When one of our daughters was nine years old, she came in the kitchen and asked what I was making for supper. I told her that I was making a casserole and she curled up her nose and said, “Casserole is a pretty scary word around here.”
Scary? No. Foreign? Yes. It’s about as exotic as this all-American housewife gets. We are never quite sure what a casserole will be like in our house because fixing a casserole is simply making the most of what we have.
All-American Housewife’s Casserole
1 cup meat
1 cup vegetable
1-2 cups starchy ingredient
1 ½ cups binder
¼ cup luxury item
topping
Cooked meat: chicken, ground beef, turkey, ham, roast, tuna
Vegetable: celery, peas, green beans, corn, mushrooms, onion
Starchy Ingredient: cooked noodles, rice, thinly sliced potatoes, tortillas
Binder: sour cream, soup, white sauce, tomato sauce
Luxury Item: olives, almonds, pine-nuts, cashews
Topping: cheese, bread crumbs, cracker crumbs, crushed chips
To make casserole, mix your combinations of the above ingredients. (You may need to add 1/2 cup of liquid if it seems too dry.) Place in greased casserole dish and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
(This is an adapted recipe from The Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyzyn)
The recipes listed below are TRIED and PROVEN!
