate plate.



The guacamole was light and not too avocado-y, which meant that Jim was okay with it. They also came with pico de gallo, jalapenos, black beans, and only a light amount of cheese, which made them perfect for me. The only complaint I had was that they used Costco-esque tortilla chips. I was quite disappointed that they weren't homemade, because it really did take away from the overall taste of the nachos.

I was hoping to find an amazing restaurant nearby so that Jim would be tempted to go to salsa with me more often. I don't think this did the trick, but I thought it was a really good affordable place, nevertheless. Plus we got 1000 points for Open Table.