The Best Funeral Potatoes I've Ever Eaten

Last month I made some potatoes for a funeral at our church.  My sweet, 86 year old neighbor gave me her recipe, and I must say, they were the best funeral potatoes I've ever eaten.  Dustin concurred.  There are a couple of tricks that I'm convinced must be what made the difference. One is to sprinkle the cheese on the potatoes before pouring the soup mixture on.  The second was to mix the cornflakes with melted butter before sprinkling them on the top.  No soggy topping!

Funeral Potatoes
by: Donna 

32 oz. frozen hash browns (the cubed kind)
2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
1 c. sour cream
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1/4 c. butter, softened
1/2 c. chopped onion (I used my dehydrated onions and they worked great)
2 - 2 1/2 c. cornflakes
1/4 c. melted butter

Pour your hash browns into a 9X13 pan.  Sprinkle the shredded cheese over the top of the potatoes.  In a bowl, mix together the onions, butter (not melted), sour cream and cream of chicken soup and spread it over the top of the cheese.  Crush the cornflakes and mix it with the melted butter and sprinkle that over the top (I ended up adding a little more cornflakes so it went farther).  Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until it is bubbly.    

Lazy Sunday Casserole

This was a delicious meal that we just happened to make on... Sunday.  It was easy, the only real time-consuming part was chopping up all of the vegetables.  It was the first time I've cooked with, or eaten for that matter, fennel.  It's a very interesting vegetable, it has almost a black licorice flavor (which I actually don't like, but eaten as a bite with all of the other vegetables combined it wasn't bad).  My husband liked the flavor of it combined as well.  My sister-in-law informed me that fennel is an ingredient in a lot of Italian sausages (which may be a clue as to why I don't like Italian sausage that much) so it complimented the flavors of the dish well.  

After all of my fennel talk, it was just a small part of the dish and the overall flavor was well balanced and delicious!  The vegetables were moist and it had just the right amount of seasoning.  This is one of our new favorites for sure.  I got it from Kayotic Kitchen, a new blog that I found via Pinterest, and was so happy to find it.  As she suggested, we used vegetables we had on hand, so my slight adaptations are from the vegetables we needed to use up which included mushrooms. My husband was very happy that I finally chose a recipe that used sausage, his favorite.  And I liked it just as much as he did!

Lazy Sunday Casserole

slightly adapted from Kayotic Kitchen

Ingredients

4 sausages (beef or pork)

3 large potatoes

3-4 large carrots

1 red bell pepper

1 large onion

1 fennel bulb

5-6 mushrooms

2 garlic cloves

2 tbsp oil

Kosher salt

Freshly cracked black pepper

1 1/2 tsp Italian herbs

1/2 cup chicken broth

4 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Directions

1. Peel the potatoes, wash them and cut each potato into large cubes. Chop carrots into large pieces and slice mushrooms.  Chop onion into wedges. Remove the base and stalks of the fennel and slice it into wedges as well. Slice bell pepper into strips and put everything in a big roasting tray.

2. Use a big bowl to combine the oil with the Italian herbs, grated or chopped garlic, and chicken broth and pour it over the vegetables. Toss them around to make sure the broth gets everywhere. Season with a generous amount of salt and black pepper.

3. Cover the tray with aluminum foil and pop it in a preheated oven. Bake at 450F (225C) for 45 minutes.

3. While the vegetables are cooking, lightly brown the sausages and slice each sausage in half. (Sausages do not need to be cooked through.)

4. After 45 minutes the potatoes and vegetables should be fork tender. If they’re not, cover the tray with the foil and pop them back in the oven for a few more minutes. If they are fork tender, place the sausages in there and pour the balsamic vinegar all over. Place the tray back in the oven, uncovered, for 25 to 30 minutes. Take it out after 15 minutes, flip over those sausages and ladle some of the juices lurking at the bottom all over the vegetables and sausages. Put it back in the oven for the remaining time, until everything is nice and brown.

Chunky Chicken Pot Pie & A Pie Crust Recipe

When it is a blizzard outside and hasn't been above 20 degrees in a month, don't you just feel like eating warm and cozy comfort food?  I really love chicken pot pie.  I have made it a number of times and this was one of my favorite versions.  Of course, I may have just been in the perfect mood for it.  You can add any veggies that you have on hand.  I only had potatoes, carrots and onions, but peas or celery would have been great, too.  The other great thing about this is it is an all-in-one dish.  I added a little fruit on the side and my meal was done.

