Crunchy Chicken Casserole - My Favorite!

Crunchy Chicken Casserole
Original casserole published in
Taste of Home Magazine by Michelle Wise called Hot Chicken Salad

CRUNCHY CHICKEN CASSEROLE     

(My friend, Shirley Siddall gave me this recipe) SERVES 5-6 people

* Note - I half this recipe for 1-2 people

2 cups cooked chicken, diced   

 1 cup celery, diced

½ cup onion, diced

1 can sliced water chestnuts, cut in slivers

¾ cup mayonnaise (Dukes is GF)

1 can cream of chicken soup

1½ - 2 cups cooked rice

½ cup slivered almonds (or more)

1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms  (optional) 

TOPPING - 1½ Tbs butter, 1 cup crushed cornflakes, ½ cup slivered almonds

Cut water chestnuts in strips. Mix first 8 ingredients (+ mushrooms if using) & put in casserole dish. Mix topping ingredients & spread on top. Bake at 350º  30-40 mins.

Enjoy this tasty casserole! Leftovers are great!

Crunchy Chicken Casserole

Spinach / Mozzarella Bake

Deep Dish Spinach Bake

My family has loved this recipe since the early 1980's when Irene and Mike Coffey had us over to eat. My kids used to beg me to make it. A very simple but delicious meal! 

NOTE - The only thing I don't like to do is spreading the Biscuick in the casserole dish because it can stick to your fingers. Just keep putting dry Biscuick or flour on your fingers as you spread it. something that would make this quicker (but more expressive) would be to use Puff Pastry. I've used that before and it's divine!   Another idea would be to buy the Pillsbury All Ready Pie crust in the long box to put in a regular pie plate. Make sure to use the top and bottom crust. 

Ingredients

2 - 10 oz boxes frozen spinach

1½ lbs mozzarella cheese, grated (or more!)

4 cups Bisquick  (if you're in a hurry, use puff pastry for the upper and lower crust!)

1 1/3 cups milk

1 Tablespoon butter

2 tsp garlic powder (or more)

   Cook spinach in 1 cup water, in large frying pan on top of stove til tender (10-15 mins). While spinach is cooking, add the Tb of butter and  garlic powder. Cook til all water is absorbed. Turn off heat, then add mozzarella cheese; mix. In the meantime while spinach is cooking, make crust (4 cups Bisquick+1 1/3 cups milk). With Bisquick on your fingers, spread ½ in 13"x9" pan. When spinach is ready, spread on top of bottom batter. Then spread other ½ batter on spinach. Cook in 400º oven (or 350º) about 30 mins or till brown. Make sure batter is not gooey in center. 

Serve w/ salad.

Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecan Topping GF

The Best Sweet Potato Casserole

I've tasted a lot of sweet potato dishes, but this is my absolute favorite to have with Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner. Some are way too sweet and this one has just the right amount of sweetness. I experimented till I came up with the perfect blend of ingredients. It's a must with a turkey or ham dinner!
Even though this is good with orange sweet potatoes, I prefer the oriental sweet potatoes that are white on the inside.

Sweet Potato Casserole

3-4 large sweet potatoes

1 small can crushed pineapple, drained (sometimes I use only ½ the can)

½ cup sugar (or less)

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

2-3 Tb butter

¼ cup cream or milk

Topping

1 cup coconut

1 cup pecans, chopped

¼-½ cup butter 

You can add a little sugar & flour if you like, but I make this gluten free (without wheat flour) and its just as good as the original. I get asked to make this all the time! Not only for Thanksgiving and Christmas but throughout the year as well. I don't think I've ever seen another recipe with pineapple, but believe me, it's one of the ingredients that makes this dish so special!

Favorite Broccoli Casserole

My family always requests that I make this Broccoli casserole for Thanksgiving or Christmas. A friend, Mary Osborne, gave me the recipe in the 80's and I've been fixing it for years. I always double this for a larger group and there is NEVER any left!

