Sausage and Squash Casserole

I wanted to share a casserole I made last week with mashed squash frozen from my garden. I have published the recipe before and you can find the original post HERE .

It requires:

2 pounds yellow squash cubed

8 oz container sour cream

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 onion chopped

6 oz package herb stuffing mix (Stovetop Stuffing)

1 stick butter or margarine melted

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

I used 1 container of my frozen and mashed squash that was frozen from my summer garden and vacuum sealed. I also used dehydrated onions from my garden that I rehydrated with boiling water. I have also used green onion from the freezer in the past and they work good also. You will also notice that I buy Boxed stuffing when it is cheap and like my cake mixes take it out of the original box and vacuum seal to prevent pantry pests and store in buckets with gamma lids (twist lids) . I picked up a bunch of these around Thanksgiving and paid  $0.50 a box for them. I pick up a dozen or so specifically for this recipe throughout the year. 

Once all my ingredients are mixed up I did this one a little different. 

I browned a pound of spicy breakfast sausage and added the onion to it at the end to cook a little with the sausage. Then I added the sausage mixture to the original casserole mixture and mixed well and poured into a greased 9X13 baking dish. This I baked at 350 for 45 minutes uncovered. 

 The spice added a nice kick to the squash mixture and dressing. I served with a side of broccoli, cauliflower and carrots medley and a small salad. Made a wonderful dinner. Just an easy recipe to use up all that easy to grow and preserve squash from the garden. You can also substitute zucchini. 

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter

****************************************************

I can also be found at 

https://thebackfence.freeforums.net/

Apple Are You Kidding Cake

 

I love simple good tasting recipes that I can make with easily attainable shelf stable and inexpensive ingredients. Are you kidding cakes are recipes dating probably from the 80's and what people now call dump cakes. Usually made with a bought cake mix and a can of pie filling and 3 eggs. That's it!

I grow lots of different fruits which means I always have pie fillings canned. So this is a simple cake for me. If I don't have the kind of fruit filling I want I can take frozen fruit and add sugar and corn starch and quickly make a filling on the stovetop. 

I buy cake mixes when they are on sale. They must be under $1.00. Many times I buy them when they are $.50 or less. Then I take them out of the boxes to prevent pantry bugs and repackage in vacuum seal bags. I simply make a cut in the mix bag for the excess air to escape, cut out the directions and place in bag and seal. I label type, date I bought and expiration date. The reason I keep expiration date is that if it is beyond expiration I add a teaspoon of baking powder to the mix. These I keep in a large 5 gallon bucket with a gamma lid to keep out any bugs again or mice. 

For this one I simply used a plain yellow cake mix and an apple pie filling. I added the pie filling to the cake mix and 3 duck eggs slightly beaten and stir well to moisten. I added a touch of apple pie spice out of the cabinet and a teaspoon of vanilla. My favorite mix to add to apple pie filling is butter pecan cake mix when I can find it. 

You can add walnuts or pecans if you like. I also sometimes chunk up some cream cheese and shove the chunks down in the prepared batter before I put it in the oven.

I add that to a greased 9 X 13 pan and put in a 350 degree preheated oven for about 35 minutes in my oven. 

Then to 3 cups of powdered sugar I added evaporated milk a tablespoon at a time until it was the consistency to spread as a light icing. Added a couple drops of vanilla also. Spread this on the cooled cake. 

And there ya go. An easy inexpensive moist dessert great for  a snack for the grandkids or a sliver to go with a cup of afternoon hot tea. And the sky is the limit. My favorite is chocolate cake with cherry pie filling and add white chocolate chips. I add chocolate icing with a whole cherries on top of each piece. Or add a chocolate kiss on each piece.  I make these lots when my husband has to have desserts for his American Legion supper meetings. Another good one is blueberry pie filling and lemon cake. Add  lemon icing and slivered almonds. 

Watch for those cake mix sales and stock up on a few. 

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter

***************************************************

I can also be found at

https://thebackfence.freeforums.net/

Beef And Barley Casserole

 

My husband loves barley and beef. His favorite soup is beef and barley soup but you see very few barley recipes anymore. I have made this one in many variations for years. A great stick to your ribs alternative to rice.  This is another of those cooking by the seat of your pants meals out of a well stocked pantry.

This one starts with a pint of canned ground beef and pearl barley. 

