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Saturday, January 23, 2010

Casserole


I think this recipe that I'm going to share with you is one of my all-time favorite casserole recipes. I only have a couple that I have had all my life and still keep making. This is one of those. Actually, it's the first copycat recipe I ever had. A restaurant in my hometown made this and my mom copied it. We're both still making it over 30 yrs. later. That is the sign of a good recipe. I've also made this for friends after they've had babies and needed a dinner and then I promptly had to share the recipe. Of course, this was before gluten and dairy were a problem (or at least before we realized they were a problem). It used canned cream soup, a big no-no on the new diet. I wasn't going to make it again, I thought. Then Thanksgiving rolled around and I KNEW I had to have green bean casserole. So I searched and discovered recipes for Cream of Mushroom Soup and tried one. I ended up tweaking it to make it to suit my tastes and when I finished I wondered why I had ever purchased the canned soup. They are a poor comparison to what you can make at home yourself.
Once I made that cream of mushroom soup, I knew that this recipe would be back in the menu rotation. So here it is: Sausage, green bean potato casserole I know, it's a pretty fancy title for a casserole! Well, at least you pretty much know what's in it by the time you finish saying the name. Try it, you'll like it! I even put the Cream of Mushroom Soup recipe with the casserole and by itself, just so you have it for reference.
Happy Eating!

Saturday, January 16, 2010

The Rainy Season

I'm sitting here at the computer listening to the rain pouring down outside and thinking about one of my favorite winter time meals, potato soup. Nothing brings back memories like comfort food. I remember having potato soup as a little girl (my mom probably made it not only because she liked it, but it was an easy way to get some milk in me. I never liked the stuff, guess now we know why. It doesn't agree with me). I liked potato soup. It was warm and creamy and delicious. The recipe my mom made wasn't one of those loaded with cheese and sour cream, it was just potatoes, onion, celery, milk and salt and pepper. I've had the ones loaded with cheese. I even have a great recipe for one of those, but I can't eat those anymore and after adapting a recipe for potato soup from the AIA Gluten and Dairy Free Cookbook, I don't even want those cheesy potato soups. This new recipe is great. It has a few new elements different from my mom's recipe and one from the loaded baked potato soups (bacon). I shared this recipe with my mom and I think that she might try it with some Jimmy Dean Natural Sausage. I might have to try that next time, but for now, the version with bacon was wonderful! Ian was hunting for the bacon in every bite. He wasn't happy when he thought he'd run out of bacon, but thankfully, he still had a couple of pieces.
So, if you're in need of some warm comfort food, I'd recommend this recipe. It'll put a smile on your face!
Potato Soup
Happy Eating!

Saturday, January 9, 2010

The Spicy Side of Life

Lately our go to food (meaning quick to make and popular with the whole family) has been tacos. We don't do pizza much any more since we aren't eating dairy and soy gives me a headache, so tacos work quite well. I make my own taco seasoning mix. I found a recipe on Top Secret Recipes website and changed it to make it gluten free and also to suit my tastes. It tastes fabulous...enough to make my husband actually ask for tacos (which, if you knew him, would amaze you. He's not really a Mexican food fan). I love to pair the tacos with some refried beans and Spanish rice. I have a great recipe for Spanish rice. Boy, typing about these makes me want Mexican food. I might just have to make some this weekend!
Happy Eating!

Monday, January 4, 2010

Time To Play Catch Up!

Well, Happy New Year. I am really behind with the recipes I'd like to share with you. I still need to share some of my successes from Thanksgiving and Christmas. I guess I'll go with Christmas for now as it is still fresh in my mind and doesn't require looking up several websites (as Thanksgiving does). So...Christmas, what to say... I did make a couple of Christmas cookies that were gluten and dairy free. One of them was so good, it's on the list to make for Valentine's day as a treat since we can't have some of the more traditional treats. It's called Almond Chocoroons. It's fabulous and I actually found the recipe in Family Circle. Of course, I changed it just a smidge and it's even better. Plus, I can tell you that one of their instructions was not good...using an ungreased cookie sheet...ugh! This cookie is too sticky to get away with that. Just click on the name of the cookie to see the recipe.
I'll share one more of my new recipes for now. It's my Asian Cold Noodle Salad. I'm not bragging, but....yum! I found a recipe that like for a cold noodle salad and then I changed it to suit my needs. Instead of soba noodles, I used pad thai noodles. I also added a couple of ingredients like red pepper and green onion and changed the carrots to julienne carrots (although I'm very tempted to just buy matchstick carrots at the store and save myself a lot of chopping...if making julienne carrot strips it too much work, you can just grate the carrot). By the way, this salad was a big hit at my Bible study dinner (although a bit spicy for some..cut back on the crushed red pepper flakes if you don't like it spicy. I only added one teaspoon the last time I made this and it still had zip without being too spicy). Hope you like it. I'll try to post some of my other recipes from the holidays soon.
Happy Eating!