Circling Back Around

Last week, I was awarded my first recognition, and forwarded to others. And from that, it has circled back around to me again. I think that is pretty cool.

I am not going to repeat the awarding effort, but I do want to thank Lynne, and Kate, and Wunx~, and LenaL for letting me know how much they appreciate reading my effort. (By the by...LenaL is Swedish. See. Another international reader!)

So the holidays are almost upon us...Thanksgiving, for those of us in the states, and Christmas/Hanukkah next month. That generally means some cooking and baking is going to be happening...for those of us who do that sort of thing. Which I do.

Now this year for Thanksgiving, Wonderful Guy and I are traveling to Sin City, not because that is our favorite place in the world to go, but because some of our favorite people in the world live there. (Please move, Dearest Sister, Beautiful Step Daughter, and First Niece. We want to visit other places.) Dearest Sister will be in charge of The Dinner. I suppose I will have to help, but it will be her kitchen.

If The Dinner were in my kitchen, with The Offspring in attendance, there would be certain menu items that would be required. Expected! DEMANDED Grave Disappointment would be evident if these dishes did not make an appearance on the table.

In no particular order, our menu would be as follows:

Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy.
Green bean casserole. (this is a 3 star item)
Cheesy broccoli casserole. (this is is a 3 star item)
Grandma Perry's orange salad. (this is a 2 star item, only because it generally gets left in the fridge.)
Hot bread of some sort.
Grandma Perry's pumpkin pie with real whipped cream. (another 2 star item, only because of the generally overfull condition of the revelers by this time)

I swear I could skip the turkey.

Here is the recipe (and story) for the cheesy broccoli casserole. Originally a cauliflower casserole, the recipe comes from Pleasant Hill, Kentucky, where there is a exhibit of Shaker history. Buildings, engineering, ferry, it is something to see if you are in the area. The restaurant was always a treat when we lived there, and I assume is still. So anyway. All authentic, all Shaker-ish...especially the part in the recipe that uses Velveeta. I know those Shakers were all about using processed cheese spread!

Cheesy broccoli casserole (as I have written it out for my daughters. Pardon my humor...)

10 oz of brocolli, cooked. (Follow the directions on the package. It is not rocket science)
1/4 lb (114 g) of Velveeta cheese
½ stick of butter
12-15 Ritz crackers (or equivalent), crushed

Melt cheese with ½ butter. Combine with brocoley, and mix well. Put in small casserole. Melt remaining butter, and mix with broken up crackers. Sprinkle on top of cheesey broccollee. Bake at 350 F (do your own converting to Celsius) for 30 minutes (until bubbly and crackers are sort of toasty)

Come back tomorrow. I have some recipe books I am going to give away in celebration of this cooking/baking time of year.