Mine starts with greasing a 2 quart oven safe baking dish. Then I add the jar of ground beef an envelope of beef onion soup mix. Add to that 1 cup of raw pearl barley. 

(If you were using fresh ground beef I would brown a pound and up my broth by a cup) 

I then added 1/2 cup of dried chopped green onion out of my garden reconstituted in boiling water then drained. This went into the broth and meat mixture. 

I then added 3 cups of beef broth made from my beef base powder in the pantry. I added some garlic powder made from dehydrated garlic again from the garden. In the top of the fridge I ran across a half bag of frozen peas and carrots and added them to the mix. 

Cover with aluminum foil and bake covered at 350 for 1 hour or until barley is cooked. 

(If it dries out before your barley is soft simply add a little more broth and recover and put back in oven. If casserole is too wet once barley is cooked simply remove covering and put it ack in the oven for a few minutes for a little moisture to cook off.)

I made a little pan of dinner rolls to serve with this and some freezer slaw from the freezer.

Another addition or variation to this recipe is to add a container of sliced mushrooms and broccoli along with slivered almonds instead of carrots and peas.  Dehydrated mushrooms work great as well as dehydrated broccoli. Rehydrate first.  

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter

**********************************

I can also be found at 

https://thebackfence.freeforums.net/

Inside Out Stuffed Pepper Casserole

Another recipe from my pantry. Another recipe from mainly homegrown ingredients from my garden. At a time when the snow is deep, the roads are icy and the shelves of our locals stores are starting to look pretty bare. My family loves stuffed peppers. This casserole is simply all those ingredients added to one simple single dish without all that stuffing. Inexpensive, easy and a great crowd pleaser for my hungry bunch. A great leftover casserole for fix ahead meals too. 

I freeze peppers every year in vacuum bags for this recipe. I also have used both frozen or dehydrated homegrown onions in this recipe. Also I always use home preserved tomato sauce or pasta sauce. 

Inside Out Stuffed Pepper Casserole

2 cups beef or chicken broth

1 cup raw rice

1 pound ground beef

1 medium onion chopped

2 medium bell peppers (seeded and chopped)

1 quart jar (4 cups) home canned tomato sauce or spaghetti sauce

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

optional: garlic and basil 

1. preheat oven to 350.

2. Boil broth and pour over rice in a greased 9 X 13 pan.

3. Brown meat with peppers and onions.

4. Pour meat mixture and tomato sauce over rice and broth mixture in pan. 

5. Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until rice is cooked. 

6. Remove foil and add cheese to top and return to oven until cheese is melted. 

Great served with a side salad and some crusty garlic bread.

I made 4 meals with my leftovers with  homegrown and canned green beans side for lunches. 

Homegrown green beans, homegrown and canned tomato sauce, frozen homegrown peppers and onions. Shelf stable rice and you could use home canned ground beef also. 

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter

**************************************

I can also be found at 

https://thebackfence.freeforums.net/

Squash Soup

 Our snow melted here yesterday but woke up to a cold 28 degree morning and another 1.5 inches of fresh snow and a little ice. This winter has been a snowy one for us. 

 I received an email recently from a young cook asking questions about how to use her canned, dried and frozen food preserves. So I decided I wanted to do a couple posts about cooking with home preserved foods. People ask me all the time what do I preserve. The answer is what grows well in my area, what preserves the easiest and best and what I have developed recipes for over the years that I know my family will eat. These are not fancy recipes but rather just old fashioned stick to your ribs cooking on a budget. 

In a time of rising  food prices and increasing shortages it seemed an appropriate subject to cover. I started to name the next couple of posts recipes cooking by the seat of your pants. Maybe guerilla cooking!

Anyway I thought I would post recipes for a bit showing how I use my preserved foods from my gardens and how I keep a stocked pantry and freezer. 

I am going to start with a recipe for squash soup. In the picture above are 3 vacuum seal bags. Two are yellow squash from my garden sliced and cooked until done then partially mashed but still with a few squash chunks. Once mashed I put them in square rubbermaid containers and freeze. Once frozen I remove them from the container and slip inside a vacuum seal bag and seal. They are then stored frozen in my freezer. They stack well this way.  I have several recipes that I have developed over the years that I use this in. One is squash soup. The other bag is a bag of frozen chicken broth and a quart of canned chicken broth could be substituted. 

I add them to a pan on the lowest heat and slowly let them melt and simmer a bit. 

Then I run my immersion blender though it for just a swipe or two to puree it. 