Chunky Chicken Pot Pie
adapted from: allrecipes.com

1 chicken breast
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 onion, sliced
1/3 c. butter
1/3 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 3/4 c. chicken broth
2/3 c. milk
1 recipe for a double pie crust (mine follows)

In a medium saucepan, boil the carrots and potatoes until tender (about 15 minutes).  You can also cook your chicken breast with your vegetables if you want.  I always forget and end up cooking the breast separate and then shredding it.  When the vegetables are tender, drain the water and set them aside.  While the veggies are cooking, prepare your crust and lay one half of it in the bottom of your pie tin.  In the saucepan over medium heat, cook the onions in the butter until they are tender.  Stir in the flour, salt and pepper.  Slowly stir in the chicken broth and the milk.  Simmer it over medium heat until it thickens.  Gently stir together the shredded chicken and vegetables and dump that into your pie crust.  Pour the sauce over the top of the veggies.  Then gently lay your other half of rolled out pie crust over the top of the pie and crimp the edges.  Make a few slits in the top with a knife to let the steam out.  Bake it at 425 degrees for 45-50 minutes, or until your crust is golden yumminess.  I bake mine on a cookie sheet so that if it oozes out a little while it is baking, I won't have to clean my oven.

Double Pie Crust
adapted from my Better Homes and Garden cookbook

2 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 c. shortening
1/3 c. butter
6-7 Tbsp. ice water

Mix your flour and salt and the cut in the shortening and butter until it resembles pea sized pieces.  Sprinkle one tablespoon of ice water in the flour at a time and using a fork, press the flour and the water together (pushing moistened dough to the side of the bowl).  Repeat until all the flour is moistened and you can form it into two balls.  Roll one out and place it in the bottom of your pie tin.  Roll the second out into a circle.  It will go on top of the pie after the filling is in it.  

Ham & Vegetable Casserole

I've been asked to post some of the recipes that I used to cook.  However, I'm not sure which ones my family liked.  This was a request from your dad, so when I cooked it, I took a picture and decided that I would post it.  This recipe came from one of the ward cookbooks and was submitted by Mary Heaton.

4 cups diced carrots
4 cups diced potatoes
1 onion, diced
4 cups boiling water
1 tsp salt

Cover and cook the above until almost tender (15-20 minutes).  Drain the vegetables and reserve the water to use as follows: 

Add evaported milk (1/2 c to 3/4 c - I just use a small 5 oz can of evaporated milk) to the water you saved from cooking the vegetables.  Make a white sauce using 4 tblsp butter and 4 tblsp of flour and the water/milk mixture.  (To make a white sauce, melt the butter over a medium heat, add the flour and mix, then slowly add your liquid and stir continually until it thickens.)  Add 1/4 lb of shredded cheese to the white sauce and stir.

Put your vegetables in a large bowl and add 2 to 4 cups of diced ham (depending on how much ham you have and how "meaty" you want your casserole).  Pour your cheesy white sauce over the top of the ham and vegetables and gently stir it up. 

Then pour into a rectangular baking dish (don't cover it) and bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until the top is golden brown.   I used a 10.5 X 14.75 X 2.25 inch, which is a bigger baking dish, but my ingredients completely filled it and left just enough room that it didn't boil over.  This makes a big casserole, so if you have a small family and don't want leftovers, I would split the recipe in half.  We will be eating this for a few days.

Easy Homemade Macaroni and Cheese

This is a recipe that I got originally from Dustin's aunt Julia, which I have now adapted enough to take my own credit for, I think. Dustin loves homemade mac-n-cheese, but I find that it tends to be greasy. This recipe isn't greasy and is easier than a "real" homemade version because of one special ingredient:

Ragu Cheese Sauce (no chubby baby required).

