Sprinkle the chopped green onions in the casserole. Add the cheese on top. Pour the egg mixture on top of that, cover the pan with foil, and let it sit in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.
Take off the foil and bake, uncovered, at 325 degrees F. for approximately one hour, or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean.
Let stand 10 minutes before serving.
Yield: Serves 6-8 people for brunch.
E-Z LASAGNA
Mother says to tell you she has to give credit where credit is due. She got this recipe years ago from her friend Lois Meister.
8-ounce package lasagna noodles (not cooked!)
32-ounce jar plain spaghetti sauce (Mother uses Ragú)
1 cup milk
1 pound ground beef
2 tablespoons dried chopped onion (or one small onion, finely chopped)
1 teaspoon salt
? teaspoon pepper
6 ounces sliced mozzarella cheese
2 cups cottage cheese
? cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons freshly ground rosemary (or oregano if you can’t get rosemary)
Fry the ground beef until it’s brown and drain it. (If you’re using the small chopped onion instead of the dried onion, you can fry that in the same pan and drain it with the ground beef.)
Dump the drained ground beef into a large bowl. Add the onions, spaghetti sauce, milk, salt and pepper. Mix it all together.
Grease a 9 x 13-inch cake pan. Layer half of the dry uncooked noodles in the bottom of the pan. Cover with one-half of the sauce mixture. Top that with one-half of the mozzarella.
In a separate bowl, mix together the cottage cheese, grated Parmesan, eggs, garlic powder, and rosemary. Fresh herbs are best, but if you can’t get fresh rosemary in your area, you can use dried.
Spread the cottage cheese mixture in the pan next, put the rest of the dry noodles on top of that, cover with the remainder of the sauce mixture, and spread out the rest of the cheese slices on top.
Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees F. for 1 hour.
Mother sometimes puts this together in advance. She covers it and refrigerates it for 6-8 hours before baking. If it’s chilled, allow an extra 20-30 minutes of baking time.
FESTIVE BAKED SANDWICH
Luanne Hanks made this for the last potluck, and we all fell in love with it. It would be perfect for one of Mayor Bascomb’s tailgate parties.
10-12 slices apiece of ham, turkey, roast beef, pastrami, whatever
8-10 slices cheddar, mozzarella, Swiss, whatever
2 cups loosely-packed fresh spinach leaves (rinsed and blotted dry)
2 teaspoons prepared mustard (stone-ground Dijon, honey mustard, whatever)
? cup dried chopped onions
1 loaf frozen bread dough (or mix up your own if you want)
8-inch round pan with 3-inch-tall sides (you can get by with 2-inch-tall sides, but it’s trickier)
9-inch glass pie plate
cookie sheet with sides (this can be a disposable if you like)
Let the bread dough rise according to package directions, but do it in a greased bowl instead of a bread pan.
When the dough has doubled in bulk, bold it in half and roll it out like a piecrust on a floured board. Coat the 8-inch round pan with nonstick cooking spray, set it on the cookie sheet, and drape the bread dough over it with the sides hanging down on the outside.
Put a layer of cheese in the bottom of the pan. Follow that with a layer of dried onions (the onions soak up the moisture from the meats.) Put a layer of meat on top of the onions and brush it lightly with mustard. Follow this with a layer of fresh spinach leaves. Keep layering cheese, meat, onions, and spinach leaves until your layers reach the top of the pan. End with a layer of cheese if you can, so it’s slightly rounded on top.
Bring up the bread dough that’s draped over the sides and carefully stretch it to cover your layers. Work from opposite sides, pinching it together so it doesn’t pull back. Think of a clock — pull 12 and 6 together and pinch them, then do 2 and 8, and finally 4 and 10. It doesn’t matter if the dough separates and there are some holes on the top. The bread dough will rise slightly during the baking, all will be forgiven.
Spray the inside of your glass pie palate with nonstick cooking spray and invert it over the top of your pan like a little hat. This will help keep your dough from pulling apart and also provide weight so the dough doesn’t rise too much at the top and leave a hollow. Let the sandwich rest while you preheat your oven.
Make sure your rack is in the middle position and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bake your sandwich for 50 minutes, and then take off the pie pan hat. Bake it for an additional 15 minutes, or until it’s nicely browned on top.
Let your sandwich cool in the pan for at least 45 minutes to an hour before serving. It has to set so the cheese is no longer runny. Tip it out of the pan by placing your hand on the top with your fingers spread out to hold it and then inverting it. Place the sandwich on a cutting board, or a large serving plate. Cut a pie-shaped wedge to start and then let your guests cut the size of wedge they want to eat. You can serve it with ketchup, horseradish sauce, pickles, coleslaw, and potato salad on the side.
