"Glitter Ninja" > wrote in message
...

> My mother recently passed away and I inherited
> all her kitchen goodies. People keep telling me no
> matter how old I get, I'll never get over missing mom's
> cooking, and that's the truth. I miss her catfish
> something terrible.

I'm sorry for your loss.

> Something I've noticed, though, is that mom and
> I both had several casserole dishes. Now I've got
> an entire cabinet stuffed full of casseroles and I can't
> give them up! My husband asks me just when I'll
> ever need 20 casseroles all at once. I tell him, "THBPT."

Just exactly the right response. Welcome to the kitchenware slut club,
we who collect any number of things, for various reasons, that rarely get
used, but are much treasured for any number of reasons. Just take it from
me, someone who has going on 1500 cookbooks.

> Mom also had at least 150 different casserole recipes
> in her box of loose recipes, and hundreds more in her
> cookbooks. Combined I bet I have 1,000 recipes for
> casseroles, although most probably contain Velveeta,
> cream of mushroom soup, and/or "one bag frozen broccoli".
> I love casseroles.

Care to share any recipes? I'd prefer the "from scratch" ones, since I no
longer have access to a lot of processed foods ... well, I still have access
to processed foods, but generally not American processed foods ... it's
interesting to see how the Danes are finally embracing the microwave. When
I got here five years ago, there were very few microwave convenience foods;
now, there are *way* too many. Anyway, I'd love to have a few more
casserole recipes to tuck away.

In fact, I'll start. I have no attributions for this one; I got it many,
many moons ago (1990-ish? Cripes, how time flies!) from my sister when I
needed to feed the vegetarian girlfriend of one of the first-husband's
buddies. It's good. It's not low-fat, but it is vegetarian.

Walnetto Casserole
Serves 6

1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
3 tbsp oil or margarine
1 medium onion, sliced
1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced
3 cups broccoli florets
1/2 cup water chestnuts, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
1/4 pound jack cheese, shredded
1/4 pound cheddar cheese, shredded
2 cups cooked rice or pilaf

eat nuts in oil or margarine in heavy skillet over medium heat until
browned; do not burn. Remove nuts, drain and save oil. Add onions and
mushrooms to this oil and cook until softened. You may need to add a bit
more oil. Add broccoli and cook until softened. Stir in water chestnuts
and garlic. Remove from heat. Add walnuts, soy sauce and sour cream. Stir
lightly. Line 9" square pan with rice. Cover with vegetable mixture and
top with mixture of cheeses. Bake at 400F for 15 minutes.