Broccoli Casserole 

Preheat oven to 350º 

Serves 6-8

2 -10 oz boxes frozen broccoli or 1 bunch fresh broccoli, steamed 

2 sticks butter (1 cup)

1 lb ORIGINAL Velveeta cheese, in small cubed (16 oz, which is ½ large box)

2 rolls Ritz or Town House crackers, crushed. You'll be putting half the cracker crumbs on the bottom of the casserole, as well as on top. I like Town House best!

 Thaw broccoli at room temperature or in the microwave (but do not cook!) and squeeze out the water. Melt 1 stick butter in soup pot on LOW heat. Add cubed cheese. After adding cheese keep it on very low heat and keep stirring, because if you don't, the cheese will burn on the bottom & the whole dish will be ruined. (even on on low heat).  

After cheese is melted add thawed broccoli (with water squeezed out). OR add fresh steamed broccoli if you're using that.  Stir to coat the broccoli with the cheese mixture. Remove from heat. Melt the other stick of butter and add to the crushed crackers. Stir to coat crackers. Spread half the crumbs on the bottom of a 13"x9" oven safe dish that is been sprayed with oil. Pour the broccoli/cheese mixture on top of the cracker crumbs and spread it all over. Then spread other half of cracker crumbs on top of the broccoli. 

Bake for 15 minutes at 350º. This is easy to cook too long, especially if you're using a glass pan. But you want to make sure it's heated all the way through. There have been times I didn't let the frozen broccoli thaw enough and it was still cold when I mixed it with the cheese. 

You can thaw the broccoli in the microwave for a couple of minutes, but you just dont want to cook it, because to me, there's nothing worse than overcooked broccoli! On the other hand, if you're using fresh broccoli, you don't want to mix it in the cheese raw, or it won't be done after baking in the oven. That's why I steam it first. When in the oven you're basically just heating it and toasting the crackers.

I hope you enjoy this! Let me know if you have any questions.

 

Sweet Potato Coconut Casserole - Gluten Free

Gluten Free Sweet Potato 
Coconut Casserole 

Many years ago (in the 1980's) I wanted to find a special sweet potato casserole, because I never was crazy about the candied sweet potatoes my mom fixed with toasted marshmallows on top. (Sorry mama, up in Heaven!) I don't know why I didn't like that. Maybe it's because they were canned? So I set out for a search in my collection of cookbooks. Please understand, this was before the internet and before Pinterest where you can go to find any recipes you want in a matter of seconds!

I found 3 recipes that sounded good, but I did what I usually do and took ingredients that appealed to me from all 3 recipes and came up with my own. It was the most decedent, delicious sweet potato casserole and I called it  "Sweet Potato Pie Casserole". It was absolutely deliscious and everyone lovel it, but there was one problem. It was more like a dessert than a side dish! So most people wanted it as their dessert. (Even me)

Then my youngest son, Tracy, grew up and married the sweetest  daughter in law, Ashley, who's from the south too. She's from Nashville, where my family roots go back 6 generations.  One year she brought her own sweet potato casserole to our family holiday dinner in Ohio and we love it. I did tweak her recipe a little by cutting way down on the sugar and also added a small can of crushed pineapple. This ingredient would be optional, but believe me it adds a little bit of sweetness which is great, considering I cut down on the sugar.

You CAN use the canned sweet potatoes, but I sure don't recommend that, because it's much better with the fresh ones. My family is crazy about this dish, but I noticed they didn't really want the leftovers when I used the canned. They usually fight over who gets the last of it! I didn't eat the leftovers either when I used the canned potatoes & actually threw it in the trash! That's very unusual for me because I am such a frugal person & almost never throw any food out! The secret to a good sweet potato casserole is the fresh ones. You can peel and cook them in water, bake them, or even cook them in the microwave. 

