Spitball Army

Cooking at Thanksgiving is a more elaborate effort than everyday cooking.  We all know that.  Broiling a piece of chicken and ripping apart a head of lettuce is infinitely easier than the multi-dish extravaganza that many of us piece together on this annual holiday.  This year, we were invited to spend our Thanksgiving meal with neighbors, who shouldered the heavy burden of turkey and dressing.  We were allowed to bring side dishes.

I have a top secret recipe for cranberry sauce that is secret because to reveal the ingredients and method would once and for all reveal what a lazy cook I am.  You won’t find that recipe here and, yes, that was one of the dishes that we brought with us to the feast.

We decided to bring two dishes.  The other dish couldn’t be mashed potatoes or asparagus or bread or dessert, which were all being provided by others.  I dug deep into my shallow brain and decided to make a green vegetable, and decided on a green bean casserole (something I’ve never made before).  A brief internet scour turned up a recipe from Campbell’s Kitchen.  You know, Campbell’s (Condensed Soups) Kitchen.

I looked it over, and the recipe definitely needed some revising, so as not to taste bland, or like a soggy green bean stew.  The addition of two ingredients guaranteed to clog the arteries (bacon and cheese), and a reapportioning of the size of other ingredients and an adjustment of temperature and cooking time and, voila…a tasty wintertime harvest dish for a table full of hungry revellers.  At my house, we like our food with a little kick, so adjust the pepper and soy sauce down (or not) according to your own taste.

(photo: wikibooks.com)
Imagine a less messy casserole than the one above and you will know what ours looked like.

(The unappetizingly named)
Spitball Army Green Bean Casserole:

Ingredients:
– 2 cans (10¾ oz. each) Campbell’s Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup (regular or 98% Fat Free)
– 1 cup milk
– 2 tsp. soy sauce
– ¼ to ½ tsp. ground black pepper
– 3 14½ oz. cans of cooked cut green beans
– 5 thick bacon strips, cooked until crispy, cooled and chopped fine
– 1 to 1½ cups grated cheddar cheese
– 2 2/3 cups French Fried Onions

Cooking Instructions:
1.  Stir soup, milk, soy sauce, pepper, beans, bacon, cheese and 1 1/3 cups onions in a 3-quart casserole.  (We cooked ours in a FiestaWare covered casserole dish, which is deeper than the average casserole dish.)

2.  Bake uncovered at 375° for 40 minutes or until hot.  Stir.

3.  Top with remaining onions, covering entire surface of casserole.  Bake for about 10 more minutes, until casserole begins to bubble up through the onion layer.

This savory dish ended up being a terrific balance with my super-secret cranberry dish, which most definitely veers to the tangy-tart-sweet side of the taste spectrum.