cheese burger and fries casserole and food preservation

Thursday.
These are the dresses we wore in the fifties:

 


Tuesday:  I have just finished 30 pounds of pulled pork for a wedding reception for a friend putting a wedding together on a low budget.  I roasted 4 large pork shoulders in my turkey roaster all night long (on low) and they were perfect this morning.  I cannot stand to look at food now. (That's a blessing.)

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Cheese Burger and Fries Casserole

Miz Helen's Kitchen

Serves 10 

Ingredients

1 pound ground chuck, browned 

1 Red Bell Pepper, chopped

1 yellow onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 30 ounce Frozen Bag Hash Browns, thawed

1 cup Sour Cream

1 8 ounce block of cream cheese, softened

1 10 ounce can cream of mushroom soup

1-1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon cayenne

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 tablespoon dried parsley

Directions

In a large skillet on medium heat cook the ground chuck, just before it begins to turn brown add the garlic, onion and bell pepper.  Cook the mix until the onions are clear. 

Add the meat and vegetable mixture to a large mixing bowl and add the potatoes, sour cream, soup, and cheeses, reserving 1/2 cup of the cheddar cheese for the top of the casserole. Mix well.

Stir in the salt, pepper, cayenne, basil and parsley.

Spray a 9 X 13 baking dish with cooking oil.

Pour the casserole mix into the baking dish and bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes.

Remove the casserole from the oven and sprinkle the remaining cheddar cheese on top. Cover the casserole and let set at room temperature for 20 minutes.

When you uncover the casserole the cheese has melted and the casserole has set and is ready to serve.

Garnish with fresh Parsley or fresh Green Onions

Tips:

This will freeze well for up to 3 months.

SEVEN WAYS TO PRESERVE FRESH FOOD:

Wrap the top knob of the bunch of bananas with plastic wrap. (Just the knob that holds the bananas together.) They won't ripen as fast. (I am going to retry this on a fresh bunch and see if it really works. I did tie up a bunch I had, but it didn't make any difference.  I'll let you know.)

Store mushrooms in a paper bag in the frig.  They won't become slimy.

Line your crisper drawer in the frig with paper towels.  Your lettuce and leafy vegetables will keep longer.

Throw an apple in the potato bag.

Wash your blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries with a vinegar bath and then rinse and let dry. (one part vinegar and two parts water for the bath.) They will not spoil as quickly.

I knew about this one from Martha Stewart and it really works: wrap your celery in foil and store in the frig.

Summer blooms at Many Branches

I must say it is more and more difficult to use this blog.  Pictures, even my own, place themselves in awkward positions and refuse to move.  So if this blog seems 'off' it is the computers fault. LOL. The recipe today is for meatball buns which would be fun for my gang on the 4th.  Many hungry mouths to feed on that special day.  Scroll down for picture and recipe.  But first, Many Branches is in full bloom and full weed at this point.  Matt is doing a great job keeping up with it, bless his heart.

Well, the blog insists the recipe goes here--no control, so here it is:

Italian meatball buns:
12 frozen bread dough dinner rolls
Let stand at room temperature 25-30 minutes to soften
1 package meatballs, thawed (or make your own)
2 tbsp. olive oil
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup minced fresh basil
1 1/2 cups marinara sauce, warmed
Cut each roll in half.  wrap each portion around a meatball.Place on greased baking sheet.Cover to let rise about an hour or two.Bake 350 for 12-15 minutes. The picture at the bottom of the post shows the results.

                                                                               

                                                                       

                                                                                             
Trays of sugared flowers for wedding cupcakes.

                                                                         

  

                                                            

Celebration Lemon Poke Cake~

                

These poke cakes look like celebration.  There are a lot of parties and get- togethers this time of year. The Lechlers' schedules are no exception.  Joe and Glenda are coming from Cincinnati Monday to stay several days.  We have hardly seen them since our month with them in Florida, so we have some catching up to do.  Naturally I have this new cake to try out on them.  It screams spring. It screams school is out. It screams graduation. It screams eat me!



I  have this cookbook devoted to poke cakes.  This subject has the most hits ever on my site.  So you might like to buy this little book from Amazon.  (Andy told me that starting Monday Amazon is forced to charge sales tax if you live in Ohio.)  Bummer! We got away with it for a long good time.  Oh well, even though most of us do MORE than our tax share, I guess sales tax hits everyone and so those who have gotten away with not paying taxes will be hit the same.

The picture shows double layers, but I am going to make it in a 9x13 pan.

1 box white cake mix. Make it according to the box and leave it in the pan after it comes from the oven.
With a fork, poke holes all over the cooled cake.


Combine 1 box of lemon gelatin with 2 cups boiling water and stir the mixture until it is dissolved. Let it cool a bit.After the mix has cooled some, pour it slowly over the cake making sure the holes get a good filling. Refrigerate at least 3 hours.

Take cake from the frig and spoon and spread the lemon pie filling from a 22 oz. sized can over the cake. (If you do layers, spread 1/2 between the layers and the other half on top of the cake.

Frost the cake with whipped topping.  Keep the cake in the frig if there are left overs.  It is meant to be cool and refreshing.
We are making sugared pansies for the top of wedding cupcakes today.





From One Good Thing blog:

Homemade Streak-Free Window Cleaner

• 1/2 bottle of “Jet Dry” (the bottle I bought was just under 7 ounces so I measured out 3.5 ounces)
• 4 Tablespoons Alcohol (I used rubbing alcohol….70% I believe)
• 1/4 Cup Ammonia
• 1 handful of powdered dish-washer soap (which depending on the size of your hand could probably vary quite a bit!  I used a “handful” which looked to me to be about 1/4 cup.  Give or take.)
  2 Gallons of Hot Water

We have a lot of windows here at Many Branches and washing them has always been arduous.  One Good Thing posted this recipe for no streak windows.  Get one of those car wash mop like things with a long handle.  Spray your windows and put the (above) recipe on the windows with the car mop.  Spray again with water and Bob's your uncle.  No hand drying, no streaking and much more economical than the outdoor Windex (which is very good but over $8. a bottle.)