Spaghetti Squash Au Gratin

So, all the recipes for this one say it's supposed to taste like hashbrown casserole.  Well, don't make it to substitute for hashbrown casserole because it is NOT an adequate sub for cheesy potato yumminess.  It is an ok, healthy side.  We had it with pork chops.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium spaghetti squash
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 small yellow onion, cut in half and very thinly sliced
• ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes, or more if you like it spicy
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme
• ½ cup sour cream
• ½ cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

1. Poke holes in the squash and place on a plate in the microwave for 15 minutes, turning half way through.
2. In a medium sized skillet over medium heat, add the butter, onions, red pepper and thyme and cook until the onions are slightly brown in color. Salt and pepper to taste.
3. Slice the squash in half and remove the seeds.  
4. Scrape the insides of the squash and combine the squash, onions, sour cream and half the cheese together and mix well. 
5. Place the mixture to a buttered baking dish and top with remaining cheese.
6. Bake at 375º for 15 – 20 minutes until golden brown on top.

Broccoli, Cheese, and Rice Casserole

We do lots of stuff with potatoes but not so much with rice so I've been looking for some new dishes to try out.  Have any to send my way?

Hate to call this "casserole" because Charlie cringes at the mention of casserole for supper.  Actually it wasn't very casserole-y, but I did put it in a baking dish and cover it with cheese, so it's a casserole, right?  It would have been good just warmed in the pot and served as "cheesy broccoli rice" as well.

Charlie like it.  I liked it.  I'll do it again, perhaps with a few adjustments as noted below.

I based this recipe off over several I skimmed online, not one in particular.  Again, I used what was on hand.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups small broccoli florets, I used fresh
• 3 cups cooked rice
• 1 cup milk, I used whole
• 2 cups shredded cheese, I used a cheddar blend
• 1 chicken bouillon cube
• 1 small to medium sized onion, chopped
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1 toe garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons butter

Instructions:

1. Melt butter in pot and add onions, celery, and garlic.  
2. Cook vegetables until they are clear, about 15 minutes.
3. Add broccoli and stir until broccoli begins to become tender, about 5-10 minutes.
4. Dissolve bouillon cube in milk.
5. Add milk mixture to veggies, stirring until warm. 
6. Stir in rice.
7. Stir in 1 cup of cheese and mix thoroughly.
8. Pour rice mixture into backing dish and sprinkle with remaining cup of cheese.
9. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.  
10. Remove foil and bake an additional 10-15 minutes until cheese is beginning to brown and casserole is warm throughout.

Notes:

• I'd like to provide measurements for celery in terms of "stalks" but when I made tomato soup  I chopped the remaining celery and put in freezer for future use.  Loved having this all chopped and ready in the freezer.  I also liked not looking at wilting celery in my fridge all week.  I suppose I should figure out how many stalks are in a cup.
• We were having sir fry for dinner so there was lots of fresh broccoli and cooked rice on hand.  I like to plan meals for the week that use similar ingredients.  It was nice to prepare the broccoli for the stir fry and casserole as well as cook all of the rice at once.  This cut down on prep for the next meal.
• I imagine you could use frozen broccoli if this is something you keep on hand.
• Be careful with the salt.  The bouillon is pretty salty and my rice had a bit of salt in it as well.  I would have preferred to have only used 2 cups cooked rice with 2 cups broccoli, but needed more rice to cut the salt.  Next time I'll use less bouillon and rice or more broccoli.
• A few recipes have more milk and eggs.  Not so sure about this, but I guess this would make it more of a casserole. 
• There were lots of recipes that called for cheese whiz, condensed soup, and crushed Ritz crackers....definite casserole ingredients.  Don't think we'll go this route though.

Turning throws into a feast: Cabbage Casserole

I had designs on catching a cabbage at the parade, but believe it or not, we didn't make it to the Irish Channel for the St. Paddy's Day parade. Charlie says he's still got his fill of parades from Carnival.

And now we're having the traditional corned beef and cabbage the night before the 17th because we'll be downing hot dogs and beer (green?) at the Hornets' game tomorrow.

I'm not a big fan of cabbage, and neither is Charlie, but anything with sausage is good, right? This is a variation of one from the newspaper. It called for ground pork OR sausage OR half and half. Going with all sausage was a no brainer over here.


Cabbage Casserole

Ingredients:

• 1 large cabbage, coarsely chopped
• 1 can Rotel tomatoes
• 1 pound sausage
• 1 large yellow onion
• Garlic
  
• Parmesan cheese
• bread crumbs
• Salt and pepper
  

Directions:

1. Brown onion, garlic, and sausage.
2. Add can of Rotel and cook mixture for about 10 minutes.
3. Salt and pepper to taste.
   
4. Core and chop cabbage.
5. Add to sausage mixture and cover.
6. Cooke until cabbage wilts.
7. Place in a 9x13 baking dish and cover with cheese and breadcrumbs.
8. Bake.
   

Next time I may try a variation that called for 1/4 cup water, 1 cup rice, and a cheese sauce made with cheddar, milk and butter poured over the top before baking.

Pretty yummy. We'll have leftovers tomorrow, after the game, along with corned beef turned into Ruebens!

Corn Pudding

This is a double batch! Baked for nearly 2 hours....until "firm."

Ingredients:

• 1 box of Jiffy cornbread mix
• 1 egg
• 1 stick of butter, melted (don’t try to use margarine)
• 8oz. sour cream
• 1 can of super sweet yellow and white corn, drained ( I use green giant 11 oz. can )
• 1 can of cream style sweet corn ( I use green giant 14.75 oz. can )

Directions:

1. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl.
2. Pour into a baking dish and bake @ 350 degrees for 1 hour
3. I estimate it to be about 8 servings
   

This recipe was given to me by a friend and there are many variations online with differing amounts of cream, eggs, butter, but for the most part they're all the same. Some recommend cheese mixed in or on top. When I talked to my Danny (my grandmother) she recommended some parsley just to make it pretty. The lady knows what she's talking about. Next time I'm going for the cheese and I think I'll toss in some green onions

My contribution to the potluck meal tonight was going to be limited to hummus, made by someone other than myself. But this is so easy, I figured I could pull it together, stress free.