Let me start off with an apology. Like most things I cook, I cook this to taste, which means I don't really know exactly how much of each ingredient I add. For those of you who feel lost and scared if you don't measure things exactly (mom), I will give you approximate amounts of the ingredients. But if I were you, I would give it a little taste now and then to see if it is what you like. I have also used Velveeta cheese, very thinned out and it works well, too. For the topping, I either use crushed up cornflakes, bread crumbs (store bought) or any kind of crunchy crackery thing. My cheese ended up a little salty this time, so I went with cornflakes, rather than anything that would add more salt (like crackers or store bought bread crumbs).

Lazy Homemade Mac-N-Cheese

Ragu Cheese Sauce

1/2 tsp. onion powder

3/4 tsp. garlic powder

salt and pepper to taste

1 1/2 to 2 cups milk

parsley flakes (just a little, for color)

ham-cut into chunks

24 oz. macaroni noodles

crushed cornflakes or other topping

Cook macaroni noodles according to package directions. While the noodles are cooking, pour Ragu Sauce in a medium sauce pan and heat over medium low heat. Add milk and stir well (I add enough milk to thin it out and lighten the cheese flavor). Add onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper.

When noodles are cooked, drain and pour into a 9X13 pan. Add cut up ham and parsley flakes to the sauce and pour over noodles. Spread evenly in the pan. Sprinkle crushed up cornflakes over the top. Bake for 20 minutes in 375 degree oven.

Five Cheese Ziti

In the classroom I work in we all love to eat, so we decided to have a potluck. My friend brought this and we all loved it. It takes a lot of ingredients, but oh how it's worth it. I couldn't find any Fontina cheese, and really, I don't think it needs it.

Ziti Sauce:

4 cups tomato sauce
2 cups alfredo sauce
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1/4 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
3 tablespoons Fontina cheese, shredded
1 teaspoon garlic pepper seasoning
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Ziti Topping:
3 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/2 cup Italian breadcrumbs
3 tablespoons romano cheese, grated
3 tablespoons parmesan cheese, grated
1 tablespoon fresh garlic, chopped
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 tablespoons fresh flat-leaf Italian parsley, chopped

Remaining Ingredients:
1 lb dry ziti pasta
1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded

Preparing the Ziti Sauce:

Combine all ingredients for the Ziti Sauce in a large bowl; cover
and refrigerate until ready to use.

Preparing the Ziti topping:

1- In a medium-size bowl, whisk together the first four ingredients for
the Ziti Topping.
2- Add the garlic, oil, and parsley and mix until thoroughly blended.
Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

When ready to prepare the whole dish:
1- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray a 13-by-9-inch baking dish or
large casserole with non-stick spray.
2- Prepare the pasta according to package directions.
3- Pour 1/2 cup of prepared ziti sauce into the prepared dish, and
spread it evenly over the bottom using a spoon.
4- When pasta has finished cooking, drain the water and pour the hot
pasta into the bowl of remaining sauce. Mix thoroughly; pour into the
baking dish.
5- Spread 1 cup of shredded mozzarella over the pasta and sauce mixture.
6- Top the mozzarella with the prepared Ziti Topping, spreading evenly.
7- Place pan on center oven rack and bake until top is golden brown
and cheese is bubbling, about 30 to 40 minutes.
8- Remove and serve immediately.

(From the Olive Garden Restaurant, so I hear)

Creamy Chicken Casserole

2 chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch chunks
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 8 oz package of cream cheese (or 1 c. sour cream)
1/2 c. mozzarella or Parmesan cheese
20 Ritz crackers, crushed

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place cut chicken in bottom of casserole dish. Mix cream of chicken soup with softened cream cheese or sour cream (add milk to thin if needed). Stir in cheese. Pour mixture over chicken and top with crushed crackers. Bake for 30 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink. Serve over rice or mixed veggies.

I got this off of my friend's food blog, but, as usual, I made some adjustments. I followed her recipe, using sour cream instead of cream cheese, and 1/2 c. Parmesan cheese. Then, because I worried it would be too bland and cream of chicken soupy, I added about 10-12 shakes of garlic powder. Instead of Ritz crackers, I topped it with crushed up Honey Bunches of Oats. Yes, you heard me correct, Honey Bunches of Oats. Once I ran out of corn flakes for homemade chicken fingers and used Honey Bunches of Oats instead, and I liked the sweet crunchiness and golden flakiness. So, I thought I'd try it. I'll let you know how it tastes.

Adapted from www.ldsbaker.blogspot.com