Mama F's Squash Casserole

This is for Kork & anyone else with a surplus of squash. Mama F is mother to Did (my best friend from high school). Her house is where I learned to not only eat, but love vegetables. I was a seriously picky eater. I emailed her today & she graciously shared this with me....so I pass it on to you with love.

SQUASH CASSEROLE

8 medium squash* 1 cup grated cheese

1 medium onion* 2 TBSP. Mayonnaise

1 tsp. Salt 2 or 3 TBSP cream
[I use Coffeemate]

1 TBSP sugar ½ cup bread crumbs

¼ stick butter

Combine cooked drained squash and onion with all ingredients except ¼ cup of crumbs. Mix well. Sprinkle crumbs on top, dot with butter. Bake 350 degrees 30 to 40 minutes.
*Cover with water and cook till tender

She also added this, "When my squash plants used to survive, I'd slice and barely steam the surplus, drain, cool, then freeze it in really full quart bags, and have the casserole in wintertime if I remembered to think ahead for thawing." She has groundhogs......

Mama F'

SQUASH CASSEROLE

8 medium squash* 1 cup grated cheese

1 medium onion* 2 TBSP. Mayonnaise

1 tsp. Salt 2 or 3 TBSP cream
[I use Coffeemate]

1 TBSP sugar ½ cup bread crumbs

¼ stick butter

Combine cooked drained squash and onion with all ingredients except ¼ cup of crumbs. Mix well. Sprinkle crumbs on top, dot with butter. Bake 350 degrees 30 to 40 minutes.

*Cover with water and cook till tender

My Favorite Show...Ever...

OK -

Seriously y'all...I have fallen completely head over heels, infatuated, all I can think about, in LUV with "America's Test Kitchen".

It airs on my local PBS station (yes, I enjoy public broadcasting. So there!) every day, and is totally amazing.

Basically, they take a recipe go through every possible variation of technique, advice, and make all the mistakes, and find all the best ways to do things!

Last time I watched it all the way through, they were doing pepperoni pizza...not a difficult thing to make right?

Did you know that to cut down on the grease from things like sausage, pepperoni, or any other meat that you can cook it on a paper towel, in your microwave for about 1 minute? That cooks it enough to release most of the grease, absorb it in the paper towel, and it cuts your cooking time down, making sure your crust isn't too crunchy?

To check it out... go to America's Test Kitchen

Hint for Putting up Sweet Corn

I was watching the Today show this week & they had a guest chef. He was cutting fresh corn off the cob. He took a Bundt pan, stood the corn cob up on the hole in the middle of the pan, and cut the corn off into the pan. The hole keeps the cob from slipping around & the pan catches all the corn to keep it from rolling off on the floor.

I thought this was brilliant & fully plan on trying it out in a few weeks when the 8,000,000 stalks of corn my husband planted start coming in! Maybe I can use it as an excuse to get a new fancy Bundt pan (No, honey, I can't use the corn pan to bake cakes in for pot-lucks! What are you, some kind of barbarian?!).

Toffee Crunch Cookies

Yield: 3 Dozen (see hint below)

1 1/2 Cups sifted flour
1/2 Tsp baking soda
1/2 Tsp salt
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 Tsp vanilla
1 cup finely chopped Heath Bars (Heath Bits 'o Brickle may be substituted, but you lose the chocolate flavor from the candy bars)
1/2 cup chopped pecans


Combine flour, soda, salt

Cream butter, ad sugar, egg, and vanilla; mix until creamy

Stir in dry ingredients, blend in chopped candy bars and pecans.

Drop tablespoons full 2" apart on greased baking sheet

Bake in 350 degree oven for 12 to 15 minutes

Hint: If you promised to supply 2 dozen cookies for an event, you should double this recipe to make up for what you eat while baking them.

~Inkling, these are the cookies my dad made for G'ma & G'pa M&M's anniversary party last summer.

Potato Pizza

5 C. peeled & thinly sliced potatoes (I used my slicing blade on my food processor for this)
Pepper
1 1/2 lbs. hamburger
1/2 small onion chopped
1 can (10 3/4 oz) Cheddar Cheese Soup
1 C. milk
4 oz melted cheddar cheese (OK, so in reality I use 2 full cups....there is no such thing as too much cheese)
1 can (10 3/4 oz) tomato soup
1 C. shredded mozzarella cheese.

Grease 9x13 glass Pyrex dish. Lay potatoes out flat in pan in layers. Sprinkle generously with pepper. Brown ground beef and onion. Drain. Stir cheese soup, milk, and melted cheddar cheese together until smooth (works best if cheese and soup are warm.  In fact, I do this in a sauce pan over heat as I melt the cheddar cheese). Mix ground beef and cheese mix, spread over potatoes. Bake @ 350 for 1 hour or until potatoes are done.

Top with tomato soup and mozzarella cheese. Bake 5 more minutes or until cheese is melted.

Om Nam nam

As a thanks to all those who gave me such great recipes for freezing/easy fixing, I thought I would come by - since there hasn't been a post in a while - with a fabulous dessert my MIL made and passed the recipe on to me. It is so super easy, and so very very yummy. Not healthy. But very yummy.

So without further ado:

Cream Cheese Yummy Bars

2 pkgs cream cheese
2 pkgs Pillsbury or other brand Crescent rolls
1 c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 c. butter or margarine
Cinnamon
Brown sugar

Press the first package of crescent roll dough into a 9x12 pan
in a separate dish, combine the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla and mix thoroughly.
Spread over crescent dough in pan.
Lay the other package of crescent dough on top of this.
Melt the butter or margarine and pour over the top.
Sprinkle with cinnamon and brown sugar
bake at 350 for 20 minutes