Green and Gold Casserole

It'll cure what ails ya!

This week has been pretty horrendous. The STAAR (standardized test) started, so two days this week we tested fro most of the day. Then it rained, so no recess for the kids. Let's just say behavior has... suffered. I have been feeling like some down home comfort food so my thoughts turned to the Green and Gold Rice Casserole. It is my family's official funeral casserole (and as we know, Southern funeral food is love in its most tangible form.) In fact, when Gran passed on in 2005, Granby brought this casserole over to my aunt's house. The Green and Gold part, as I understand is also a reference to my mother's high school colors. Go Patriots. However, to truly understand the ties we have to this recipe, I need to explain its origin.


This recipe comes from Amity Presbyterian Church's 1976 Cookbook. This church, in Charlotte, was where my parents met and married and where I was baptized. This cookbook contains recipes from both of my grandmothers, my mom, and all of my aunts (my dad's two sisters and my mom's sister-in-law). I inherited this cookbook from my grandmother and it is full of her notes, check-marks and underlines. (She was very fond of underlining things.) It is the one material thing I have plans to grab if my house ever burns down.

*The person who submitted this recipe is not a relative, but I will forever remember this recipe thanks to her.

Substitutions/Notes: The Kraft Nippy Garlic Cheese Spread might not exist it any more (last time I was able to find it was in college) so I used 8 ounces of Velveeta and a tablespoon of minced garlic. The microwave-steamable broccoli is really convenient. I use the Original Recipe Uncle Ben's Wild Rice box for the hot cooked rice. To add some more protein to this, I added about three cups of chopped, cooked chicken that I had left over from making tortilla soup earlier this week. The chicken is Granby's idea.

This soup makes a 9X13 casserole and reheats well. For funeral food, I usually make it in a disposable foil casserole dish and don't cook it yet or put the onions on. (I send them on the side along with heating directions.)

Now, unrelated commentary: Each week, some organization pays for a "taste" of a fruit and a vegetable for each child at our school (I think the whole district.) They must be served raw and unadorned, which made for a lot of "eww" faces when they gave them leeks. Often, the fruit is well received but the veggie is thrown about the room and squashed into the carpet. You can't entirely blame them for being grossed out. What 10 year old wants to each fresh mushrooms? Or beets? Or red onions? This week the veggie was Red Bell Pepper. Each child got what amounted to about a third of a pepper. This must have cost someone a fortune! I only buy red bell peppers when they go on sale for under a dollar each. Predictably, though I explained the health benefits and deliciousness of these, most kids didn't want theirs. So I got to bring home this:

Anyone know a good recipe for peppers?

Spring!

Back yard picnic!

I am very, very thankful for the extremely mild winter we had. We didn't even have a hard freeze. I never had to wrap pipes! We didn't have a day so cold that water stopped running in the kitchen sink! Our first two winters in Waco were brutal, with $450 electrical bills and missed days of school (which had to be made up by extending the school year.)
Despite what the Groundhog told us last month, we never did get a terrible winter. I kept saying "it's not too bad now, but wait until February!" But the bitter cold never came. Hooray!
Now, what have we been doing to capitalize on this unseasonably pleasant winter? (Real spring doesn't start until March 20.)

Airsoft! 

I have actual strawberries growing that survived all winter.

Berwyn is enjoying playing soccer in the yard.

Super awesome fighter jet kite with tiger stripes and flames. 


Another thing: There's this Blog. Flylady.net. It has all these ideas for how to build routines that keep your house clean. (Like cleaning your sink every night.) It's a pretty intense schedule, and although they mention things like school and work, it's really made for SAHMs. I can't wait to be one and have a morning routine that consists of getting dressed, starting some laundry, and eating a balanced breakfast. Hmm.