UPDATE: (November 24, 2o23)

   ***I didn't mention before that I always dreaded making this recipe because even though, it's super quick mixing everything together in like 5 minutes, I hated trying to peel and cut up the HARD sweet potatoes before cooking them! That took me forever, but this time I decided to cook the sweet potatoes (after pricking them whole) in the microwave first. And WOW, what a difference that made! I didn't even peel them first but after they were tender, I took them out of the microwave, cut them in squares, then after cooling,  just peeled the skin right off with my fingers! I'll never do this any other way again! I might try peeling then with a potato peeler first next time before putting them in the microwave. I can't tell you what a difference cooking them in the microwave made! Now I'll probably make it more often (keep reading) ***

This recipe is special because of the coconut and crushed pineapple. Oh, I almost forgot to mention that it's gluten free because I left out the flour that was in the original topping ingredients. I didn't miss it at all! But if you want to, you can putt a little regular flour (or GF flour) as part of the topping.
I hope you try it! If you do, please let me know what you think.

Sweet Potato Casserole
with Coconut

Main Ingredients:
3 lg sweet potatoes 

(cooked and mashed) OR 1 lg can sweet potatoes (about 4-5 cups mashed) Fresh sweet potatoes make this taste SO much better. It's worth the extra work. (Read my comments between the ***'s!)

½ cup milk or cream
½ cup melted butter
½ cup sugar
1 cup coconut
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 small can crushed pineapple, drained (this is not in Ashley's original recipe, but I put it in because I saw it in a recipe on TV and it is delicious-a touch of sweet since there's not a ton of sugar in the potatoes.

Topping
½ cup sugar
1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup chopped pecans
Dash of salt

Mix all of  the main ingredients together with a mixer and put in a casserole dish.
Then mix topping ingredients and spread over the top.
Bake in 350º oven for 30 minutes.

Big Mac Casserole

Delicious Big Mac Casserole

I looked at several different recipes on Pinterest for this casserole. One I saw didn't have biscuits on top. So if you're trying to eat low carb, that's good, but since I was making it for growing boys, I wasn't worried about the biscuits. They absolutely loved it and are already asking me to make it again sometime. I took ingredients from 2 different recipes, so thought I'd better write it down in case I can't remember next time which ingredients I used tonight.

Big Mac Casserole

Big Mac Casserole
serves 6

Note: Before you start anything, make the special sauce (recipe below) because you'll need to put 1-2 Tbsp of it in the meat mixture.

Preheat oven to 350º.

Meat Mixture
1½-2 lbs lean ground beef
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (sharp or mild)
½-1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (optional)
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp dried onion flakes (Or fresh chopped sweet onion)
1 tsp dried garlic 
1Tbsp of the Special sauce below
See other ingredients below. I listed them in sections.

Cook the ground beef & drain the grease. Add dried onion, dried garlic, ½ cup cheddar cheese, 1-2 tsp Worcestershire sauce & 1 Tbsp of the Special sauce. Save the other 1½ cups of cheddar cheese & the mozzarella to put on top of the meat mixture after its in the casserole dish.

Other ingredients not in the meat or the sauce - 
Sliced hamburger dill pickles (to go under the biscuits before it is cooked)
1 can biscuits (I bought the flaky biscuits at Aldi, about the size of Grands. I bought flaky in case I needed to take some apart to put on all the top of the casserole. I ended up doing that, because there weren't enough to go over the entire top.
 1 Tbsp sesame seeds
Shredded lettuce
Chopped sweet Vidalia onion

Special Sauce
¾ cup mayonnaise
¼ cup ketchup
1 tsp mustard
2 tsps sweet pickle relish
1 tsp  Worcestershire sauce

Mix up the sauce & add 1 tablespoon to the meat mixture, reserving the rest to put on top of the lettuce after the casserole is done.

Instructions
After cooking the ground beef and adding ingredients stated above (minus 1½ cheddar cheese and mozzarella), put the beef mixture in a casserole dish that is larger than 9"x9", but maybe not as large as a  9"x13". I used a Corning ware oval white casserole dish. If you don't have a dish smaller than a 13x9, then go ahead and use that one. The meat mixture and cheese will just be more spread out. If you use only 1 lb of ground beef and have less people than 6 to feed, go ahead and use a 9"x9" pan.
After you have put the meat mixture in the casserole dish, put the rest of the cheese (1½ cup cheddar and mozzarella) on top of that  and spread out. 
Place sliced dill pickles all over top of the cheese. Now put biscuits all over the top of the pickles, pulling some of the biscuits apart to make sure all the pickles are covered. 
Place sesame seeds on top of biscuits.

