Cheesy Hash Brown Potatoes

You may know these potatoes by funeral potatoes, or au gratin potatoes (what we call them at my house), whatever you call them, I call them delicious! No Easter in my family is complete without a helping of these potatoes! My mom makes these with baked and cubed russet potatoes, but I love the simplicity of using hashbrowns. You can whip this up in no time flat! A real crowd pleaser for sure. We eat this as a main dish all the time.

Cheesy Hash Brown Potatoes

1 package (28 oz) frozen shredded hash browns
1 pint sour cream (about 2 cups)
2 cups medium or sharp cheddar
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2-1 onion diced (just depends on how much you like, green onions would be yummy too)
2 T butter
Salt and pepper to taste
1-2 cups crushed cornflake crumbs

Melt butter in a skillet and cook onions until translucent. Set aside. Combine cream of chicken soup and sour cream in large bowl. Mix well. Add onions and cheese until combined. Add defrosted hashbrowns and stir until combined. Salt and pepper to taste. Pour into greased 9x13 casserole dish. Sprinkle cornflake crumbs on top! Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until bubbly!

Tuna Noodle Casserole

 I have always wanted to make a tuna casserole, and when I saw one on Can You Stay For Dinner, I knew it was time to try it out! It was just as yummy as it looked, and was super easy to boot! We don't eat a lot of fish in our family, but I like to have a little bit of fish a few times a month. Now we have one more option to choose from! 

Tuna Noodle Casserole

adapted from Can You Stay For Dinner?

1lb box of rotini pasta. *I used the multi colored ones for fun

2 cans tuna, drained and flaked with a fork

2 cups peas, fresh or frozen

1/2 onion diced fine *optional, remember you're also using fried onions for topping. we just like onions!

2 cans condensed cream of mushroom soup

1 cup milk

½ cup grated parmesan cheese

1/2-3/4 teaspoon garlic powder *I thought a full teaspoon was too much

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 small can french fried onions finely crushed

Get your pasta cooking. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Combine tuna, and peas *and onion, in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the soup, milk, cheese, garlic powder, and pepper, and pour over the top of the tuna, peas and onions. Stir to combine. Add noodles and stir until noodles are coated evenly. Pour into a greased casserole dish. Bake, covered with foil, for 20 minutes. Remove the foil, sprinkle the french fried onions evenly over the top and bake uncovered for an additional 5 minutes.

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Chicken Spaghetti Casserole

 Another casserole from The Pioneer Woman that we love! It is creamy, delicious and easy to prepare! Enjoy!

Chicken Spaghetti Casserole

adapted from The Pioneer Woman

3 cups uncooked spaghetti, break into 2 inch pieces

2 cups cooked chicken, shredded or cubed*

1 quart chicken broth (low sod), set 1 1/2 cups aside for later

1 green pepper, diced

1 jar pimentos diced

½ onion, diced

1 tsp. Lawry’s season salt

Pepper

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 can cream of mushroom soup

2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, grated

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper *optional

*Pioneer Woman cooks her chicken by boiling a whole chicken in a pot and then pulling the meat off the bones and using that water for her noodles. I prefer to just cook my boneless, skinless chicken breasts, or tenderloins, in a little olive oil and season them with salt and pepper and use chicken broth to cook my noodles. It doesn't matter what method you prefer to use, just cook 2 cups of chicken and dice them up! :) 

Preheat oven to 350. Break spaghetti into 2 in. pieces until you have 3 cups! Cook spaghetti in half water/half chicken broth. Dice green pepper, onion and chicken while noodles are cooking. Drain noodles and pour into large bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients. Then pour 1 ½ c chicken broth into mixture. It should be creamy and smooth. Pour into a casserole dish and bake for 40 min.

Breakfast Casserole

This is one of my favorite Christmas traditions. Every Christmas morning we have our Breakfast Casserole. It is definitely something I look forward to. This was the first time I got to make it for my own little family. A tradition that will carry on in this family too. It turned out as yummy as mom's! 

