Casserole #11 - Beef and Cheese Bake

 The Year of Casseroles

Casserole #11 - Beef and Cheese Bake

    I am so far behind on posting in general and behind in posting this recipe as well. I made this casserole two weeks ago. The recipe is from Better Home and Gardens - Jiffy Cooking cookbook published in 1967.  It's nice that none of the recipes in this cookbook are difficult or time consuming. 

    I modified this recipe by adding rice, because I forgot the casserole had the biscuit topper and while I liked the finished casserole, I would leave the rice out next time.  You may ask "Kathy, how did you forget that this casserole had a biscuit topper?". The answer is that I am currently job searching and dealing with stress from that. So, I just simply forgot.  

Other changes I made, were not adding olives, using ground turkey in place of beef and adding a couple teaspoons of pimento. Feel free to substitute ground turkey or ground pork in your dish.  

I liked this recipe and would make it again.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs ground beef or ground turkey/ground pork

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 8-oz package cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup milk

1 10 1/2-oz can condensed cream of mushroom soup

1/3 cup ripe olives, sliced (optional)

2 tsp pimento (optional)

1/4 cup ketchup

1 tsp salt

1 package refrigerated biscuits

1 tablespoon butter (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Brown ground beef with onion in large skillet. Blend cream cheese and milk. Stir in soup, ketchup, salt, pimento and olives (if using either). Combine with the meat and onion mixture. Pour into a 2-quart casserole dish (I used a round casserole dish which may have been larger; I'm giving you the size the original recipe mentions). Bake for 30 minutes and remove. Separate biscuits and arrange on top of the casserole. Return to oven and bake for 15 minutes or until biscuits are browned on top. Remove from oven and spread butter over the biscuits.  Serves 6 to 8. 

Beef and Cheese Bake

Beef and Cheese Bake

Week 33 - Baked Beans

 Baked Beans

Week 33 of 52

Side Dish #5

    When I thought about finding a recipe for Week 33 (before I looked up which category it was), I had decided I wanted to try a recipe in my late mother's recipe box (photo below). The very, first recipe I pulled out, was this one. It was a folded piece of lined paper, with no author name or date or anything, besides the recipe. I shared the picture below with my sister, my cousin (maternal) and two of my aunts (one maternal and one paternal) and nobody recognizes the handwriting. I thought it reminded me of my maternal grandmother (whose recipe for Crazy Cake {it wasn't crazy}, was the second recipe I made for this blog). I guess it the name of the author will have to remain a mystery. Neither my sister nor my cousin ever remembered having beans this way and although I thought I'd maybe heard of beans like this, I don't think I'd ever had them. I really liked this recipe. It made a good sized amount. Perfect for toting to a picnic or pot-luck.  Note: I'm going to write it out exactly how it is written, because it is kind of charming, with it's spelling mistakes; I'll use italics to write the correct word/spelling and to add direction.

Ingredients:

1/2 lb hamburg (ground hamburger)

1/2 lb bacon (chopped before cooking)

1/2 of a large onion (diced)

1/2 cup catsup (ketchup)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon prepared mustard

1 teaspoon vinigar (vinegar)

1 large can or 3 small cans pork & beans (Drain two of the cans if using small or half if using the large can)

1 small can kidney beans

1 small can butter beans (I substituted Great Northern Beans)

Directions:

Combine bacon and hamburger in a large pot (I used a cast iron dutch oven), and begin browning. Add onion after just a few minutes and continue cooking until hamburger and bacon are thoroughly cooked/browned. You do not want any pink showing. Drain grease and return meat & onion mixture to pan. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook on low-medium heat, until hot. 

Tip: I drained one of the cans of pork & beans, the kidney beans and the great northern beans, because I didn't want the finished product to be "soupy", so do the same thing if you don't want "soupy" baked beans. 

Baked Beans

My Late Mother's Recipe Box (One of my treasures)

The Original Hand-Written Recipe