Cook at 350º for 20-25 minutes. The biscuits weren't quite done after 20 minutes, so I cooked it longer. If you need to cook it longer than 25 minutes to make sure the center biscuits aren't gummy inside, make sure the top doesn't get too brown. I actually think I had the oven  at 360º instead of 350.

When ready to serve, place some chopped lettuce and chopped sweet onion on a plate. Drizzle some special sauce on top of that. Then with a big spatula, put some of the casserole on top of the lettuce. 
We also drizzled special sauce over the top of the biscuit. 
This is so good!

Classic Chicken Divine

3. 

   Classic Chicken Divine

   This is a classic recipe popular in the 1950's and 1960's. My mom fixed it regularly when I was growing up. Recently I posted about it on Facebook and some of my friends asked for the recipe. Many of the recipes on Pinterest do not call for curry powder and some call for mushroom soup instead of cream of chicken soup. I'm sure it's great that way too, but in my opinion, this is the best recipe. I hope you enjoy it!
4. 
   
   
   INGREDIENTS
5. 20 oz frozen broccoli or a  lg fresh bunch of broccoli
6. 2-3 cups Chicken breasts, slightly cooked & cubed (it will cook more in the oven, so no need to cook it more than 10 minutes)
7. 2 cans Campbell's cream of chicken soup, undiluted
8. ½-1 cup Hellman's Mayonnaise (I use 1 cup)
9. 1½ tsps fresh lemon juice (to taste)
10. ½ tsp curry powder (or more to taste)
11. 1 cup shredded original Velveeta cheese ( can use sharp cheddar cheese but I like Velveeta better)
12. 1-2 cups bread crumbs
13. 3 tbsp butter, melted

Directions 

Preheat oven to 350°. Thaw frozen broccoli, but don't cook it. If you are using fresh broccoli steam it just till tender, but not too long because it will cook more in the oven; drain. Arrange in greased shallow casserole pan. I use my glass 9"x13" pan. Layer cut up chicken on top of

Broccoli. Combine lemon juice, soup, mayonnaise, curry powder and cheese. Spread evenly over chicken. Mix bread crumbs and melted butter and sprinkle over top. Bake for 30 minutes or til brown on top. I like to serve this on top of rice. Serve immediately.

Turkey Squash Casserole

Turkey Squash Casserole Before the Crunchy Top is Added

If you're looking for something healthy to fix your family, this casserole is healthy and delicious at the same time! One day about 7 yrs ago I was searching the web for a recipe that called for ground Turkey and I am so glad I found this. It will not disappoint and kids will eat it too, which is always something mothers and grandmothers battle with, right? The original recipe was sent in to Taste of Home by Mildred Sherer of Fort Worth, Texas. I'm a Texas gal, so I know it has to be good! My mom and dad lived near Fort Worth for a while and some of the best dishes come from there.

Turkey Squash Casserole with Crushed Topping

I have some slight differences from the original recipe. If you want to see the original, see the link below. The recipe called for yellow summer squash and even though I like that, I decided to use Zucchini squash instead. It's great in this recipe, so I'm not about to change it. The other difference is that I substituted crushed gluten free pretzels for the saltines, which are put on top. I have to say, I like the GF crushed pretzels even better! They made the top extra crunchy. I get my GF pretzels at Aldi, but I've even seen them in regular grocery stores.

A couple of times I have added mushrooms and either mushroom or cream of chicken soup and as much as I'm crazy about mushrooms, the casserole is fantastic without them and I'm sure it's healthier without the soup. I usually bake some acorn squash in the oven that has been drizzled in real maple syrup to go with this casserole. Yum! Or you could just fix a salad to go with it. I hope you enjoy this great recipe as much as I do. I always know I'm eating something good for me.

