A Tex-Mex casserole made from seasoned shredded pork, chicken or beef and beans, layered with corn tortillas, cheese and taco sauce and finished with chopped onion, tomato and shredded lettuce.

Tex-Mex Chalupa Casserole

I have struggled from day one over what to call this casserole. The recipe I patterned this after was called Chalupa Casserole. Okay. Except "chalupas" apparently is the Spanish word for canoe or small boat, or something to that effect, so an authentic Mexican chalupa is so named because the tortilla dough is formed in the same manner, to make a corn canoe if you will, then stuffed with a variety of fillings.

On the other hand, I have gone to a Mexican restaurant before, ordered a chalupa plate expecting that, and received what really was a tostada to me - a flat, fried tortilla, topped with refried beans and meat and dressed like a taco, with lettuce, onion and tomatoes. Nothing concave or boat shaped about it!

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Favorite Southwestern, Mexican and Tex-Mex Recipes

A collection of my favorite Southwestern, Mexican and Tex-Mex recipes, from my website, DeepSouthDish.com.

If you make any of these recipes, I'd love to see your results! Just snap a photo and hashtag it #DeepSouthDish on social media or tag me @deepsouthdish on Instagram!

Yum

I love Mexican food, or I guess more appropriately, what we in the United States know as Tex-Mex, a more Americanized version of anything remotely resembling authentic Mexican cuisine.

I confess though, I'm a pretty simple girl when it comes to it. Give me some chips and salsa or that fabulous cheese dip to start, or maybe even some nachos and a margarita and I'm pretty good with tacos, burritos, or the occasional tostada. Love those!

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A stew made of chicken thighs, or a whole cut-up chicken, browned in butter and oil, and cooked in a tomato-based Creole sauce with the trinity of veggies and a mix of curry, herbs and spices and rice.

Country Captain Chicken

There are a lot of theories about the origins of this dish, none of which is set in stone, although both Georgia and South Carolina have definitely laid claims to it. Legend has it that it's a dish that a ship's captain carried to America as a result of the spice trade, perhaps through the ports of Charleston or Savannah.

It's a one-pot, butter-browned, curried chicken dish, appearing to be Indian in origin, typically made with bone-in, skin-on, whole cut-up chicken, or most often, only chicken thighs. If you want to cut back on fat, you could get away with boneless, skinless thighs, with the understanding that the loss of bone and fat is also loss of flavor, and you'll need to compensate with cooking time and seasonings.

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Baking powder biscuits, made with buttermilk and butter, and hand formed.

Hand-Formed Buttermilk Baking Powder Biscuits

There are a lot of 30-somethings around me who are on low carb diets right now, taking spin classes, working out and running marathons. They all look great too! Seeing as I could certainly afford to drop more than a few pounds myself, I wish I was that motivated at my age to do any of that, I really do. But I'm not.

I also wish I could live without those white flour carbs, but, but... biscuits! I don't make them regularly (though lately I've made them a few times more than usual), but for sure, I just can't imagine a life without real biscuits! And bread. Oh, and pasta too. Those are my biggest weaknesses in the world of white flour carbohydrates.

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A sausage and peppers dish, using spicy Cajun sausage, pan seared cabbage wedges, sweet onion and diced tomatoes with green chilies, served over rice.

Cajun Sausage and Peppers with Cabbage

This is just a little different take on the old sausage and peppers dish, adding a mix of colorful peppers, spicy Cajun sausage and pan-seared cabbage wedges. Instead of a sauce that's typically used with sausage and peppers, I'm using diced tomatoes with green chilies in order to allow the individual elements all shine on their own and not be buried in sauce. For the sausage, I'm using smoked instead of a raw, encased sausage.

I'm also using a Cajun variety of Conecuh from Alabama, which is an andouille style of smoked sausage and pretty spicy. You can tone it down by using plain diced tomatoes and a mild smoked sausage or kielbasa. Fair warning - if you use andouille and make intentional leftovers, understand the heat will intensify.

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Oven-roasted shrimp served in a fiery, tomato-based, Italian Fra Diavolo sauce with pasta.

Roasted Shrimp Fra Diavolo

Fair warning. Sort of like shrimp sauce picante, just by virtue of the name, this sauce is fiery!! I ain't lying y'all. Let's just say I didn't need any lip plumper after eating this.

Now I made it exactly as I have written it, but if you prefer things a bit more on the mild side, simply eliminate the Cajun seasoning on the shrimp and reduce the red pepper flakes. Take note too though, that with any leftovers, heat will be intensified even further!

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Meatloaf mix, shaped into thin, bun-sized, oval patties, pan fried and sandwiched on soft hoagie rolls with caramelized onions, cheese and a meatloaf glaze, wrapped and baked in the oven.

Meatloaf Patty Melt

I am a big fan of meatloaf. Always have been! And let's be frank here, who out there doesn't enjoy that next day meatloaf sandwich?

For some folks it's actually their favorite part of meatloaf, so how about we make those sandwiches intentionally to begin with, and,.. how about we make them in the form of one of my favorite hamburger sandwiches? A patty melt, yes indeed!

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Stovetop Smothered Turkey Wings

Turkey wings, slow stewed with onion and bell pepper and finished with gravy.

Smothered Turkey Wings

You may see those packs of turkey wings in the meat case at the market and think back to those dried up Thanksgiving turkey wings, asking yourself why anybody would want those! When they're attached to a whole turkey, that's often the case. Overcooked, dried up wings that nobody wants to eat. If you're not from the south, you may never have even considered stewing them on their own. It really makes a big difference and they are delicious!

When turkey wings are slow stewed, they are fall off the bone tender and though wings are the most traditional - because they are inexpensive - with time adjustments other cuts work well with this method too.

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Thick-cut brined and seasoned pork loin chops, topped with skillet fried apples, or a homemade or canned apple pie filling, and baked in the oven.

Apple Pie Pork Chops

I can't recall where I first saw this idea to combine pork chops and apple pie filling, but I thought it sounded great and turns out I had a can of apple pie filling in the pantry I needed to use up!

I'm sure that I bought it for a very specific reason, now long forgotten. I'm terrible about that, to the point that now, when I buy supplies for the pantry to use for a specific purpose later, I tape a sticky note to it! Now I have notes all over the outside of my deep freeze and a bunch of them stuck on top of canned goods in my pantry. Hilarious, I know, but hey... I ain't gettin' any younger y'all!

Anyway, I was right. Apple Pie Pork Chops are pretty yummy!

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Boneless, skinless chicken breasts, pounded thin, dipped in an egg and hot sauce blend, dredged in a seasoned buttery Ritz cracker mix, pan-fried or baked, and topped with a buttery pan gravy before serving.

Ritzy Butter Cream Chicken

Here's one of those tasty things to do with boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Y'all know I'm not the biggest fan of those, but after a dip in some egg and hot sauce, a pass through a nicely seasoned blend of buttery crackers, and a quick pan fry or oven bake, these are some kinda good!

I love using regular saltines as a coating for chicken, instead of the typical flour or bread crumbs, but there's a world of texture difference between saltine crackers and those soft, delicious, buttery round crackers, most of us know as "Ritz" brand. Where saltines are crisp and jagged, Ritz crackers are tender - kind of like the difference in the texture of soft bread crumbs and dried.

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