Broccoli Casserole

I've had lots of broccoli casseroles in my day, and they're pretty much all the same; so when Cathy made this one I figured I'd like it as much as any other version but I was wrong - pretty sure this one is the best I've ever had so naturally I had to have the recipe. 'Cuz when someone asks me to bring a veggie side in the future I have to be able to bring this dish and amaze everyone. Well, at least amaze everyone who would be amazed at broccoli casserole that is ;) 

                    

                    

I didn't ask what the trick is to making this dish so good and she didn't volunteer it - so when I got the recipe and saw the magic ingredient I could only think "of course! makes perfect sense now", because what isn't a better idea than using stuffing as casserole topping?! I've never heard of it and it's genius.

• 1 1/2 cups fresh broccoli
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 1 T. flour
• 1/2 cup sour cream 
• 1/4 cup grated carrots
• 1 T. grated onion 
• 1/4 t. salt
• 1/8 t. pepper
• 3/4 cup herbed stuffing mix
• 2 T. melted butter

Remove outer broccoli leaves and cut into 1" pieces. Cook stalks 5-6 minutes in salted water; add floretes and cook 5 minutes more. Blend soup and flour, then add sour cream, carrots, onion, salt and pepper; stir into broccoli. Put in a 2-quart casserole dish. Combine stuffing mix and melted butter, sprinkle on top of broccoli mixture. Bake at 350' for 30-35 minutes, when middle bubbles it's done. 

Tuna Noodle Casserole

I know, I know - tuna casserole is super common and normal and probably everyone's mom made this growing up (we ate it a lot!) and chances are you already know how to make it, but I made it for dinner and got a "that was the best tuna noodle casserole ever" from Dave so I thought I'd share how I did it. He isn't a casserole fan, but it was cold and rainy and neither of us wanted to go to the grocery store and I had the ingredients on hand...so casserole it was.

                         

I did a couple different things this time, versus the regular ol' way I would normally do it - and I will make it this way from now on! Cuz "best ever" demands the changes haha! One, I added a panko crumb mixed with melted butter topping on about 15 minutes before we were eating; two, I only had one can of cream of mushroom soup and it seemed dry so I made a little cream sauce from scratch to add moisture; and three, I sautéed some fresh mushrooms in a little butter and added them to the casserole.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 box cellentani pasta (or whatever shape you want, it was good with curly noodles), boiled according to package directions - I had about 4 big cups of pasta once cooked
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 1/2 can milk
• 1 cup frozen peas (I add these to the hot pasta and water a couple minutes before draining the pasta)
• 1/2 cup shredded cheese (I don't actually measure, just a couple handfulls)
• 1 can tuna, drained and flaked
• 1/2 cup fresh mushroom slices
• 1 Tablespoon butter

• 1 Tablespoon butter
• 1 Tablespoon flour
• 1/4 cup milk or cream, additional water as needed for consistency
• 1/4 cup shredded cheese

• 1 cup coarse panko crumbs
• 1-2 tablespoons melted butter
• 1/4 cup parmesan

Directions:

1. Saute the mushrooms in a little butter until browned.
2. In a small saucepan, melt 1 T. butter and stir in 1 T. flour until it's all incorporated. Keep stirring the flour for a minute or two to get rid of some of the flour taste. Slowly whisk in the milk or cream, stirring continuously until it thickens. If it's too thick add a little water to get it to the right consistency. Add 1/4 cup shredded cheese until melted. Season with salt and pepper. 
3. Stir together cooked pasta, soup, milk, peas, mushrooms, 1/2 cup cheese, tuna, and the extra cream sauce, pour into casserole dish. 
4. Bake at 350' for at least 30 minutes until heated thru. Note: I like to make this earlier in the day and put it in the fridge to set up and meld the flavors before baking it. If you do that and the casserole is cold, it needs longer to bake - I did 45 minutes. 
5. About 15 minutes before you are ready to eat the casserole, stir together the panko crumbs, parmesan, and enough melted butter to coat the crumb mixture, and sprinkle it overtop of the casserole. Turn up the oven temp. to 400' for about 15 minutes. 

Crock Pot Tot Casserole

A couple times a year we have a sing-a-long bonfire cookout at Al and Cathy's that has been dubbed a "Ukulele Hoedown". Dave plays his uke and we sing along using songbooks (we made folders with all the lyrics for everyone and have lots of mini flashlights, so there is no excuse to not sing haha!), and there is tons of food of course...

Al and Cathy made 3 soups and stews along with baked ham and cheese sliders, I brought this cheesy potato casserole in my big crockpot - I saw the recipe in the little manual that came with my crock pot and modified it a bit (original calls for onion, green pepper, and crushed cheese crackers), it turned out great and keeping it warm in the crockpot (that I lined with one of those crock liner bag things) kept the mess down and transporting was easy.

Here is my modified version of the recipe:

• 80 ounces frozen tater tots
• 2 sticks butter
• 2 cans cream of mushroom soup
• 3 1/2 cups milk
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Line a big crock pot with a liner bag or spray it with non-stick cooking spray. Stir all of the ingredients together in a big bowl, transfer to the crock pot. Cover and cook on low for 4+ hours. 