Baked Acorn Squash Drizzled with Maple Syrup and Butter

TURKEY SQUASH CASSEROLE RECIPE
      
INGREDIENTS
1 pound ground turkey
1 tablespoon oil
2 cups sliced zucchini squash (original calls for yellow summer squash)
1 medium onion, chopped
2 large eggs
1 cup evaporated milk (could substitute almond or oat milk if you're dairy intolerant)
1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
6 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 cup crushed saltines for the top (I used gluten free pretzels and have also used crushed pork rinds)

* For a change - sometime you should add mushrooms and mushroom soup (or cream of chicken soup). If you do use soup in the recipe, use the whole can of milk (not just 1 cup)

DIRECTIONS
In a large skillet, cook turkey in oil over medium heat until no longer pink. Add the squash and onion. Cook until vegetables are crisp-tender; drain.
In a small bowl, combine eggs, milk, cheese, butter, salt and pepper. Stir into the turkey mixture. Transfer to a greased baking dish. Sprinkle with the cracker crumbs, crushed GF pretzels or crushed pork rinds.
Bake, uncovered, at 375° for 35-40 minutes or until heated through. Yield: 6 servings.
Originally published as Turkey Squash Casserole in Casserole Cookbook 2001, p38

To see original recipe click HERE.

Creamed Spinach Bake

I love, love, love this recipe and hope you will too! I've combined 2 recipes that I have used for 40 yrs and like this version best. Everyone asks me for the recipe! . Enjoy!

Creamed Spinach Bake
The Best Recipe!

Ingredients

• 3 - 10 oz. packages frozen spinach (thawed and drained) To make it easier, you can use canned spinach, but I think it's much better with the frozen spinach.
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• 8 oz cream cheese (softened)
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• 8 oz sour cream
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• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
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• ½ packet/envelope Lipton Onion Soup (dry-comes in a box)
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• 6 oz can Durkee French Fried onions, divided in half
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• 1cup slivered almonds 
• (Note: you can use the almonds raw (which I've done many times) but if you like a little crunch you can toast them. Also, in my opinion they taste better when they are toasted. You can either put them in the oven or on top of the stove to toast, but I do the easy thing and toast them in the microwave for about 2 minutes. Stir them after 1 minute. If they're not toasted enough, then put them in for another minute  till they are starting to get darker. You can even taste one to see if they are crunchy enough). If you're in a hurry, don't worry about toasting them. This is great either way! Most of the time I don't toast them.
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Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Thaw and drain spinach (drain the spinach really well- squeeze out any extra liquid by draining spinach in a colander and pressing out as much liquid as possible.)
3. Mix together spinach, cream cheese, sour cream, mushroom soup, Lipton Onion Soup, ½ the almonds and ½ of the French's onions.
4. Pour into greased casserole dish.
5. Add remaining French onions and almonds to top.
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until heated through (make sure not to let onions brown too much.)

Layered Taco Casserole and Mexican Rice

Layered Taco Casserole

I've never been crazy about chili powder so Tacos and Chili have not been among my favorite dishes. This may sound strange but I like my own recipe for Chili, because I don't use tons of chili powder, as most recipes call for.

I have a family living in my home temporarily and I do all the cooking. They love Mexican food so I'm always looking for new recipes. I came across this recipe for Taco Bake and decided to give it a try because it is quick and easy. I usually tweak recipes I find, so they are different from the original. But the fact it calls for corn tortilla chips instead of flour tortillas caught my eye. I have a wheat intolerance and avoid flour.
By the way, this recipe is great and tastes even better  left over.

Ingredients

• 1 lbs. ground beef
• 1 can Rotel tomatoes, mild
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 pkg. taco seasoning (I used 3/4 of the pkt)
• 2 cups cheddar cheese
• Corn tortilla chips
• Chopped fresh tomato, diced green onions and sour cream for garnish. 
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Preheat oven to 350.

