Green bean casserole

Aunt Chris always makes the green bean casserole....ALWAYS. Which means although it is a standard dish at holiday gatherings, I have never once had to learn how to make it or what all goes in it. Well, this year Aunt Chris couldn't make it to Thanksgiving, and we all know you can't do Thanksgiving without green bean casserole...so I wung it. Winged it? Wang it? You know what I mean...

 

I didn't want to make another store run so I tried to work with what I had at home. I really had basically everything I needed to make a small batch already on hand, I was relieved to discover. I still have a freezer full of garden green beans from this summer, and instead of French's onion pieces that everyone always uses, I used dehydrated onions Mama K gave me a bag of to use for cooking a while back. I was a little nervous at how this was all going to turn out, but what's the worst that could happen? I knew I wouldn't give anybody food poisoning, so if worse came to worse, the dish would just be thrown away (or given to our resident garbage disposal, Sammy).

 

Wellllll, I'm not sure if people were nervous because they didn't know what it was or if their plates were already full since this was positioned at the end of the line, but we had quite a bit of this left. I did try it though, and I thought it was mighty good, especially for a throw-together.  I sure wouldn't replace the standard Aunt Chris green bean casserole with this but I did find some modifications that I would make to the tried and true recipe. I loved the addition of cheese to the dish, and really liked the fresh green beans so they weren't so mushy...obviously I love the mushier style too but it was nice to feel like I was eating real veggies with some consistency.

 

Here goes:

 

3 cups fresh green beans

1 cup shredded cheese

1 cup skim milk

1 can 98% fat free cream of mushroom soup

2 t worcestershire sauce

1.5 cups dehydrated onions

cracked pepper to taste

 

I just added everything to a big mixing bowl, stirred it up, and poured it into a baking dish to be cooked at 400 degrees for an hour, while covered. I had a nifty glass lid for my new baking dish that has its own cork bottom to keep warmth in after cooking...loving all my new dishes from the wedding!

 

I sprinkled some extra dehydrated onions on top, but I would skip that step next time because the good onions were the ones that were rehydrated by the liquid in the mixture, the ones on top seemed to burn. All in all, the flavor was good though, and that's what's really important though....right? Main Man couldn't stop making fun of me that no one seemed to want my green bean casserole and even told me he heard people talking about it saying it was horrible, but I found out later he was just messing with me. We're nice to each other like that...

Point is...you never know until you try. I am glad to have experimented with the normal recipe and found some great modifications to add to the mix to put my own little tweak on green bean casserole. Next time you're in a pinch...throw something together. You may discover the best recipe you've ever stumbled upon...by accident!

Happy almost Friday, people! Be sure to check in tomorrow....we are officially DONE with Thanksgiving recipes and moving on to my absolute favorite recipe we've tried recently! It's in the rotation permanently...you'll love it!