Hash Brown Casserole

I read this morning on the interwebs - and I think it was that Facebook thang - that somebody was offering to stir up a hash brown casserole that would feed six to eight people for your Thanksgiving Feast pleasure.  All this cook was asking for her troubles and the ingredients to have it ready for your feasting pleasure is a mere $25.  Whut?  Are you kidding me?  When all that is necessary are the ingredients below?  Nope, I'm making my own for my peeps.  Thank you very much!

Ingredients:
1 two-pound package of frozen country style hash browns
2 cups grated cheddar or casserole blend cheese
1 pint of sour cream
1 can cream of chicken soup (I have been known to use cream of mushroom or cream of celery in a pinch)
1/2 cup of diced onion
1/2 cup of softened butter (and be sure to turn it upside down for the photo op)
salt and pepper to taste

Optional Ingredients if you want a topping:
a handful of bread or cracker crumbs
thin-sliced or grated American or processed cheese - like Velveeta
minced parsley

Instructions:

• Break up the frozen hash browns if they are clumped up after the long drive from the grocery store.  I usually just waller the bag around a bit and then give them a good stir with a wooden spoon after I dump them into my gigantor mixing bowl.
• Sprinkle the diced onion over the top of the mountain of hash brown potatoes.
• Sprinkle the cheese over the top of the mountain of hash brown potatoes gilded with diced onions and stand back and admire the beauty of all that.

• Give these three ingredients a good stir with your trusty wooden spoon.
• Sprinkle with salt and pepper to suit your tastes (Or if you have high blood pressure, you may want to go easy on the salt and double up on the pepper.  Of course, if you have high blood pressure, you are not going to eat this dish very often anyway, so just go for the gusto!)
• Stir together the sour cream, cream soup, and softened butter.
• Add the creamy, buttery goodness to the cheesey, potatoy goodness and stir till there are no clumps and all the potatoes seem to be coated with the creaminess - or until your arthritic hands can no longer grip the trusty wooden spoon. (I have been known to just dive in and mix it all together with my hands but that is sort of squishy.)
• Pour the mixture into a 13x9" casserole dish and tamp it down to firmly smash it all together.

• Feel free to use the optional ingredients by just sprinkling a topping of bread crumbs over the top before baking or covering in more cheese to escalate your heart disease issues or sprinkling with a bit of parsley to make it look prettier.
• Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes and serve warm.

Sweet Potato Casserole for a House Divided

Ingredients:
3 large sweet potatoes
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/2 stick butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup evaporated milk

Topping:
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 stick butter, melted
1 cup chopped pecans
miniature marshmallows

Directions:

• Wash sweet potatoes and dry with a paper towel.

• Place in a large crock with an inch of water and bake.  (I baked mine for 22 minutes in the microwave.)

• Allow to cool slightly and slip skin off the potato.

• In a mixing bowl, cream together softened butter, brown sugar, and salt.  
• Add eggs one at a time and beat well.
• Add vanilla and milk and mix.
• Drop in potatoes one at a time and blend well.
• Spread mixture into casserole dish.

For the Topping:

• Stir together 1 cup brown sugar and flour.
• Add melted butter and mix well.
• Stir in pecans.

Top Potatoes:

• Sprinkle topping over half of sweet potato mixture, slightly pressing into potatoes.
• Sprinkle mini marshmallows over other half of sweet potato mixture.
• Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes.
• Serve bubbly and warm.

Mike likes the sticky, sweet crust of the marshmallows on top.  I like the crunch of the brown sugar and pecans.  So, I prepare half and half for our divided household.  While we were eating our recent Thanksgiving Feast, I mentioned that we must truly be a house divided because about half of each side was missing from the dish.  Bryan confessed that he had eaten some of both!  Loyalty!

Fish And Chips

This recipe makes a delicious meal that is crispy on the outside and tender and flaky on the inside.  Delicious!

Chips:
4 Potatoes, washed and set aside to dry
3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
2 Tablespoons Malt Vinegar
Salt, Black Pepper, and Cayenne Pepper to taste

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
• Mix together oil, vinegar, and spices.
• Cut potatoes into wedges and place in a bowl.
• Pour oil mixture over potatoes and toss to coat thoroughly.
• Lay out flat on a foil-lined baking pan that has been spritzed with vegetable spray.
• Bake for 30 minutes, turning half way through.

Fish:

4 Tilapia fillets

4 Tablespoons Butter, melted

4 Tablespoons Dijon Mustard

1 1/2 Tablespoons dried Dill flakes or 2 Tablespoons chopped, fresh Dill

1 cup Panko Bread Crumbs

Salt, Black Pepper, and Cayenne Pepper to taste

• Mix together butter, mustard, and dill and place in a shallow bowl or pie pan.
• Mix together bread crumbs and spices and place in a shallow bowl or pie pan.
• Dredge fish into butter mixture to coat well.  Then, dredge into bread crumbs to coat thoroughly.
• Lay on a hot, foil-lined baking pan that has been spritzed with vegetable spray.
• Bake for about 15-20 minutes, flipping half-way through.

Serve with a spicy ketchup and tartar sauce if you would like.  

Beef Stew

Left-over roast beef - I had enough to almost fill a quart container or about two pounds.
1 small onion
2 Tablespoons butter
2 cups beef stock
1 can or bottle of beer
2 Tablespoons tomato sauce
2 teaspoons Paula Deen's House Seasoning
2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 cup water (more, if needed)
3 large carrots
3 small potatoes

• Prepare roast beef.  I had a left-over roast that Mike had smoked and we froze 'the remains' as he calls left-overs after a couple of meals.  So, I simply thawed it and diced it up into bite sized pieces with my kitchen shears.
• Melt butter in the bottom of a 4-quart pot.
• Dice the onion into large pieces and cook and stir it in the butter over medium heat till it is a bit brown around the edges.
• Add beer, tomato sauce, seasoning,Worcestershire sauce, and beef stirring to scrape all the crusty bits in the bottom of the pan and bring to a slow boil over medium to medium-high heat. 
• Scrub carrots and potatoes and dice into bite-sized pieces.
• Add carrots and potatoes to boiling mixture and cook about a half-hour more.  (Add more water if stew begins to dry or thicken too much.)
• Serve with cornbread or a crusty French bread.

This recipe was inspired by The Pioneer Woman's Beef Stew with Beer and Paprika.  It was easy to prepare and delicious. 

Sauerkraut and Weiners

4-6 slices smoked, fatty, bacon
1 small onion
1/2 quart sauerkraut
1 cube chicken bullion or 1/2 can chicken broth
2 bottles beer
4 jumbo hot dogs or bratwurst wieners

• Chop bacon and place in a large saucepan over medium heat to fry, stirring occasionally until bacon browns.
• While bacon is cooking, chop or slice onion and add to almost-browned bacon, stirring till onions are soft and translucent.
• Cut wieners into bite-sized pieces and add to bacon/onion mixture to lightly saute.

• Rinse and drain sauerkraut (to cut back on the salt and brine flavor) in a colander before adding to bacon/onion/wiener mixture to heat through.
• Pour in one can of beer, sprinkle with black pepper to taste and bring to a boil.  Then, lower heat and simmer 30-45 minutes or until kraut is tender and most of liquid has evaporated.  (If liquid reduces too much, add more chicken broth.)
• Taste to see if there is too much 'whang' to the kraut.  If so, add a tablespoon of brown sugar.

Serve with mashed potatoes. 

*You may be wondering why the recipe calls for two cans of beer.  The other one is for you to drink while this is cooking to help dull the smell of the kraut!

Let me just say that this is NOT one of my favorite concoctions!  I prepared it for my sweet husband because I love him so much and he has requested it several times.  My nieces prepared and canned the kraut that I used in my dish and advised me on how to make the dish.  (Of course, I had to add my own little flourish!)  Megan said that she likes to eat the kraut on a sandwich prepared like a grilled cheese.  (I'm sure it is something like a Reuben without the corned beef from her description.)  I did enjoy the mashed potatoes - with some left-over roast beef! 

For an additional little story about Kraut and Wieners, click HERE.