Love That Chile Relleno Casserole! Even If I Am Just Makin’ Do.

February 18, 2014 by Laurie Nguyen 25 Comments

What is Chile Relleno Casserole?  It is all cheesy, chile-y, yummy goodness!

Chile Relleno Casserole

You may be asking yourself, “What does Chile Relleno Casserole, no matter how yummy, have to do with Food Storage?”  Well, I’ll tell you.  To “find” money for food storage in my regular grocery budget, I need to use all the food we buy and not waste anything if I can avoid it.  It also requires me to adapt recipes and make do with what I have rather than buy specialty items unless I can use them in several recipes.  I make this with my leftover sourdough bread, stretching my food buying dollar.

Now, onto one of my favorite recipes, EVER!!

My dear friend, Karen, shared this recipe with me a couple of years ago, and I have made it dozens of times!  It is so yummy and so forgiving!  I really wanted it today, so I could use my leftover wheat sourdough sandwich bread, but I was out of Monterrey Jack cheese.  I adapted and used what I had instead: swiss and sharp cheddar.

Without further ado, let me give you the recipe, then I’ll show you the step-by-step.

Chile Relleno Casserole  By Karen

Sourdough bread

Butter or margarine

4 eggs

2 cups of milk (or half and half, evaporated milk, or cream)

1 can diced green chiles

1 pound Monterrey Jack cheese, shredded

Butter sourdough bread on both sides and lay flat in a 9×13 pan.  Fill all the space in the pan.  Whip 4 eggs and 2 cups of milk until well combined and fluffy.  Add one can of chile peppers (it’s not necessary to drain it).

Put shredded cheese on bread and pour egg mixture over the top so it is evenly distributed.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes (or until done).

Here’s how I made mine today!

Gather ingredients.

Butter bread. I melted my butter and used a brush, but you don’t have to be that fancy. You can spread it with a knife.

Place the bread in the pan. I put the buttered side down.

Then I buttered the other side of the bread.

Beat eggs and half-n-half. Add chiles.

Don’t you love that action shot?

Stir to combine.

Spread cheese over buttered bread. I used about 1/3 swiss cheese and about 2/3 sharp cheddar, because that’s what I had in my fridge.

Doesn’t it look pretty?

I poured the egg mixture over the bread and cheese.

Then I used a fork to evenly distribute the chiles.

I popped it in the oven and VOILA!

Here it is with the edges nice and golden brown.

Wouldn’t you love a bite?

Now it’s your turn. 

How do you adapt your favorite recipes to “make do” with what you have in your home?

Don’t be shy!  Comment away!