Fry ground beef in pan til done. Drain fat and add taco seasining, Rotel, sour cream and water. Simmer for about 5 minutes. In a greased,  13" by 9" baking dish, layr ingredients in this order.

Corn tortillas

Ground beef mixture

Cheese

 Corn tortillas

Ground beef misture

 Cheese

Bake for 20 minutes. Place fresh chooped tomatoes and green onios on top. Serve with Mexican Rice (recipe below)

Mexican Rice - A great side dish with any Mexican meal!

Mexican Rice

1/2 cups chopped onion

1 clove chopped garlic

1-2 Tb oil

1 cup uncooked Basmati (or a little more), rinsed and drained

1-8oz can tomato sauce

1 cup frozen or canned corn

1/2 tsp salt

Black pepper to taste

2-3 dashes of cumin

2 cups chicken broth (or water)

Optional- ceyenne pepper, chili powder, paprika

Saute garlic and onion in oil about 1- 2 minutes, add rinsed rice and toast for about 2-3 more minutes. Add tomato sauce, cumin, salt, pepper, corn and chicken broth. Turn down heat, cover and let it simmer til done, about 20-30 minutes, checking it after 20 minutes for doneness.

You'll love the sweetness of the corn that counters the heat of the spices and Rotel that's in the Taco Bake.

Veg - All Casserole

Veg All Casserole

Given to me years ago by my southern friend from Athens, Georgia -  Diane Moore
One of my favorite recipes!

I fix this for Thanksgiving and Christmas

Combine first 7 ingredients and put in greased 2 qt. casserole dish.

1. 1 (1 lb) canned whole corn, drained
2. 2 (1 lb) cans Veg-all, drained
3. 1 can sliced water chestnuts, drained
4. 1/2 small onion, chopped
5. 1 cup grated Cheddar cheese
6. 3/4 cup of Hellmann's mayonnaise
7. 3/4 cup of sour cream
8. 1 package Town House or Ritz crackers, crushed (Town House are more buttery!)
9. 1 stick melted butter

Mix all ingredients except crackers and butter and place in greased casserole dish. Spread crushed crackers mixed with 1 stick melted butter and pour over vegetable mixture. Bake at 350 until it bubbles.(20 - 25 minutes) I love this recipe! I think the original one my friend gave me did not have sour cream, but my mom added it and we like it that way.

You can substitute french fried onions for the crackers but I like the crackers best

Breakfast / Brunch Casserole - GF Recipe

Breakfast/Brunch Casserole

I looked and looked on the internet for a breakfast casserole I wanted to fix for dinner tonight. Most of the recipes called for a layer of bread, croutons or crescent rolls. I am intolerant of wheat, so I didn’t want to use bread. You could say this recipe is gluten free. I came up with a combination of recipes, hoping mine would turn out okay without the bread. I even wondered if mine would be too soupy. It turned out perfect and was really good!

This yummy casserole has sausage, eggs, potatoes, cheese, onions, green pepper, mushroom soup and a few other ingredients.

I served fried Plantains sprinkled with brown sugar as a side dish. If you don’t know what Plantains are, they are cooking bananas. You aren’t supposed to eat them raw, because they wouldn't taste good and are meant to be cooked. You’ve probably seen them in the grocery store but didn’t know what they were. Plantains are usually next to the bananas in the produce section and are much bigger than a regular banana, but the skin looks darker. They’re sold separately, so you can buy just one. I’ve been eating Plantains since I was 5 yrs old when we lived in the Philippine Islands as missionaries in Zambongua City. I loved living there and have lots of good memories!

Update: one thing I didn't mention is that the darker the Plantain is, the sweet or is. If it's too hard it may be okay to fry but it won't be sweet.  I usually buy it almost black and sometimes wait til it's all black!

