Friday, November 29, 2019

Corn Casserole

This is one of my favorite holiday dishes but I rarely make it because I'm the only one that likes it.  I know in most other families this is served often, especially in the South.  The beauty of this dish is that it is incredibly easy.  With all the work that goes into most holiday mains and sides, this yummy dish is a welcome respite.  

8 oz Jiffy Corn Muffin mix 
15 oz can whole kernel corn (drained)
15 oz can creamed corn
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup melted butter
2 eggs

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2.  In a mixing bowl, mix all ingredients together and then pour into a greased 8"x8" baking pan.

3.  Cook uncovered for 45-50 minutes or until lightly browned.

Note:  You can omit the eggs.  However, using eggs makes the casserole lighter.  

If cheese is your thing, you can mix 1/2 to 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese or cheese of your choice.

If you like super sweet things, you can add 1/4 to 1/2 cup sugar.  Just beware:  Using sugar makes an already sweet casserole extremely sweet.  Using eggs and sugar in this recipe makes this more like a dessert.

Serves 8

Thanksgiving 2019

With my son away in the Army, it was just myself and my parents for Thanksgiving.  That didn't stop us from making enough food for 20 people.  With my current health problems due to an auto accident three years ago, cooking is very difficult for me.  Sadly I wasn't able to contribute as much as I would have liked due to physical limitations, but there was certainly more than enough and at least I got to make a few things.

Our menu this year was as follows:

Cornish Hens (my mom made these)
Ham (my mom made this for my dad because he doesn't like anything "weird")
Gravy (my mom made this)
Mashed Potatoes (I made these because I always do)
Sweet potatoes (my mom made these)
Green Beans (my mom made these and they tasted like Sonny's green beans, which I love)
Squash Casserole (I made this)
Dressing (my mom made this)
Asparagus (I made this)
Baked Beans (my mom made these because my dad loves them)
Corn Casserole (I made this because I love it)
Deviled and Hard Boiled Eggs (my mom made these)
Biscuits (my mom made these)

Because the meal was so nontraditional, I used a very modified formal place setting for the table with my great grandmother's china.  I wasn't expecting the biscuits, because my mom had made no mention of bringing any bread and since we usually don't eat bread with our meals, I wasn't planning to make any.  In light of all this, I replaced the bread plate with the coffee cup/saucer.  I also eliminated the extra wine glass as I was only serving a single wine.  My parents really don't care about wine like I do so I didn't worry about getting formal with the wine.  I also removed the sherry glass because I'm the only one that drinks sherry.  And the salad fork is missing because I wasn't actually serving salad.  The salad plate is on the place setting to give everyone more plate room for all the side dishes.  And since we were not having any fish/seafood, I eliminated the fish knife and the fish and seafood forks.   As I said:  A highly modified formal place setting.

Nontraditional or not, we enjoyed the meal.  Of course, there are more leftovers than you can shake a stick at.  I'm quite certain we'll all be eating leftovers for more days than we care to!  And now the Christmas meal planning begins.  Christmas often closely mirrors Thanksgiving, but my dad mentioned he wanted my seafood pasta this year for Christmas so I thought perhaps we might do a traditional Italian Christmas meal.  We shall see.