Squash Casserole with Sour Cream and Stuffing Mix

 

Squash Casserole

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There are many squash casserole recipes out there similar to this one.  Most of them call for a can of cream soup, such as cream of mushroom, cream of celery, or cream of chicken, as well as either sour cream or mayonnaise.  Some call for stuffing mix, while others use crushed Ritz crackers.  This one is similar to what my Aunt Totsie used to make. 

 

Ingredients

1 ½ lbs yellow squash

1 medium sweet onion

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 grated carrot

8 oz sour cream

1 c grated cheddar cheese

1 small pkg Pepperidge Farm dressing mix

½ stick butter

Salt and pepper to taste

 

 

1- Scrub squash, cut off ends, and cut into chunks. 

2- Peel and dice onion. 

3- Add squash and onion to a pan.  Cover with water and cook at a low boil until tender. 

4- Drain and mash squash and onion. 

 

Squash and onions

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5- Add remaining ingredients except butter and ½ pkg of dressing mix. 

 

 

 

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6- Pour into greased casserole dish.  Top with remaining dressing mix.  Cut butter into small cubes and distribute over the top. 

7- Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. 



Finished and out of the oven

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How to Fry Squash- Fried Yellow Crookneck Squash

 

Fried Yellow Crookneck Squash

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Fried squash is a classic Southern treat.  When I was growing up, someone in the family always had a garden.  We had plenty of fresh squash every summer.  And as Southerners, we fry just about anything.  Fried squash was always a favorite. 

 

You will need: 

4-6 yellow crookneck squash

Flour

Salt

Cooking oil

 

 1- Pour cooking oil in frying pan to cover the bottom of the pan, at least ¼” deep.  Heat oil on medium high. 

2- Scrub squash.  Cut off ends.  Slice squash lengthwise into ¼” to 3/8” thick slices. 

3- Lightly salt squash. 

4- Place damp squash pieces into flour to coat.  I prefer just flour, but you can use a mixture with about 1 part cornmeal and 2 parts flour. 

 

 Coat squash in flour

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5- When oil is hot, place squash slices into pan. 

6- Fry on medium high until squash is golden brown and tender, a couple minutes on each side. 

 

 Fry squash in hot oil

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7- Repeat until all of the squash are fried. 

8- Place cooked squash on plate on top of paper towel.  Place a layer of towel on top of squash for additional layers, as well as on top of the final layer, to absorb excess oil. 

 

Drain squash on paper towel

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You can also fry zucchini or eggplant.  Compared to squash, eggplant seems to soak up a lot of oil when cooking.  Whereas I would slice both yellow and green squash lengthwise, I could go either way with eggplant, lengthwise or crosswise. 

My Potato Salad

My Potato Salad

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My potato salad has at least a few die-hard fans who proclaim it to be the best they ever had.  It evolved from the potato salad that the mother of one of my high school friends made.  She put green olives in it!  I don’t typically eat green olives, but they really add something to potato salad. 

Another key ingredient is Dukes mayonnaise.  Dukes was originated by Eugenia Duke in Greenville, South Carolina, and subsequently produced and distributed by the Sauer company in Richmond, Virginia.  In my early years in the Air Force, I carried Dukes back with me whenever I came home for a visit.  It’s more widely distributed now.  I can buy it at my local HEB in Texas.  I also add some Greek yogurt to my potato salad.  It gives the potato salad a nice texture, and helps keep the texture after refrigeration. 

It’s really important to hand chop the pickles and onions.  If you use a food processor or slap chopper, you lose the great texture.  It’s also crucial in my book to use Claussen’s kosher dill pickles, for taste and texture.  They are never cooked, and found in the refrigerated section of the grocery store. 

I don’t have an exact recipe.  Making potato salad requires lots of tasting.  I’m sharing with you my absolute best guess to get you started.  Then enjoy tasting! 

Potato Salad Ingredients

3 lbs of potatoes

4 large Claussen’s kosher dill pickles

2/3 cup green olives

1 medium-large sweet onion

4 boiled eggs

1 cup Dukes mayonnaise

2 Tablespoons Dijonnaise mustard

½ cup Greek yogurt

¼ cup pickle juice

1/8 cup olive juice

Instructions

1- Peel potatoes, and cut into approximately 1-inch cubes.  I like red potatoes.  My mom always said they were sweeter and moister.  Boil in a large pan in salty water until tender, breaking apart easily with a fork. 

