Smalltown Home Cookin'

Since I tried, and failed, at the intricate salad recipe by Curtis Stone, I figure I should start some where a little bit easier. In comes Paula Deen. Deen is famous for her comfort food recipes from the South and with a glance at her website, Paula Deen Online, I notice she has a recipe section that is "Kid Friendly." Well, technically, I am no longer a child, but I'm thinking that this will be a great place to start.

Cheesy Broccoli Bake

Ingredients

1/2 lb softened cheese product
10 3/4 ounce can condensed cream of mushroom soup
8 ounce can sliced water chestnuts
2 tablespoon butter
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 lb fresh mushrooms, sliced
1/4 cup chopped celery
2 lb fresh broccoli, trimmed and cut up
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 cup grated cheddar cheese


Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Steam broccoli for 10 minutes. In the meantime, saute celery, mushrooms, and onion in butter for 10 minutes; drain.

Combine broccoli, saute mixture, and water chestnuts. Heat soup and softened cheese product in saucepan over low heat until cheese melts. Pour over broccoli mixture. Add garlic salt and pepper and combine.

Place in greased casserole dish. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Sprinkle top with grated cheddar cheese the last 5 minutes of baking.

Result

Well, I did it (ahem, my mom helped me, ahem)! It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I had to make some minor changes to the recipe. I didn't use water chestnuts and also, since I didn't know what "softened cheese product" was, I used cheddar cheese. I was in charge of the ingredients preparation and my mom and I both did the sauteing and baking. The final product was actually impressive. Although the dish was very rich and cheesy, it was tasty nonetheless.

Recipe courtesy of Paula Deen