Spinach Casserole

Ingredients:

• 10 oz. frozen spinach
• 1 cup breadcrumbs
• 1 cup Swiss cheese
• 3 hard boiled eggs
• 3 tbsp butter
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp flour
• 1.5 cups milk
• Crumbled bacon

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350. Cook the spinach. Drain it in a colander. Soak up as much of the excess water as you can with a paper towel. Chop the eggs. Next, melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour, salt, cayenne pepper and half of the milk. Stir the mixture until it starts to bubble. Add the rest of the milk. 

Continue stirring the sauce until it thickens. Remove it from the heat. Grease a relatively small casserole dish. Lay 1/2 of the breadcrumbs in the dish. Top that with 1/2 of the spinach, then 1/2 of the chopped eggs and 1/2 of the Swiss cheese. Make second layers of spinach, eggs and cheese. Top with the remaining 1/2 cup breadcrumbs and the bacon crumbles. 

Bake for 25 mins. 

Squash Casserole

Ingredients:

• 6 yellow squash
• 1 large sweet onion
• 3 tbsp butter
• 2/3 cup sour cream
• 1/2 tsp salt
• cooking spray
• 1 8 oz. block of cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese

Directions:

Wash your squash and slice it up. Slice the onion into half rings. Add the butter, squash and onion to a pan on the stove. Set the pan to medium. Cook the squash and onion for about 20 to 25 minutes, stirring frequently. When the mixture is done, the squash will be very soft to the touch, almost falling apart, and the onion will be translucent. 

Drain the squash and onion mixture. Put it into a bowl and smash it up with a fork or potato masher. 

 Add the 2/3 of the cheese, the salt and the sour cream. Mix it in well. 

Set aside the remaining third of the cheddar cheese with the parmesan. You need this for your topping. 

Spray the bottom of a 13x9 glass dish with cooking spray. Pour the squash/onion/cheese mix into the dish. Top with the remaining cheese. 

Bake at 350 for 40 minutes, until the cheese is brown and bubbling. 

Cauliflower Casserole

Ingredients 

1 head cauliflower 

2 tbsp French's mustard

2 cups milk

1/4 cup flour

6 tbsp butter

Shredded Parmesean

pinch of salt and pepper

Panko breadcrumbs

Directions

1. Wash the cauliflower. I mean scrub the ever-loving heck out of it. Florets like to accumulate dirt, pesticides and other unsavory stuff. WASH IT. 

2. Bring water to a boil in a medium-sized saucepan. Add a pinch of salt. Cut the stalk away from the cauliflower and break the head into small florets. Put the florets into the boiling water. Boil them until you can easily stick a fork into the florets. This takes about 5 minutes. 

3. While the florets are boiling, melt half the butter in a second saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the flour and a pinch of salt and pepper. Stir until well-blended. Add the milk by degrees, stirring the whole while until the mixture thickens. This takes a couple of minutes. Stir in the mustard and remove from heat.

4. Spray a casserole dish with cooking spray. I use a deep dish pie pan because a casserole dish makes this casserole just too thin. A deep dish pie pan works perfectly for this recipe. Drain the cauliflower and arrange it in the casserole dish/pie pan. 

5. Pour the flour/butter/milk/mustard mixture over the cauliflower in the pan. Top the casserole liberally with shredded Parmesean cheese and Panko breadcrumbs (use regular dry breadcrumbs at your own risk!)

6. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until slightly brown on top. 

Mexican Casserole

Ingredients:

1 - 1.5 lbs ground beef or turkey

1 handful fresh black olives

2 cups sour cream (full fat, light or reduced fat, doesn't matter)

2 cups medium or sharp cheddar cheese

1 cup corn and black bean salsa

1.5 cups freshly cooked black beans

1 bag tortilla chips

1 tbsp. chili powder 

1 large tomato or 2 small tomatoes

1/4 cup jalapenos (optional)

Cooking spray

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 350. 

2. Cook the ground beef or turkey. Drain. Stir in corn and black bean salsa and chili powder. Simmer for 5 mins on med/low heat. 

3. Spray the bottom of a glass casserole dish liberally with cooking spray. If you're a die-hard naturalist, feel free to smear the bottom of the pan with butter. Don't think you're going to be creative and use olive oil here. Trust me, it may be nonstick but it makes the casserole taste funny. The size pan you use doesn't matter. I typically use a 4 quart dish, but a 3 quart will work just as well. The smaller the dish, the thicker the mexican casserole will be. 

4. Crush tortilla chips in your hands or put them in a plastic bag and smash them with a kitchen mallet until crumbly (a good job for the kids). You don't want crumbs, just broken chips. 

Crush chips to about this size...

5. Line the bottom of the casserole dish with the chips. Your chip layer should be thick enough to prevent you from seeing the bottom of the pan. 

6. Pour the ground beef mixture into the pan. Spread it out with an icing spoon or spatula until the layer is even. 

7. Add a layer of sour cream over the ground beef and salsa layer. Spread it evenly. 

8. Chop the olives, tomato and jalapenos. Layer these over the sour cream layer. 

9. Shred the cheese. Make this the top layer of the casserole. 

10. Bake the casserole at 350 for 30 minutes or until cheese turns brown around the edges. 

Note: Yes, I know it sounds strange to actually bake sour cream, but it doesn't come out gross, I promise. This dish is even better if you crumble up some additional tortilla chips on top before digging in. And no, this dish isn't low fat. I'm not into low fat. Make it anyway. It's good.