DesignsandEvents: The Kindness of Others and Aunt Barbara's Potato Plus Casserole Recipe

Hello there! I can't believe January is already done and we are moving quickly into February. As many of you know, January has been a very busy month for me and my family with the birth of two new grandbabies! What I haven't told you is that one day before the first new grandbaby was born my granddaughter, Stella, had a frightful fall while skiing in New Hampshire. We experienced the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, all in a few days in the same week. Thankfully and miraculously, although still in pain with broken ribs and a broken vertebrae, my granddaughter will fully recover. Without getting into detail to protect her privacy, we are thankful beyond belief that the accident did not result in permanent damage and that, eventually, she will be totally fine.

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I tell you all of this because through all of the highs and the lows we have experienced, I have witnessed many, many kindnesses shown to my family by so many people and I have been amazed at just how thoughtful, caring and wonderful people can be in good times and in bad. The giving of meals and flowers and delicious goodies: errands run and special visits have all been part of the tremendous outpouring of love and care I have seen. The extremely thoughtful gifts of one new mom given to another newer mom, my daughter Brittany, as she struggled with the whole new mother thing and the trials of nursing a newborn was tremendously inspiring to me. She alone helped Brittany through a trying time of nursing by simply being intuitive to the needs of another mom. I cannot get my head around just how great people can be when they see a need. So much has been done, in fact, that it wasn't until this week that I felt my daughters' refrigerators could fit another meal and I could finally bring one to them! This is where Aunt Barbara's recipe comes in.

For some reason, I don't know why, I am not confident in my culinary skills when it comes to providing a meal in these circumstances. It's not that I don't want to do it because I really, really do. It's just that I am afraid the recipients may not like the meal or that the meal will not turn out well and be a flop. I have experienced a little anxiety over this. I know it's silly but, unfortunately, it is true.

Therefore, it was especially nice bringing meals to my girls and their families because the pressure was lightened seeing that I know their preferences so well. When thinking about what I could make for them, I started by going through my old recipe box. There, I found an old recipe I had received from my sister-in-law, Barbara, years ago. She is one of my husband's older sisters and Aunt Barbara is one of the best cooks I know. She has the best comfort food recipes of anybody. This recipe seemed to fit the bill because it didn't include chicken like, seemingly, every other casserole recipe did. My daughters have developed an aversion to chicken as a result of their pregnancies so I was trying to avoid it :).

The recipe is called Potato Plus Casserole and that is exactly what it is. It really is simply a potato casserole with chopped up ham mixed in. Very easy and very delicious! (I will apologize ahead of time for my photos. It wasn't until I was half way through the process of making the casseroles it occurred to me that this would be a good recipe to share with all of you. No time for real picture taking!)

Here are the ingredients I used. The original recipe calls for eight potatoes cubed and par boiled. I was too lazy for that so, I used a frozen bag of Southern Style diced hash browns. It was soooo much easier but, for you purists, I know from previous experience that the cubed fresh potatoes taste delicious, as well. I didn't add onions as directed by the recipe because my kids don't like onions. Hence, knowing my audience :).

I purchased a ham steak and cooked it according to my old Betty Crocker Cookbook directions. I thought it would taste much better than ham purchased at the deli. (Sorry about the photo being kind of gross. ☺ As I said, I didn't have time to take pretty photos.) My kitchen did smell divine, however~

After cutting up the ham into cubes, I mixed all of the ingredients together in a bowl. I was making two casseroles at the same time in two separate bowls. It was very easy and fairly quickly done.

Next, I poured the mixed ingredients into two aluminum disposable pans. That way my daughters wouldn't have to wash a dish and get it back to me: something I thought was very important for new moms.

The last step is to crush some Ritz crackers and spread them on top of the casseroles.

I stirred the cracker crumbs together with some melted butter. When I looked more closely at the recipe, I realized it did not call for buttering the crackers so, you can skip this step if you would like.

After topping the casseroles with the crushed crackers I covered them with aluminum foil and added a cooking directions label. The blue one went to Brittany because she had a baby boy and the pink one went to Amanda because she had a girl. I thought that was apropos.

The label is pretty basic but efficient :).

Now that I have made these casseroles and they seemed to have been a hit, I think this will be a go-to meal for me when the need arises in the future. I stopped on the way to each of my daughter's homes at the grocery store and picked up a frozen bag of broccoli, a loaf of French bread and dessert of cupcakes or cookies to finish off the meal. It all was very easy and gave me some new found confidence.

AUNT BARBARA'S POTATO PLUS CASSEROLE RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

Eight (8) medium to large potatoes or

32 ozs. frozen Signature Kitchen Southern Style hash brown potatoes

1 stick of butter or margarine, melted
12 ozs. extra sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1 pint sour cream
1 finely chopped onion
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 - 1 lb. ham, chopped into small squares
1/2 - 3/4 cup of crushed Ritz crackers or cornflakes
Extra butter or margarine to mix with cracker, if desired

INSTRUCTIONS:

Mix all ingredients together and put into a 9" x 13" pan. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes. At the last 15 minutes of baking time, top with crushed Ritz crackers or cornflakes. Bake until golden.

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To all of those who showed kindness to my children and their families in their time of either joy or sorrow I would like to say...