Breakfast Casserole
by Cheryl Betenson

1 doz eggs beaten

1 c cheese grated

1 ½ c milk

1 lb sausage/bacon/or ham *bacon is the best

2 oz can mushroom

1 can cream of mushroom soup

4 slices bread

¾ tsp dry mustard

¼ c green pepper

3 green onions

¼ c milk

Brown meat, chop onion and green pepper. Butter casserole dish and line with bread. Put cheese and meat on bread. Beat eggs, mustard, milk, onions and peppers. Pour over meat. Refrigerate overnight. Put soup, milk and mushrooms in bowl and pour over and bake in the morning. Bake @ 325 for 1 hr 20 min.

Her Aunt Carolyn's Famous Casserole

This is one of Becoming Betty's favorite dishes, so much that she even posted it twice on her own blog. It was definitely worthy of a two blog post. :) My husband LOVED this dish. I don't really get much from him besides "I like it" or "It's good". If I get a "I love this!" Then I know it is for sure a keeper. It is a hearty, warm, delicious meal!

Her Aunt' Carolyn's Famous Casserole

recipe from Becoming Betty

1 lb. ground beef

1 onion, chopped

1 can tomato soup

1 can tomato sauce (15 oz.)

1 can corn, drained

1 T. chili powder

1 tsp. salt

8 oz. pasta cooked *You can use uncooked pasta, just add a little bit of water to the mix. It turned out fine, and I used maybe a half a can or so of water. Just make sure all the noodles are submerged into the liquid before cooking, to prevent any uncooked edges.

Brown beef and onion. Drain the extra fat.  Add the rest of ingredients and mix well.  Pour into a casserole dish and sprinkle with shredded cheese. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes.

My Shepard's Pie

Shepard's Pie is so me. Meaning, I love meals that are complete meals all in one bite. You got your meat, starch, vegetables and dairy all in one bite! I guess that's why I love casseroles so much. Any time we do have a dish with separate sides, such as Thanksgiving Dinner, I always end up mixing the turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and corn all on the fork at one time. I guess that's just how I roll. 

This recipe is just a little different from your traditional Shepard's Pie, but different in a very good way. I added a can of corn, because the more veggies the merrier in my opinion. The one can of tomato soup was leaving it a bit dry for my taste, so I added a can of cream of mushroom in addition to the tomato soup! It turned out even more flavorful and creamy than the traditional kind. It was SO SO yummy. I didn't even hear any complaints from the hubby when we had it not one, not two, but three nights in a row. :)

Start off with browning the meat and onions, drain the fat. Mix the beef, can of corn, can of green beans and a can of tomato soup. So easy! Throw in a greased casserole dish.

Next mash up 3 or 4 potatoes, however many potatoes you like, until creamy. Spread on top of the beef mixture.

Top with grated cheese. I'm using colby jack here, but cheddar would be yummy too.

Bake at 350 degrees til cheese is melted and casserole is bubblin. About 30 minutes.

Serve to a hungry family with a big appetite. This dish is hearty and perfect for a cool November night.

My Shepard's Pie

Cami Jacoway

1 lb. ground beef

1/2 medium to large onion

1 can corn, drained

1 can green beans, drained

1 can tomato soup

1 can cream of mushroom soup *I did not end up using the entire can.

4 medium potatoes *more or less depending on your preference

1 cup grated cheese

Begin by boiling your water for the potatoes. Peel the potatoes and chop in to quarters. Place in boiling water and cook until soft (about 20 minutes or so). 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. While the potatoes are boiling, brown ground beef, and season with salt and pepper. Add onions to the ground beef while it is cooking, cook until onions are soft and meat is cooked. Drain extra fat. Pour beef and onion mixture into a large bowl and add the corn, green beans, tomato soup and cream of mushroom soup. Mix until incorporated. Pour mixture into a greased 9x13 dish and smooth out.

When potatoes are soft, drain and place in a bowl to mash. Add a dash of milk and beat potatoes until creamy. Adding more milk if necessary. Spread mashed potatoes onto the ground beef, soup mixture. Sprinkle with grated cheese and place in oven for about 30 minutes.