Since this is a cream soup my next additions will be dairy. Remember you do not want to boil dairy but just a soft simmer is best. I did throw in a Tablespoon of chicken base for a deeper flavor and a small cup of diced ham that I had in the door of the freezer chopped up well.

Next I added a cup of water to a quart jar and 5 Tablespoons powdered milk. To this mixture I added 4 Tablespoons All Purpose flour. Put the lid on and shake well.  I want to make the point here that if you have it half and half or whipping cream could be added instead. However I keep powdered milk, evaporated canned milk and shelf stable milk on hand almost always. I added my milk and flour slurry to the hot squash mixture and stirred while adding and continuing to simmer and stir until thickened.

I threw in a hand full, maybe a cup, of sharp cheddar. I also threw in a small chunk of pepper jack that I found in the bottom drawer of the fridge. It gave it a nice little bite. 

And there you go! My cream of squash soup with ham and cheese added for a little something extra. Thick and rich with a little cheesy goodness. The perfect warm and rich soup for a nice bowl on a snowy winter afternoon. We will have this for lunch and any leftovers for supper with some ham and cheese sandwiches. 

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter

********************************************

I can also be found at

https://thebackfence.freeforums.net/

      

Turkey Tetrazzini and December Musings

 Well Thanksgiving has passed and December has been busy. The grandchildren are all back home and the house is again quiet and peaceful. I got the Christmas tree up and the leftover turkey has become frozen turkey tetrazzinis. They should make great meals for us when I am not in the mood to cook. 

Turkey Tetrazzini

1 box 16 oz. pasta (spaghetti or linguini )

3 cups turkey or chicken

2 cans cream of mushroom soup ( I use homemade )

1 cup chicken broth ( or turkey)

1 cup sour cream

1 cup frozen peas and carrots

1 cup mushrooms sliced and sautéed in butter

1/4 stick butter

2 cups grated cheddar

Parmesan

Pepper and salt to taste

1. Cook pasta el dente
2. Sauté mushrooms in butter
3. Mix chicken broth, soups, sour cream, peas, cooked mushrooms, shredded cheese and salt and pepper in large bowl. 
4. Mix in pasta and chicken
5. Put in 2 greased 8X8 pan or one 13X9 pan
6. Top with parmesan cheese and cover with aluminum foil greased with butter to prevent cheese sticking. 
7. Freeze at this point or bake in 350 degree preheated oven for 1 hour. Allow to sit once cooked to stiffen up. If frozen allow to defrost in fridge overnight before baking. 

*********************************************************************

here is a link to making your own cream of mushroom soup. I dehydrate or can mushrooms for this use. 

https://www.thepioneerwoman.com/food-cooking/recipes/a79484/homemade-condensed-cream-of-mushroom-soup/

Christmas is the time of year that I take advantage of the holiday sales to restock my pantry and this year has been no exception. I have refilled the containers of sugars and baking supplies to hopefully last well into 2022. I found a great sale on some bags of chunked pineapple and bought 8 pounds. Once home I dehydrated them for snacking food. We love dried fruits and they store so well. 

It's as simple as putting the sliced fruit and trays and dehydrating until rubbery kind of like raisins. 

It took about 12 hours to completely dehydrate and then I simply let it cool and put in jars. 

Made a half gallon of blueberry brandy and put it on to age. We are still picking out walnuts. My gosh we got a bumper crop this year but probably won't get a nut next year. That seems to be the way that works. 

So like the squirrels we continue to stash our nuts and wait for spring taking advantage of a warm day here and there to catch up on garden cleanup, mulching and pruning jobs. We are not going anywhere this Christmas or expecting much company as "O Wise One" is fighting a severe case of bronchitis. So for this holiday the aim is quiet, restful and easy. We will make our usual end of year donations to the local fire and rescue and the local humane society in the spirit of the season. 

We were extremely fortunate to have missed the extreme weather and tornadoes of late. Although we did wake to tornado sirens and sought cover we were at the very edge of the weather and escaped any real harm. Our hearts do just break for those out there who have lost loved ones and property as well. We will hold you in our hearts and wish that you find peace with your losses. We pray for recovery and rebuilding for our northern neighbors. 

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter

******************************************************************************

I can also be found at

https://thebackfence.freeforums.net/

Experiments & Roses

 We woke up to thunder, lightning and much needed rain this morning. Hoping it will cool things back down a bit. Who knows? We can only hope. 