Note: this ended up cooking for probably 6 hours and then left on warm for 3 hours. The tater tots break down so it basically looks like hash browns but was delish - I'm thinking if I cooked for shorter time they might stay more intact but it totally didn't matter. 

Cowboy Casserole ... by Mr. French

So my blank stare at the meat counter was contemplating, one package of thin sliced pork chops would only allow a scant leftover plate...so I grabbed two. (About 1 1/4 lb.) to make 'cowboy casserole'.  

In a large casserole dish, lightly coat the bottom with BBQ sauce. (Your choice). Lay 1/2 of the slim pork chops across bottom.  Sprinkle a half bag of Stove Top over and around them. Dollop half can cream of mushroom soup and pour about 1/3 cup water on that so you can mix it around over chops with a spatula. Layer the other 1/2 of chops and put just the right amount of BBQ on them! Repeat stuffing, soup routine (you judge the water, not too much). Place generous amount of fresh sliced mushrooms all over the top. Bake at 350 for 30min. 

About 10 min. in, as you are cleaning up, you realize you forgot the second 1/2 of Stove Top😮. Clean a little more, then mix remaining Stove Top with just enough water that most of it is soaked in. Take out of oven and spread across top and put back in oven. I checked it at 30min and went an additional 25min then added shredded cheese (I had Swiss). 5min more and waalaa. Fully cooked and still moist. Add any spices you may like.  We call it "stuff cowboys eat"

Mark

Aka-Mr. French

One-Dish Spanish Rice

Flipped thru an Allrecipes magazine that came in the mail (it keeps saying this is my "last" issue - but I didn't pay for it and it just keeps coming!) and this recipe caught my eye. Yes I was hungry and that's never a good time to decide what's for dinner - we don't eat very many "casserole" type dishes, but this seemed fairly healthy so I wanted to try it.

SPANISH RICE BAKE
allrecipes november 2016

1 pound lean ground beef
1/2 onion, finely chopped (1/2 cup)
1/4 green bell pepper, chopped
      (1/4 cup)
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 cup water
3/4 cup uncooked long-grain rice
1/2 cup chile sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

1. Cook beef in a large, ovenproof skillet (with a lid) over medium-high heat, breaking up lumps with a wooden spoon, until browned, about 5 minutes. Stir in onion, green pepper, tomatoes, water, rice, chile sauce, salt, brown sugar, cumin, Worcestershire sauce, and black pepper. Bring mixture to a boil. Stir once, then cover tightly. Don't stir it again or take the top off. Cook, covered, over low heat 30 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375'.
3. Uncover rice mixture, stir, and sprinkle with cheese. Transfer to oven and bake until cheese is melted and bubbly, 10-15 minutes. Sprinkle with cilantro. Serves 6.

per 1-cup serving: 350 cal; 19.1g fat; 18.5 pro; 24.9g carb


It's a very easy recipe and after doctoring it a little it was a great dinner. I don't know what chile sauce is compared to chili sauce, didn't see chile sauce at the store so went with chili sauce. I thought it was a little bland so added 1 heaping Tablespoon of Mexican seasoning (I found it at the local grocery store, it's just called "mexican seasoning" and I add it to lots of things), a scoop of salsa, and salt and pepper. The other thing I did differently is just put the cheese on top of the rice and put the lid back on until it melted - I didn't put it in the oven (the original recipe is named "spanish rice bake" but I didn't bake it so changed it to "one-dish" haha). Served with a side salad of shredded iceberg lettuce, chopped tomatoes, sliced avocado, drizzled with a little olive oil and lemon juice. Yum, it was a hit.

Because I love leftovers for breakfast I reheated this the next morning and topped it with a basted egg - Dave said it was like spanish hash and I just made up a new thing hahaha! It was delicious!

stir once before putting the lid on tightly...

melt cheese after the rice is cooked. 

Provençal Summer Vegetable Bake

Layers of sliced summer squash, potatoes and tomatoes over a bed of white beans, topped with crumbled cheese - I found this recipe in an old Family Circle (click for recipe) magazine and it's really good. I do it a little differently from the original recipe omitting the called for eggplant (I don't love eggplant) and onion (my husband doesn't like onion) and I don't think it's missing either of those ingredients - it's very flavorful and pretty! It also calls for herbes de provence which is a mixture of dried herbs that you can make yourself or buy in the spice section at the grocery store (I bought it in a jar and had no problem finding it), if you don't have it or want to buy it I think this would taste just fine without it - add salt and pepper to taste and maybe a sprinkling of any kinds of herbs you happen to have - thyme, rosemary, etc. I served it on the side with grilled chicken - it would taste good with lots of different meats and could also be served alone since it has the beans for a protein. Usually I slice all of these by hand but I'm still learning how to use all the attachments on my food processor so decided to play with the slicing disk and it worked great - saved some time and made everything more uniform for sure. It works just fine slicing by hand tho, don't let that stop you from making this! It's a good one - enjoy!

the magazine shows these arranged in overlapping layers, I stand
 them up alternating veggies and like how it looks...