nice valentines despite being sick
I spent a lot of the day sleeping or resting and could not sustain my attention at the computer, having a headache that also made it hard to get to sleep last night. Around 3:30 mom stopped by with some cheese for a casserole I was planning, and she helped me get the ham in the oven.
For dinner, Bill and I had this ham, which was sent to us by his mother as a valentines day present, jello, which was left over from our party a week ago, and the casserole. We watched Blue crush with dinner and I gave Bill a card and he gave me some hand-picked Fannie May chocolates- mostly dark chocolates with mint filling, plus two turtles. I thought it was very nice of him to pick specific chocolates he thought I would like rather than get a preset assortment. That's the kind of special thing he does that is very thoughtful. We went to bed right after the movie, seeing as how we were both sick, but it was a nice evening.
The casserole was an experimental variation on a recipe from my grandmother.
Instead of using a mix of carrots, broccoli, and cauliflower with cream of mushroom soup and swiss cheese, I used a mix of carrots, broccoli, and red pepper with cream of broccoli soup and "casserole cheese" (a shredded mix of four cheeses from Kraft) and potatoes on top.
After boiling the potatoes, I set them aside and started fresh water boiling. I chunked the veggies and cooked the carrots for two minutes, then added the broccoli for another two minutes, then the red pepper for just one minute more, then drained them. I peeled and sliced the potatoes and mixed half a can of the soup with an equal amount of sour cream, a couple handfuls of cheese, and some french fried onions. I poured half the veggies into a buttered casserole dish, loosely spread half the soup/cheese mixture on top, then layered on the rest of the veggies and the rest of the soup/cheese mixture. I laid the slices of potato on top of that and then sprinkled them with the rest of the french fried onions (all in all I used about a third of a can of those) and the rest of the cheese. I put it in the oven for half on hour at 300- letting it go uncovered until the cheese started to melt, then covering it until the last ten minutes when I left it uncovered again because it's really nice when the cheese browns just a little around the edges.
I think this variation on the casserole was really good, and I might do it again, despite the extra step of cooking and peeling the potatoes.
For dinner, Bill and I had this ham, which was sent to us by his mother as a valentines day present, jello, which was left over from our party a week ago, and the casserole. We watched Blue crush with dinner and I gave Bill a card and he gave me some hand-picked Fannie May chocolates- mostly dark chocolates with mint filling, plus two turtles. I thought it was very nice of him to pick specific chocolates he thought I would like rather than get a preset assortment. That's the kind of special thing he does that is very thoughtful. We went to bed right after the movie, seeing as how we were both sick, but it was a nice evening.
The casserole was an experimental variation on a recipe from my grandmother.
Instead of using a mix of carrots, broccoli, and cauliflower with cream of mushroom soup and swiss cheese, I used a mix of carrots, broccoli, and red pepper with cream of broccoli soup and "casserole cheese" (a shredded mix of four cheeses from Kraft) and potatoes on top.
After boiling the potatoes, I set them aside and started fresh water boiling. I chunked the veggies and cooked the carrots for two minutes, then added the broccoli for another two minutes, then the red pepper for just one minute more, then drained them. I peeled and sliced the potatoes and mixed half a can of the soup with an equal amount of sour cream, a couple handfuls of cheese, and some french fried onions. I poured half the veggies into a buttered casserole dish, loosely spread half the soup/cheese mixture on top, then layered on the rest of the veggies and the rest of the soup/cheese mixture. I laid the slices of potato on top of that and then sprinkled them with the rest of the french fried onions (all in all I used about a third of a can of those) and the rest of the cheese. I put it in the oven for half on hour at 300- letting it go uncovered until the cheese started to melt, then covering it until the last ten minutes when I left it uncovered again because it's really nice when the cheese browns just a little around the edges.
I think this variation on the casserole was really good, and I might do it again, despite the extra step of cooking and peeling the potatoes.
Lucky you
K.
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B