The knockout roses are loaded again for the third round of blooms. Deadheading and duck water paid off. 

With lots of zucchini and squash I have been experimenting. Here are a couple successes I would recommend.

https://leslieblythemiller.wordpress.com/2013/05/14/cheesy-beef-zucchini-casserole/

This is an excellent zucchini recipe! You make a crust almost of shredded zucchini and cheeses and bake. Then add aground beef topping and cheese. Changes I made was to use pizza sauce instead of just tomato sauce. I added mushrooms, garlic, oregano and basil. Then on top of the burger I added pepperoni before topping with Italian cheese. OMG my husband loved it. It was like a zucchini crusted pizza.  This is definitely a keeper for us. I might even freeze some shredded zucchini to make this in the winter. 

https://chocolatewithgrace.com/cream-cheese-frosted-zucchini-cake/

I love snack cakes. This is a simple cream cheese frosted zucchini snack cake. An 8X8 pan and 30 minutes in the oven and a small and simple dessert. The only thing I changed was to add about a cup of chopped pecans. Simple and moist and delicious. This is a keeper too and a great option when the zucchini has filled up the kitchen counters. 

If you guys try them let me know what you think!

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter

******************************

You can also find me at 

https://thebackfence.freeforums.net/

Garlic Scapes on the grill

 

Got garlic scapes? A friend told me to brush them with olive oil and throw them in your veggie basket on the grill then sprinkle with sea salt like grilling asparagus. We thought the garlic flavor would be overpowering but it wasn't. They mellowed out and tasted wonderful!

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter

*********************************

You can also find me  at 

https://thebackfence.freeforums.net/forum

Lady Bird Johnson's Shrimp and Squash Casserole

With squash coming in daily I decided to try this squash casserole the other day. My mother made a similar  dish to this when I was a  child. My husband loved the taste of this and it is good as it is. I will make some changes next time. I will add more flour and butter for a little thicker sauce as I did find it a little on the thin side. I will slice my squash a little thinner and maybe precook in the microwave a bit as I think they needed to cook a little more. I think next I will add some sliced cheese maybe provolone between the squash layers. And I used corn flake crumbs on top. Next time I will try fried onion rings crumbled on top.  Make sure and cook your sauce for enough time to thicken well. 

Lady Bird Johnson's Shrimp and Squash Casserole

• 1-1/2 pounds yellow squash (equals 3 cups squash)
• 3/4 cup raw shrimp, shells removed and deveined
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1/2 cup whipping cream
• 1 tablespoon minced onion
• 1/2 cup coarse bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 tablespoon butter, melted (to combine with crumbs and cheese)

Wash and dry squash. Cut crosswise into 1/4-inch slices.

Thoroughly rinse shrimp under cold water. Drain.

Heat the two tablespoons butter in a saucepan. Blend in flour, salt, and pepper. Cook until it bubbles. Remove from heat and gradually add chicken broth, stirring constantly. Bring to boil for 1 or 2 minutes.

Blend in whipping cream and minced onion. Mix in the raw shrimp.

Place a layer of squash in the bottom of a 1-1/2 quart casserole and spoon half of the shrimp sauce over the squash. Repeat layers with remaining squash and shrimp sauce.

Cover tightly and set in a 400°F oven for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, toss crumbs and Parmesan cheese with melted butter.

After 30 minutes, remove casserole from oven and reduce heat to 350°F. Remove cover and top with the crumb mixture. Return to the oven for 15 minutes, or until crumbs are golden brown.

https://thebackfence.freeforums.net/

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter

Gooseberry Pie

It's the end of the gooseberries for 2020. It was a bang up year with gallons of them in the freezer it was time for a pie. So the last picking of the season I cooked down instead of freezing. 

Gooseberry Pie

5 cups gooseberries fresh or frozen

3 heaping Tablespoons corn starch

2 cups granulated sugar

2 crusts for a nine inch pie

Notation if your berries are green (unripe) you will have to add more sugar. 

Put gooseberries in saucepan. and slightly cook on simmer just until they start to soften. 

Mix sugar and corn starch and add to berries and continue to cook just until thickened .

Allow filling to cool slightly and then pour into bottom crust.

Apply top crust and brush with mixed milk and egg white

Bake at 350 for 60 minutes or until top is golden. 

That is another crop down. Finished both the beets and gooseberries. Just starting on green beans and zucchini. 

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter