Cheesy Squash Casserole (Southern Living 1979)

Chery picked this recipe for my family to try.  With a few tweaks, we liked it.

Cheesy Squash Casserole
2 medium-size yellow squash
2 medium-size zucchini
2 slices veggie bacon
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1/2 T Worcestershire sauce

Steam squash and zucchini until tender; drain well and mash.
Cook bacon until crisp.  Crumble bacon.
Combine all ingredients, stirring well.
Spoon into a lightly sprayed 8x8-inch glass cooking dish.
Bake at 350F for 25 minutes.

Two-Squash Casserole (Southern Living 1979)

I really like squash.  I have come to realize, though, that this is one vegetable that my normally un-picky eaters prefer NOT to have.  I think it's the texture for all of them.  However, when I saw this recipe, I wanted to try it.  I thought maybe they'd like it because of the cheese.  I couldn't trick them, though.  They didn't like it.  I did - except the onions.  Even with the onion being straight from Vidalia, Georgia, it was just too onion-y for me.

 

Two-Squash Casserole
2 yellow squash, cut into 1/2-inch slices
2 zucchini, cut into 1/2 inch slices
1 medium onion, chopped (wish I'd skipped this for personal taste reasons)
1 (8-oz) can tomato sauce
1 (4-oz) can chopped green chiles
1/2 t salt
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Steam yellow squash and zucchini.
Saute onion in dash of olive oil or well sprayed pan until tender but not brown.
Combine tomato sauce, chiles, and salt; stir well.
Place yellow squash in 1.5-qt deep casserole; add onion, spreading evenly.  Pour half of sauce over onion; add zucchini, and pour remaining sauce over top.  Sprinkle with cheese.  Bake at 350F for 30 minutes.

Sauteed Asparagus (Southern Living 1979)

As Chery said in an earlier post, we challenged one another with an asparagus dish.  I have never prepared asparagus and cannot remember ever having it before.  This is very strange to me, because I tend to like vegetables, which is why I was a little excited about this challenge.  However, I wasn't too sure how my family would react to asparagus. 

K-man agreed to give asparagus a try with Sherried Baked Chicken Breasts (instead of Lemon Fried Chicken), so I looked up what it meant to "snap off tough ends of asparagus" and "remove scales with knife" and I was good to go. I used closer to 1.5 to 2 T butter and that was plenty for us, and other than that I stuck to the recipe.  K-man liked it (he surprised himself with that one as evidenced by the three lonely asparagus spears on his first helping), as did Roo and I.  Little Man and Little Miss were not sold on it, but I didn't get any fusses about it.  I think Little Man liked it better than he thought he would, and I think that Daddy liking it so much did help some.

An easy recipe + little to no complaints = winner.

Lindy  

French-Fried Cauliflower Au Gratin (Southern Living, 1980)

For those of you who don't know me, bear with me for just a minute.  For those of you who DO know me, hold on to your hats.  What I'm about to say may shock you.  I made cauliflower... and I LIKED IT!

I know, I know.  You're thinking who is this girl?  Keep wondering.... I not only made cauliflower, I also made asparagus and I LIKED IT, TOO!!  (see my next post for the details!) What can I say, I'm branching out.  You need to do some shocking things every now and again.  Like make vegetables with cheese sauce.  

Cauliflower Au Gratin

1 small head cauliflower

1 tbls butter

1 tbls cornstarch

1 cup milk

dash of slat

dash of pepper

1/2 cup cheddar cheese

Boil cauliflower flowerets.  Melt butter, add cornstarch.  Slowly add milk, stir until thick and remove from heat.  Add salt, pepper and cheese; stir until cheese melts.  Pour sauce over cauliflower.  Bake for about 10 - 15 minutes on 350.

So... I eliminated the whole "french-fried" part.  Not sure if you can really say that I made the recipe, since I took out half of the title - but, I did make the sauce (with a little less cheese).  I'm counting it.  Deal with it.  The real winner here was that I truly liked the cauliflower.  Winner, winner.

Until next time,

Chery

Saucy Potato-Tomato Casserole (Southern Living 1979)

I was a little worried about this recipe when Cher picked it for us, because Little Man has recently decided that he doesn't like potatoes.  Forget the fact that he put away twice as many Tater Tots the other night with our Maple Dijon chicken than the rest of us combined.  Forget the fact that he would do the same with mashed potatoes if I ever made the time to actually make them.  Regardless of Little Man's perceived aversion, Cher picked it, and we were going to try it.

And it was very good!  Definitely something I'd be willing to make again.  It was a good addition to our standard side dish of green beans - a nice alternative to rice, bread, or plain potatoes. 

Saucy Potato-Tomato Casserole
5 medium potatoes, peeled and quartered
1 (16-ounce) can stewed tomatoes
1/2 t pepper
1/4 t cayenne pepper
Cheese sauce (recipe follows)

Cook potatoes in boiling water.  Drain.  (I did this the night before.)
Combine tomatoes, potatoes, and seasonings in a large bowl.  Spoon into a greased casserole dish.  Top with Cheese Sauce.
Cover, and bake at 350F for 25 minutes.  Remove cover; bake 5 additional minutes.

Cheese Sauce:
2 T butter
2 T white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
2 T plain Greek yogurt

Melt butter in small saucepan; blend in flour, and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until smooth.  Gradually add milk; cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thickened.  Add cheese; cook, stirring, until melted.  Add yogurt; remove from heat.

Lindy

Cheesy Spinach Souffle (Southern Living 1981)

J-Boy said this dish tasted like nothing. He then amended his comment by adding that it tasted a little bit cheesy. Junior abstained from commenting and I didn't ask. The look of disgust on his face spoke volumes. 

Lindy assigned this recipe. We thought if my kids were going to like it, it needed to be cheesy. I guess this one wasn't cheesy enough for them! However, The Hubs and I both liked this one a lot. 

I served it two nights in a row (hey, I like to use the leftovers!). The boys seemed to have an easier time eating the first time - it even tasted more spinach-y to me the second night. (But for me...that's a good thing!)

But wow on the preparation!  This is a for real souffle! Well...I'm guessing that it is. I've never made one before! This girl whipped egg whites into peaks and gently folded them into the spinach mix (which, by the by, had a béchamel sauce involved) before baking. Good thing Baby Girl was napping well!  

The original recipe:

 

 

I didn't use any fresh onion, just minced dried onion. I had some frozen to use, just didn't fool with it.  There were also crazy instructions for making a foil collar. Wow. Skipped that. It seemed wholly unnecessary. I guess I'll never know if it was or not. I can't see what it would have done differently to the outcome of the dish. 

I have a problem. I keep forgetting to take process pictures! Here's when I remembered I hadn't taken any pictures:

I had just folded the egg whites in and put the mix into the casserole dish. It was also at this point that I seriously considered taking pictures of all of the dirty dishes to prove I had actually done something. I then decided against it. You're welcome.

This is after I put the Parmesan cheese on top. Impressive, right? And, if you look at the upper right hand corner - the bowl I used to whip the egg whites! I guess I kinda took a dirty dish picture. Forgive me.

 And after it baked:

 

 

I thought this was good. Not too cheesy. The spinach flavor definitely came through (hence the boys not liking it). It was a winner for me and the Hubs, but I can't say I will make it again. It was a too time consuming for a side dish...especially one the boys won't like. Maybe I'd be willing to make it for a potluck or holiday - something where I just bring a thing or two.