Breakfast / Brunch Casserole - serves 8 – 10

1 lb bulk Bob Evans breakfast sausage OR Ham
½ cup chopped onion
½ cup green pepper, chopped

3 - 4 cups frozen hash browns (or 3 - 4 large potatoes, shredded)
9 large eggs

¼ cup Bisquick (regular or gluten free)

1 regular size can evaporated milk (not the small one)

2 ½ cups shredded cheddar cheese

½ teaspoon dry mustard

dill weed (ground or fresh is ok)

1 can Cream of Mushroom soup + ½ soup can of milk (buy GF mushroom soup if your gluten intolerant)

Salt and pepper

Optional: fresh or canned mushrooms. You could also substitute the sausage with bacon or ham.

Directions
Set frozen potatoes out to thaw. Brown the sausage, breaking up pieces, drain and place evenly in the bottom of a 9” x 13” pan. Saute chopped onions and green pepper in same pan you used to cook sausage. Do not cook too long, just a few minutes is good. I don't like mine soggy. Remember they will cook more in the oven
While veggies are sauteing, place the shredded potatoes, spreading evenly, over sausage. Salt and pepper potatoes to taste. Next spread the onions and green peppers over top of potatoes. Sprinkle 1 cup cheese on top of potatoes and other veggies. Then layer (in this order) the sausage, onion, green peppers, and 1 cup cheese on top of this.

(Note – you don’t have to sauté the onions and green pepper, but if you do, don’t let them get too soft because they will cook while baking. Some people don’t like the veggies crunchy, so it’s up to you)

In a bowl, mix the eggs, canned milk and Bisquick with a whisk. Add dry mustard and dill weed to milk and egg mixture, mixing well. Pour this over the layered mixture (sausage, potatoes, cheese) in pan. Poke holes with fork so liquid will go to bottom. Salt and pepper this and then spread 1 cup cheese over top.

Wisk together mushroom soup with ½ soup can of milk. Spread evenly over top of other ingredients in pan. Sprinkle another ½ cup cheese (or more) all over top. Sprinkle a little more dill on top.

Bake in preheated 375º oven for 45 - 55 minutes, making sure the casserole is not soupy when you shake it. Check center for doneness also. Don’t over bake, or it will be too dry. I think the last 20 minutes I turned the heat down to 350º. Your oven may be different than mine, so just use your judgement as far as the temperature. Many recipes said 350º and the only reason I said 375º is because I thought mine may be soupy since I didn't use the bread.

This can be done the night before and put in the refrigerator overnight, but it doesn’t have to be refrigerated overnight like some recipes say. Hope you enjoy this! Serve with fruit.

Recipe - Deep Dish Taco Squares

SO yummy and tastes nothing like tacos
I'm crazy about this recipe!

My friend, Shirley Siddall, gave me this recipe many yrs ago and I always wondered why it was called Taco Squares, since it has no chili powder in it and tastes nothing like tacos. I'm not crazy about taco flavoring, and I guess that's why I love this dish. It was one of my family's favorites so I decided to fix this for another family last night (first time in yrs) and remember why I love it so much. It's hearty and has all the ingredients I like. My recipe card is smeared with food and water making it barely readable. I'm sure you know how that is. So I decided to see if  I could find the recipe on the web, since it's an old Bisquick recipe. Now I know why it's called Taco Squares. The original recipe has taco seasoning in the meat, but I still like it much better without the taco seasoning. I've added more cheese and black olives to my friend's recipe, and maybe you can come up with your own version.

This recipe will remind you of fresh tomato pie that is SO yummy! (But with added ground beef)

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground beef 
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 2/3 cup Hellman's mayonnaise  (not salad dressing)
• 1 cup sour cream (I added a little more sour cream and mayonnaise)
• 2 tablespoons chopped onion
• 1/2 cup chopped green pepper
• 2- 3 tomatoes, sliced
• 1/3 cup sliced black olives

• Crust for Top and Bottom (or use Puff Pastry)
• 2 cups Biscuit baking mix
• 1/2 cup cold water
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• Update: (4/2/24) since I'm by myself this time I decided to make only ½ the recipe (in a square brownie pan) & had the idea to use puff pastry this time to make it easier, than spreading wet dough with my fingers in the pan. It's in the over now & I'll come back and comment how it turned out.
• Update: it turned out great with the puff pastry & using that made it quicker and easier to make this dish!

