Chipotle Chicken Casserole

This is adapted from a SimplyRecipes recipe of a similar name.  We even got the daughters to eat this by being careful about the amount of chipotle I added.

Ingredients

• 15-ounce can of roasted, canned whole, diced, or crushed tomatoes 
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/2 cup of cilantro
• 2 chipotle chili peppers in adobo
• 1 tsp lime juice
• 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, each cut in half
• 4-6 ounces sliced Monterey jack cheese
• 1 tsp salt

Steps

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. 
2. Blend tomatoes, onion, garlic, cilantro, chipotle peppers and adobo, lime juice and salt in a blender or food processor.  Pulse a few times till just chunky.
3. Place the chicken pieces in a 9" x 13" casserole dish.  
4. Spread the chipotle salsa over the chicken pieces
5. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes. 
6. Remove the foil, and sprinkle or layer the cheese over the chicken. Bake uncovered for 10 minutes more.
7. Serve over rice, pasta, or with tortillas on the side, along with chopped avocado, more cilantro, and sour cream.

Lemon Verbena Pesto

We've started growing this in our new herb garden - took the old circle garden and broke it up into 4x4 raised beds.  I was scouting for something unusual and being mid-July, lemon verbena was one of the scraggly leftover herbs at the garden center.  It is a sub-tropical (zone 8-10 only), so I am going to let this grow till September then start cuttings indoors to overwinter them in my office at school.

There are lots of possibilities for lemon verbena (here are 5).  I would include as an additive to lemoncello, as a pesto, and as a flavor additive for mead (I am thinking of a dry lemon-infused mead, yum!).  Probably could do this with baked fish (especially foil-wrapped fish), roasted chicken (garlic and verbena leaves), and for summer teas (just floating in the infuser).

Here is lemon verbena pesto (based on this one).

Ingredients

• 1 cup of lemon verbena leaves (stripped from stems)
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 4 tbsp of grated parmesan cheese
• 4 tbsp of olive oil
• 4 tbsp of pecans
• Salt and pepper to taste

Steps

1. Add verbena, garlic, cheese, and pecans to a food processor.  Pulse till the pecans are nearly unrecognizable.
2. Start up the processor on a medium speed and slowly drizzle in the olive oil to well combined.
3. Scrape the pesto into a lidded container and store in the fridge for 7 days, freezer for up to 6 months.