PW's Enchiladas a.k.a. Casserole Mishap

My sister Aimee knows the way to my heart because she sent me Pioneer Woman's cookbook for my birthday. I immediately started making a list of what recipes I was going to try, they all looked so good! I had heard from many others about her amazing enchiladas so I had to give them a whirl. Now I've tried many of her recipes, and many of them I have LOVED, and were just so simple and delicious. I read over the enchiladas recipe and it seemed a bit more complicated than I'm used to, but I'm always up for a challenge. I picked up all the items at the store and began my first try at authentic enchiladas. I should have known that it was going to end up a "disaster" because when I first pulled out my corn tortillas all of them but 3 were broken in half. I wasn't about to go back to the store, so I was just going to "make it work!" 2 exhausting hours later we sat down to eat, and oh my, was it worth it. I may not make it PW style, but it was my style, dumbed down and casserolized! (is that a word?) :) 

First I started making the sauce, which was simple enough...enchilada sauce, chicken broth, oil, flour, salt, pepper. Things were going well...

Then I browned my beef, sauted my onions and added the green chiles. Again, not too bad, but here's where things got a little interesting...

First off, I hate frying things, for multiple reasons, but one of them being I really don't know when I should turn them, or how to know if the oil is hot enough etc. I am very intimidated by the whole frying process and have never had luck with it. Well, I gave it my best and things seemed to be going well with my broken tortillas and all. She says to fry them just until soft, and slightly blistered, about 30 seconds per side. Then I let them drain on paper towels.

Now you may be wondering why there are no more pictures to document making the enchiladas. Well, I was a little frazzled at this point and taking pictures was the last thing to cross my mind. Basically, after you fry the tortillas you are supposed to dip them into the delicious red sauce with some tongs and lay them on a cookie sheet to assemble. Hahaha right! They were just ripping apart when I would try to pull them out of the red sauce. I think I had one tortilla that turned out okay. I am wondering if I just didn't fry them long enough. /shrug I'll never know. PW is a wonder woman and I have no idea how she does it. It wasn't going well, but I was going to see this through! I got my tortillas all dipped, then began assembling them with the ground beef mixture, some chopped olives, green onions, and cheese! I tried rolling them and that is when I called it quits. My husband could hear me in the kitchen moaning and groaning and came to check in on me, his words were. "Oh this would make a good Halloween meal, you could call it bloody scraps". Thanks hon. Actually, it gave me a good needed laugh and I carried on. I still had a hungry family to feed, so we threw 1/3 of our "bloody scraps" in the bottom of the casserole dish, layered 1/2 of the beef mixture on top of that, sprinkled with chopped olives, green onions, and cheese. Then poured some of the red sauce on top of that. Then started the layering again with the red sauce-soaked tortillas, beef mixture, olives, green onions, and cheese, and topped with more red sauce, then finished the top off with the rest of the corn tortillas, sprinkled with cheese, green onions and some more red sauce! I made my enchiladas into a casserole and you know what? It actually worked, it was DELICIOUS! 

I probably won't try to attempt those enchiladas PW style again, but I will definitely be making my Enchilada casserole mishap again, Cami style. :)

If you want to see how the lovely PW does her enchiladas and makes it look so easy, go here! Otherwise, if you are interested in enchilada casserole read below! Don't be intimidated by the list of ingredients or long list of steps. It is worth it!

PW's Enchilada Casserole Mishap

adapted from Pioneer Woman

FOR THE SAUCE:

1 Tablespoon Canola Oil

1 Tablespoon All-purpose Flour

1 can (28 Ounce) Enchilada Or Red Sauce

2 cups Chicken Broth

½ teaspoons Salt

½ teaspoons Ground Black Pepper

2 Tablespoons Chopped Cilantro *I always omit cilantro!

FOR THE MEAT:

1-½ pound Ground Beef

1 whole Medium Onion, Finely Diced

2 cans (4 Oz) Diced Green Chilies

½ cups Chopped Black Olives *I added additional olives as well

½ teaspoons Salt

FOR THE TORTILLAS:

10 whole (to 14) Corn Tortillas

½ cups Canola Oil *I think next time I may even skip the entire frying process

ADDITIONAL INGREDIENTS:

3 cups Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese

1 cup Chopped Green Onions

½ cups Chopped Cilantro *Again, I omit the cilantro

First begin making the red sauce. In a large saucepan over medium heat, add oil and flour and whisk together to make a paste, cooking for one minute. Pour in the red sauce, chicken broth, cilantro, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 30-45 minutes.