Directions

• Heat oven to 375º. Cook and stir ground beef til brown; drain. While beef is cooking, grease oblong baking dish (13"x 9"x 2"). Mix sour cream, mayonnaise and onion. Add 1½ cups of the cheese, reserving ½ cup for the top. Set aside this mixture. 
•  Mix baking mix and water, until soft dough forms. Pat in pan, pressing dough ½" up sides. (Note: Spreading the dough will be easier if you sprinkle a little baking mix on your fingers and on top of the dough, as you do this). Layer beef, sliced tomatoes and green pepper on top of dough that's in the pan. Spoon sour cream mixture over top. Sprinkle remaining ½ cup cheese and black olives over sour cream mixture. Bake, uncovered, at 375° for 25-35 minutes or until bottom crust is golden brown. (I cooked this for 35 minutes) 
• Serve with a tossed salad. I used Spicy Ranch Dressing with the salad and it goes well with the dish. 
•  Hope you enjoy it! Let me know if your family likes it.
• Yield: 10-12 servings.

Creamy Corn Casserole - Recipe

Without the green chilies (see other version below)

The corn casserole I'm posting is probably one you may have been making for years, but the other day a friend of mine asked for the recipe. I was surprised because I thought everyone in the world had this recipe. She had never made it, so I thought I'd post it just in case someone else out there doesn't have the recipe. It is one of the easiest things to fix if you are in a hurry, and all you do is pour the ingredients into a bowl. You can make it like the original recipe says, but sometimes I'll add green chilies or a little chopped green pepper and sweet onions, to make it more like a Mexican dish. Cheese on top goes great with this version. (see photo below)  This corn casserole goes well with any kind of food, and is great for company or a carry-in dinner. I usually double it for something like that.

  

Creamy Corn Casserole

Corn with green chiles or green pepper

Ingredients
½ cup (1 stick) butter, melted
2 eggs, beaten
1 (8 oz) package Jiffy corn muffin mix
1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, UNdrained
1 (14.75 ounce) can creamed corn
1 cup sour cream
Optional : shredded cheddar cheese for top
If you like green chili's (they're not hot) they go very good in this casserole if you want a change

Directions
Preheat oven to 350º F (175º C), and lightly grease a 9"x9" baking dish.
In a medium bowl, combine butter, eggs, corn bread mix, whole and creamed corn and sour cream. Spoon mixture into prepared dish.
Bake for 45 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the top is golden brown.

Green Rice Recipe

The recipe is a good way to get your kids to eat spinach. It's delicious, and there aren't many things that cheese can't hide :) It's a good recipe to fix for a pot luck or carry in dinner. If you have one of those casserole dishes that has the heating pack to put in the microwave (to keep the food warm) this is a good recipe for that. My sister, Judy Drewett, from Tx. gave me this recipe years ago.

Note: make sure your rice is not overcooked because it will cook more in the oven.

Green Rice
Recipe from the Gift Horse restaurant in Foley, Alabama

Green Rice Casserole

1 - 10 oz pkg frozen spinach, thawed 
2 cans cream of mushroom soup

(To make this casserole gluten free, use GF soup)
2/3 cup salad oil
2 eggs, beaten
4 cups cooked rice
1 - 5 oz (small) can evaporated milk
1½ cups grated cheddar cheese
2 small cans mushrooms, drained (Note: would be even better if they were fresh and sauteed in butter)
1 large onion, chopped

 (about ¾ - 1 cup)

¼ - ½ more cheese to

sprinkle on top

Put thawed spinach in a colander and press on it to drain & make sure all liquid is gone.

Mix spinach and both cans of the mushroom soup. Add salt and pepper to taste. Combine oil and eggs and add to cooked rice, along with spinach mixture. Then add remaining ingredients (milk, cheese, mushrooms and onion) Turn into greased shallow baking dish and sprinkle more cheese on top. Bake at 350º  for 1 hour. If doubled, this will have to cook longer. Serve immediately.

Enjoy!