Green Bean Casserole and Jeopardy

My husband and I were watching Jeopardy on tv the other night and one of the categories was something to do with food. A question came up about Green Bean Casserole. Basically, it asked what kind of soup do you put in the casserole. I quickly shouted out Mushroom Soup, which was correct. He and I usually make Jeopardy a competition. He then said, "How did you know that?"

"Well, duh!! I do cook." To his defense, I have never made him Green Bean Casserole, mainly because he will not eat anything with mushrooms in it. I have to substitute Cream of Chicken soup when a recipe calls for Cream of Mushroom.

So today, I thought I would share my recipe for Green Bean Casserole with you, even if I don't share it with my hubby.

Carol

Green Bean Casserole

1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1/2 c. water
1 t. soy sauce
1/4 t. pepper
1 20-oz. bag frozen green beans, thawed and drained
1 3/4 c. crushed French-fried onions (canned)

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 1 1/2 quart casserole dish with cooking spray.

Mix the soup, water, soy sauce and pepper in the dish. Add the green beans and 1 c. of the French-fried onions and stir. Cover and bake for about 20-25 minutes. Remove cover and sprinkle the remaining French-fried onions on top of the casserole and bake another 8-10 minutes or until browned. This makes about 6 servings.

Published!!

Some of you might remember me mentioning before that I write romantic suspense hoping to some day be published. Well, that day has arrived. This week, I signed a contract to have my first novel published. It's too soon to know the details of the publishing date, but I will keep everyone informed.

Even though, I will be working on a new manuscript, I still plan on posting stories and recipes here, so don't worry about missing any of my dishes.

Carol

Dinner tonight: Slow Cooker Pot Roast

It looks like with the snow falling again today that I will stuck at home all day instead of going to my mother's as I had planned. You'd think being home all day that I would be ready to cook a nice hot supper for my husband when he gets home from work this evening. If you think that, you're wrong. He'll still have a hot supper waiting for him when he gets home, but it will be from the slow cooker. This is such an easy recipe to make and it results in a wonderful meal.

Enjoy,
Carol

Slow Cooker Pot Roast

1 T. cornstarch
10-12 baby carrots
2 medium onions, cut into quarters
4 medium potatoes, cut into quarters
1 beef chuck roast, about 3 lbs, trimmed of excess fat
2 T. Worcestershire Sauce
salt and pepper, to taste

Stir together the cornstarch with 2 T. water until smooth and pour into slow cooker. Add the carrots, onions, and potatoes. If the potatoes are small, leave them whole. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Lay roast on top of vegetables and season with salt and pepper. Drizzle Worcestershire Sauce on top of roast.

Place lid on slow cooker and cook on high for 6 hours, or low for 10 hours.

If you want to make this in your oven, place all ingredients in a baking dish and add 2 cups of water. Seal the dish with aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees for 3 1/2 to 4 hours, or until roast is tender.

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day

I wish you love and happiness.

Carol

Valentine's Day Chocolate

Valentine's Day is approaching and as we all know, chocolate is a favorite for this holiday. Lately, I have been craving chocolate, more specifically a chocolate cake. I was at Walmart yesterday and they usually have a really delicious chocolate Bundt-style cake. But, no they didn't have one. It would easy if I had just bought a chocolate cake mix and frosting, but I wanted a really good chocolate cake and I had just the recipe at home. This has to be the most moist and rich chocolate cake I have ever had and the only one that I would even bother with making from scratch. It's a Coca-Cola cake and yes, there is Coca-Cola in both the cake and the icing. I haven't made my cake yet, but have in on the plan for next Saturday, Valentine's Day for me and my sweetie.

Coca-Cola Cake

2 c. flour
2 c. sugar
2 sticks margerine
2 eggs
3/4 c. buttermilk
2 T. cocoa
1 c. Coca-Cola
1 t. vanilla
1 t. baking soda
1 3/4 c. mini marshmallows

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9x13 inch cake pan.

Bring margarine, cocoa, and Coca-Cola to a boil. Add the flour and sugar and stir. Pour in buttermilk, eggs, soda, vanilla, and marshmallows. Mix well until marshmallows have melted. Bake for 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cake cool before frosting.

Coca-Cola Cake Icing

1/4 c. margarine
1 1/2 T. cocoa
3 T. Coca-Cola
1/2 t. vanilla
Powdered sugar

Bring margarine, cocoa, and Coca-Cola to a boil. Add enough powdered sugar to make it a spreading consistency. Add the vanilla and mix well.

Preparing for the Storm

For the most part, we were prepared for the impending ice storm and loss of power, except for a few things. We live in the county and rely on spring water, meaning we have to have electricity to run the pump. No power, no water. When we heard on tv about the ice storm coming, we made sure we had jugs of water filled. What we forgot this time, was to have enough water to be able to flush the toilet a couple times. We have a ten-gallon jug that we fill with water and can usually get two flushes out of. Unfortunately, we had left it on the porch and it was frozen solid. We improvised and started melting snow on our wood stove. If you've ever melted snow, you know you don't get much water from a bucket of snow.

Once the ice storm passed, my husband went out to start cleaning the cars off. We had two-inches of ice just on the cars. We then started melting the ice that was on the cars. It made much more water. Problem solved.

Luckily, we have a woodstove, so staying warm wasn't too much of a problem. The second floor was plenty warm, but without the ceiling fan working, we could only get the main floor no higher than 55 degrees. It was cold, but livable.

Finally, we had to deal with food. That is where we realized we lacked in planning. While we had plenty of food in the house, but it wasn't the type of food that was easy to prepare without power. I think our best meal was when we heated up a couple cans of navy beans, fried some bacon, and fixed some butter bread. After that, it was cold sandwiches for lunch and supper. Breakfast was our only hot meal with bacon and eggs on the menu. We didn't lose any food from the refrigerator or freezer. We were able to put a few things in an unheated room where the temps was right at 32 degrees.

We now know that we needed more canned goods that we could open and heat on our camping stove. Next time, we'll be more prepared by going ahead and boxing up some canned goods, paper plates, and plastic forks and we'll also rotate the canned goods every couple months to make sure nothing expires.

All and all, I think we did pretty well through this storm and I feel confident that when it happens again, we'll be ready.

Carol