2- Drain potatoes and return to pan.  I don’t use a potato masher.  I just break them apart by stirring, because I like some chunks.  Don’t worry that there are still lots of chunks, because there will be plenty more stirring. 

3- Put eggs on to boil.  When done, after 10-15 minutes of boiling, drain and put in cool water. 

4- Add mayo, mustard, and yogurt.  Stir to combine. 

5- Chop pickles into small cubes.  I slice vertically through the pickles about 3-4 slices, then another 3-4 slices across, like a checkerboard.  Then slice horizontally across the pickle. 

6- Chop olives.  I slice each olive lengthwise into quarters, then cut across. 

7- Chop onions into ¼-inch or larger cubes. 

8- Add pickles, olives, and onions to potatoes. 

9- Add pickle and olive juice.  Stir thoroughly to combine. 

10- Peel and mash eggs.  I don’t like large hunks of egg white, so I thoroughly mash the eggs.  I recently started using my food processor for this.  Add eggs to potato salad and stir to combine. 

11- Taste potato salad.  Add additional mayo, pickle or olive juice, &/or yogurt as needed for a moist but not soupy texture.  Add additional pickles, onions, &/or olives if needed. 

Granny’s Cucumber Salad

Christmas leftovers:  Cucumber Salad over green beans, 

potato salad, macaroni and cheese, and ham

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When I was a child, my paternal grandmother made Cucumber Salad to serve over green beans.  It is a very simple dish, but really enhances green beans.  My grandmother’s version was very potent, with undiluted vinegar.  I add water to my version, and even my dad prefers my modification. 

Ingredients

4 medium-sized pickling cucumbers

½ cup Duke’s mayonnaise

1/8 cup apple cider vinegar

1/3 cup water

1 tsp salt

Instructions

1.  Blend mayo, vinegar, and water until smooth. 

2.  Peel and dice cucumbers and toss with salt. 

3.  Pour mayo mixture over cucumbers. 

4.  Refrigerate for 1 hour. 

Cook up a big batch of green beans with cubed potatoes.  Spoon a liberal portion of Cucumber Salad with juice, over green beans and enjoy! 

Southern-Style Homemade Baked Macaroni & Cheese

My homemade macaroni and cheese, fresh out of the oven

As a Carolina girl, I grew up with homemade macaroni and cheese.  I have a large extended family on my mother’s side.  When we had family dinners, there were always multiple macaroni and cheese casseroles, or what many of my relatives call “cheese pies”.  All of my aunts made baked mac & cheese, but I don’t think any of them used a recipe!  One year I decided to change that.  When I made my mac & cheese that year for Thanksgiving, I decided to measure everything and write it down.  Depending on how good it was, I could refine my recipe.  Mission accomplished!  I have been using my recipe ever since. 

Those of us who know real macaroni and cheese, as opposed to mac & cheese out of a box, know that the homemade baked version is an exquisite treat.  I especially love the soufflé-like texture when it’s fresh out of the oven. 

Macaroni & Cheese Ingredients

2 cups cooked macaroni

1 can evaporated milk

2 eggs, beaten

8 oz cheese

1/3 stick butter

Instructions

1- Preheat oven to 350°. 

2- Grease 2 quart baking dish.  Add butter and place in oven to soften.  Add cooked macaroni and stir to combine with butter. 

3- Add milk and beaten eggs.  Stir to distribute. 

4- Add shredded or cubed cheese.  I use 4 oz Cracker Barrel sharp cheddar, and 4 oz medium cheddar or Colby.  Stir to combine. 

5- Bake 30 minutes at 350°.  Remove from oven and stir thoroughly.  Increase oven temperature to 400°.  Return to oven for 20 minutes. 

Variations

For large holiday meals, I triple this recipe, except the eggs.  I use 4 large eggs with 3 cans of milk, 1 stick of butter, 6 cups of cooked macaroni, 12 oz sharp cheddar and 12 oz medium cheddar.  Cook 40 minutes at 350°, and 40 minutes at 400°. 

For a super quick cooking version, I use an 11” X 13” pan, and cook about 30 minutes.  My version produced somewhere between ½” and 1” thickness of mac and cheese.  You can have fun with this one by adding a square for a special take on a cheeseburger or grilled cheese. 

 Mac & Cheese Burger (personal photo)

White Mac & Cheese

I’ve made a gorgonzola version that was a completely different take for me on macaroni and cheese.  There are endless possibilities. 

2 cups cooked macaroni

1/3 stick butter

2 eggs

1 can milk

3 oz gorgonzola cheese

4 oz mozzarella

Bake as above. 

Serving of Gorgonzola Mac & Cheese

Dunbar Macaroni

One of my favorite meals from my elementary school cafeteria was Dunbar Macaroni.  I use leftover mac and cheese and make my own version.  I used to have enough mac & cheese left over from when I made the huge portion for Thanksgiving for my Texas friends’ gathering.  Over the period of a couple years however, my mac & cheese has gained a reputation, and there are no longer any leftovers.  Now I buy extra cheese and stuff, and just make a small portion (with 2 cups macaroni) just for Dunbar. 

Brown 1 ½ lbs of ground beef.  Add 1 can of diced tomatoes and 1 can of spaghetti sauce.  Simmer for about an hour, until meat softens.  Add in chunks of leftover macaroni and cheese.  Break it apart as it softens. 

Add chunks of mac & cheese to tomato and meat sauce, and

break apart as it softens

My Chicken and (Flat) Dumpling Soup

 

I’ve been making chicken dumpling soup for a couple years now.  Long ago I had made soup with vegetables and a large can of Sweet Sue Chicken and Dumplings.  Then I discovered frozen flat dumplings by Annie.  They come in strips.  You snap them into pieces.  I usually aim for widths somewhere between ½” inch and 1” wide.  You drop them in boiling stock and boil for about 45 minutes.  I think the dumplings have a good texture.  Add some chicken and vegetables, and you have a really delicious soup. 

Chicken Dumpling Soup Ingredients 

1-2 large chicken breasts with skin and rib meat

1-2 boxes chicken broth

1 bag frozen mixed vegetables

1/3 package of frozen flat dumpling strips, such as Annie’s Old Fashioned Dumplings

 

Chicken Dumpling Soup Instructions 

1.  For my soup this week, I cooked 2 chicken breasts overnight in the crockpot, completely covered with water.  I used all the stock and the meat from one chicken breast for my soup.  Alternatively, you can cook the chicken on top of the stove.  Cover chicken with water and cook over low boil for 1-2 hours until it pulls apart easily. 

2.  Remove chicken from stock and set aside.  Pour chicken stock into a large pot, such as a Dutch oven pot.  Add boxed stock as needed to fill the pan about 2/3 full.  Bring to rolling boil. 

3.  While stock is heating, break dumpling strips into pieces about ¾” wide.  Once stock is boiling, start dropping dumpling pieces into stock, one at a time.  Stir occasionally to make sure dumplings do not stick.  Stock should be at a boil at all times. 

4.  Add salt if needed.  Cover and boil dumplings about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.  While dumplings are boiling, remove skin and bones from chicken and cut or tear into bite-sized pieces. 

5.  When dumplings have been boiling 20 minutes, add frozen vegetables, and boil another 15 minutes. 

6.  Add chicken and cook a final 10 minutes.  At this point, I add 1-2 cups of additional frozen corn. 

 

Easy Family-Style Chicken Pot Pie

 

 

I’ve always loved chicken pot pie.  A few years ago a friend made a super simple, family-style chicken pot pie with frozen pie shells.  I’ve been making my own ever since.  I’ve used frozen pie shells, frozen gluten-free pie shells, and refrigerated (rolled, in a box) pie shells.  I’ve made it with chicken, and I’ve made vegetarian pot pies many times, with a variety of different vegetables.  It’s always good. 

I like to use a large shallow baking dish.  As much as I enjoy the crust, the pot pie is too dry when placing top and bottom crusts, so I skip the bottom crust. 

 

Chicken Pot Pie Ingredients

3 cups diced cooked chicken

2 cans cream of chicken soup

1 can cream of potato soup

2 soup cans milk

1 bag frozen mixed vegetables, or vegetables of your choice

1 deep dish frozen pie shells, thawed, or one refrigerated Pillsbury Just Unroll pie crust

 

Instructions

1.  Grease the bottom of a 11” X 13” baking dish. 

2.  Add soups and milk to baking dish.  Whisk to combine. 

3.  Add vegetables and chicken.  Stir to combine. 

4.  Top with pie crust.  Don’t worry if there are gaps. 

5.  Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for about 1 hour. Turn up oven temperature if needed to lightly brown crust.

 

 

My friend used several thawed regular sized frozen pie shells.  She carefully pieced them together to cover the entire bottom of the baking dish.  As I said above, in the shallow baking dish, it made the pot pie too dry.  I just put a single crust on top.  The frozen crust, especially the gluten free crust, breaks into pieces.  I just evenly space the pieces around the main center piece.  The refrigerated crust more amply covers the pot pie. 

I typically use a traditional vegetable mix of peas, carrots, and corn.  The HEB store brand frozen mixed vegetables has peas, carrots, corn and lima beans.  I’ve used many different vegetable combinations.  Try vegetables such as broccoli, asparagus, artichokes, butternut squash, mushrooms, and leeks. 

 

 

My Fast and Easy French Fry Casserole

French Fry Casserole has become a guilty pleasure at our house.  This is something we concocted.  You may be familiar with Tator Tot Casserole (recipe below).  Somehow that classic morphed into something else at our house.  One night my brother brought home leftover French fries.  And it wasn’t just a few fries, it was a boatload.  He brought the fries into the house to make sure no one wanted them before he threw them away.  We don’t really enjoy cold fries, and don’t think they reheat particularly well.  But this was such a huge portion of French fries, it seemed to be wasteful to throw them away.  So this was the practical beginning of French Fry Casserole.  It was our solution for what to do with leftover French fries. 

Since our first French Fry Casserole, we have saved even small amounts of fries in the freezer, so sometimes our casserole is a real hodge podge of different sizes and shapes of fries.  Occasionally we bake frozen fries especially for this casserole, and sometimes we buy our favorite fast food fries. 

Looking for a fast and easy, but devilishly tasty dinner?  This is an easy dish to prepare, and relatively quick to get into the oven.  We try not to prepare this casserole often, and we try not to prepare it late in the evening, because we always have second helpings and stuff ourselves silly. 

 

French Fry Casserole

Leftover French fries, the equivalent of about 1 ½ to 2 McDonald’s or Burger King large orders of fries

1 ½ lb ground beef

Lawry’s Seasoned Salt

Lawry’s Garlic with Parsley

2 cans cream of chicken soup

2 soup cans of milk

16 oz frozen mixed vegetables

 

1.  Preheat oven to 350°. 

 

2.  Season ground beef with seasoned salt and garlic powder. 

3.  Brown meat in a large skillet.  Drain oil from meat.  I just tip the pan and spoon off the excess oil. 

 

4.  Add cream soup.  Use a spatula to get all the soup out.  Add two soup cans milk, swirling to rinse the cans.  Stir to thoroughly combine soup, milk, and hamburger. 

5.  Add mixed vegetables to meat and stir to combine. 

 

6.  Distribute fries in the bottom of an 11” X 13” casserole dish. 

7.  Pour meat and vegetable mixture over the top of the fries. 

8.  Bake casserole at 350° for 45 minutes. 

 

 

Traditional Tater Tot Casserole

 

2 cans of cream of chicken soup

1 soup can of milk

1 1/2 lb lean ground beef

1 bag of frozen tater tots

 

1. Brown ground beef in a large skillet. 

2. Mix soup, milk, and browned ground beef.

3. Spread in the bottom of a greased casserole dish, 9” X 11” or similar volume dish.

4. Place a layer of tater tots on top.

5. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven until thoroughly warm, about 40 minutes.