Raising three growing boys and one full grown hungry man,
Who were a meat and potatoes kind of gang,
left little in the way of creativity when it came to cooking.
I hated cooking dinner.
I still don't like it much,
but
to keep my life interesting, I started to experiment
with recipes.
(My youngest son begs me to stick with the recipe!)
Always, my family were the test subjects.
Most of the time they ate what I cooked.
Or fed it to the dog when my back was turned.
Probably because they knew better than to complain.
We all know:
"If Mama ain't happy, Nobody is happy!"
I did hit upon
THE BEST DAMN CASSEROLE EVER!
My own creation!
The only limit is your imagination!
Start off with meat!
This is the main ingredient.
I find Hamburger makes a really good casserole,
but chicken will do, and even pork.
About a pound or two. Depending on how many you are feeding.
Cook the meat. I usually chop it up and fry it.
Drain off juices.
(You can also used already cooked meat from a previous meal)
NOODLES:
Put a pan of water on the stove to boil.
Add the noodles to the boiling water.
Use what ever you have on hand.
You can even mix them.
(Pick out the little bugs that land in the water and float to the top, it is ok because you are going to rinse them anyway and those nasty little pasta eating bugs will go down the drain.)
Gage the amount of noodles you need by the amount of mouths you are going to feed.
While this is cooking/sauteing,
chop up some celery and 1 onion.
Melt some butter and saute these veggies in a sauce pan.
Next take your biggest bowl from the cupboard, because, believe me, You
ARE GOING TO NEED IT.
This grows.
Next grab some cans of veggies.
Three should be enough.
I usually use:
Corn: Always a good choice
Green Beans: Kids usually like these
and
Peas: More starch...
Or you can throw in some frozen veggies,
Like:
Broccoli ~ Cauliflower
(Add to the cooking noodles and water to soften)
Chopped Green, Yellow or Red Peppers, Tomatoes.
The sky is the limit as to what you want to add to this.
Put all these in your big bowl.
Add:
CREAM OF MUSHROOM SOUP
CREAM OF CELERY SOUP
1 can each
This is the staple to your casserole.
With these two soups you are the queen of the kitchen
and can make anything taste good!
I have added Cream Cheese if I was missing one of the cans of soup.
YUMMY!
Mix everything together and microwave it for 3 to 5 minutes to get everything hot.
Or you can toss it in the oven and bake it too,
Then sprinkle cheese on top before serving.
(Or just add some grated cheese and mix in before baking/cooking.)
Dish up and eat!
You will not want to do this while on a diet!
Before you know it, you will have eaten two big plates of this stuff!
Yep CARB-O-Holic overdose!
Try it out!
Test it on your family!
And let me know how it goes.
Bet they will compliment you on your cooking abilities!
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