While that is simmering, brown and season the meat with salt. Add the onions while meat is browning. Drain off fat. Stir in 2 cans diced green chilies, and olives. Set aside.

Heat canola oil in a small skillet over medium heat. One by one, using tongs, fry tortillas in oil until soft, not crisp – about 30 seconds per side. Remove to a paper towel lined plate. Repeat until all tortillas have been fried. *I may just omit this step entirely to make it a little easier and less time consuming. I'm not sure that it will affect flavor because I'm making the enchiladas into a casserole instead of stand alone items.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour ½ cup red sauce in bottom of baking pan. Spread to even out. Dip a tortilla into the red sauce and lay on the bottom of a 9x13 casserole dish. You may want to reshape the tortillas to fit, but that is optional. It will probably take about 5 or so small corn tortillas per layer. Spoon half of your beef mixture onto the tortilla layer. Sprinkle green onions and cheese (and cilantro). Then pour more red sauce on top of that. (Pour to your liking, but be careful you don't want it to soupy. I wouldn't recommend using all of the sauce, it was much too soupy for us.) Now start with another layer of dipped corn tortillas, the rest of your beef mixture, sprinkle more green onions and cheddar cheese, and top with more red sauce. Now for your last layer of dipped corn tortillas, sprinkle with more cheese and green onions and even top with more olives if you'd like.

Bake for 30 minutes or until bubbly. Sprinkle cilantro over enchiladas, if desired, before serving.

Now enjoy and trust me it is worth all the work!

Black Bean Casserole

Now that I've discovered that I like black beans, I'm exploring other black bean dishes...like this one! It sounded yummy, so we tried it out and really liked it! Nothing fancy, just your ordinary mexican casserole, but it was easy, and healthy. Actually the ingredients are a lot like black bean and pepper quesadillas, but in casserole form! Don't let it fool ya, I can assure you it tastes completely different! I wasn't sure about the corn tortillas in this recipe. I always prefer flour over corn, but I gave them a shot in this particular dish...and ya know what? It was my favorite part! :)

Prehat your oven to 350 degrees. Then saute your green pepper and 1/2 an onion in some olive oil.

While the veggies are sauteeing, spray your 9x13 dish and layer 6 corn tortillas. I used yellow corn, but white would be fine too.

Once the veggies are nice and soft, throw in the rest of the ingredients....salsa, diced tomatoes, black beans, cumin, and chili powder. *I think next time I will even add in some garlic powder to give it a little more flavor. (Kind of the same flavorings as in my black bean quesadilla mixture, which I LOVE.) **I also thought that some taco seasoned cooked, diced chicken would be good in here too. Maybe next time!

Once you have combined all the ingredients in the pan. Layer 1/3 of that mixture over the corn tortillas.

Next comes the mozzarella!

Then start your layering all over again with the corn tortillas, bean mixture, then cheese. Do this 3 times total and end with cheese. I also topped mine with some sliced olives....very glad I did! Bake for 25-30 minutes, until warm and cheese is melted.

Enjoy!

Hubby liked his served with sour cream. Me? Not so much this time. I usually prefer sour cream with dishes like this, but I liked it lots more with no sour cream. Give it a try!

Black Bean Casserole
adapted from Hopeful Homemaker


1/2 onion chopped
1 green pepper
1 tsp olive oil
1 can diced tomatoes
1 1/2 cup salsa
2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
18 corn tortillas
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
sliced olives
sour cream *if desired


In pan, saute onion and bell pepper in 1 tsp. olive oil.  Add tomatoes, black beans, salsa, chili powder and cumin.  Cover bottom of 9×13 inch pan with tortillas.  Spread 1/3 bean mixture over the tortillas, then layer 2/3 cup cheese over beans.  Repeat layers twice more, ending with cheese.  Sprinkle with sliced olives, if desires.  Cover and bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes or until casserole is heated through and cheese is melted.  Serve with sour cream if desired.