This sandwich is wonderful cold or warm and it’s great for picnics. Just leave it in the pan until you’re ready to serve it. The wedges can also be heated in the microwave for those who like things hot. It sounds like a lot of work, but it’s not, and it’s definitely worth it.
HAWAIIAN POT ROAST
You can use a 4-quart slow cooker or a 325 degrees F. oven, rack in the middle position.
1/3 cup cornstarch
2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
? teaspoon powdered ginger (or 2 teaspoons finely diced fresh ginger)
? cup red wine vinegar
4 ounces canned pineapple chunks, drained (save the liquid)
1/3 cup soy sauce
2 cups chopped green bell pepper (or a 16-ounce package frozen tricolored bell peppers)
1/3 cup dried minced onions
4-5-pound boneless chuck roast (or any similar cut of boneless beef)
4 ounces can of mushrooms (stems and pieces are fine or 1 cup fresh, sliced mushrooms from the grocery store)
1-2 packets (.88 ounce per packet) beef gravy mix (Mother uses Lawry’s Brown Gravy Mix)
Coat your slow cooker with nonstick cooking spray. Put a bit of the mixture in the bottom of the crock and then set the meat on top. Pour the rest of the mixture over the top, put on the lid, turn the control to LOW, and let it cook for 8-10 hours.
One hour before you’re ready to serve, add the mushrooms.
(Mother puts this in the Crock-Pot before she goes to work and when she comes home, it’s ready.)
If you’re late putting this up in the slow cooker, you can cook it at HIGH for the first 2 hours and then switch it to LOW. Using this method, it should take only 6 hours or so.
If you choose to do this in the oven: Grease the inside of roasting pan. Follow the directions above and once your pot roast is in the pan, cover it tightly with heavy-duty foil.
Bake at 325 degrees F. for 5-6 hours, or until the meat is easily pierced with a fork. (I don’t think you can overbake this — if it falls apart, that’s good, too.) Then take off the foil and let it brown in the oven for another 45 minutes to 1 hour.
Once the meat is ready, take it out of the pan or Crock-Pot and let it cool for fifteen minutes.
Sprinkle one packet of gravy mix in the liquid and stir until it’s thickened. Add another packet if the sauce isn’t thick enough. Keep the sauce warm in the oven or the slow cooker.
Slice the meat, transfer the slices to a deep platter, pour the sauce over the top artistically (Mother’s description, not mine), and serve.
GERMAN POTATO SALAD WITH BRATWURST
This is Trudi Schumanm’s recipe. She says to tell you that “hot” means heated, not spicy. If you do want it spicier, use a spicier sausage, and that should do it.
4 large potatoes (or 6 medium)
6 slices of uncooked bacon
? cup flour
2 tablespoons brown sugar 2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons dry mustard
2 teaspoons black pepper
2/3 cup vinegar (white, red wine, or even balsamic)
2/3 cup water
2 teaspoons celery seed
2 teaspoons onion powder
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 large onion, chopped
6 to 10 large bratwurst (or dinner franks, or Polish sausage, whatever)
Grease the inside of a 4-quart slow cooker.
Wash the potatoes, pierce them with a knife, and cook them on HIGH in a microwave for 15 minutes. You should be able to pierce the cooked potatoes with a fork, but the inside should be just a little too raw to eat at this point. (You can do this step the night before and refrigerate the potatoes.)
Let the potatoes cool, peel them and slice them. Put them in the bottom of the greased Crock-Pot.
Chop up the bacon and put it in a one-quart, microwave-safe measuring cup. Microwave it on HIGH for 3 minutes, stirring midway through. Fish out the bacon with a slotted spoon and add it to the potatoes in the Crock-Pot. Pour off all but approximately 2 tablespoons of the bacon grease.
Mix the reserved bacon fat, flour, brown sugar, salt, dry mustard, black pepper, vinegar, water, celery seed, onion powder, and garlic powder in the same container you used to microwave the bacon. Stir it thoroughly and heat for one minute in the microwave on HIGH. Add the chopped onion, stir it around and heat for an additional minute on high.
Add this to the potatoes and bacon in the Crock-Pot. Cook for one hour on LOW.
Stir the warm potato salad, top it with the bratwurst you’ve pierced with a fork (so they won’t explode), and cover.
Turn the Crock-Pot to HIGH and cook fro an additional hour or two, or until the potato salad and the bratwurst are hot.