Flash in the pan

Tonight I made the greatest casserole for my mom. It is a cheese broccoli rice casserole!

This is violating a new rule I made for myself which is, do not use recipes when cooking for my mom. It is too fancy! I have been striking out recently on account of I get too fancy. The other day I was a big hit because all I did was do pork chops in a pan and serve them with applesauce from Albrecht Discount.

I made brown rice to go with the pork chops. I caught myself wanting to make a pilaf and I policed myself and told myself NO.

My dinner was a huge hit!

That is what I should do, find retro cookbooks ...

... and cook out of them. Wow, where do I get the cookbook in the picture? That is a classic!

Meanwhile this casserole looks like a keeper. I love that word, casserole. You do not hear it much these days. We used to bring casseroles to Girl Scout potlucks.

Anyway I was Googling around looking for a yummy cheese broccoli rice casserole and I found this one.

It is just on somebody's Web log! And I made it. I liked it because it did not have canned soup or heavy cream. Just do not give me recipes with heavy cream, you know?

So there I am, in a hurry, simmering vegetables, mixing up this white sauce. Only an idiot would do that, you know? But it was fun. I do not know what makes this drudgery fun but it is. Like working on the Pennario book. Other people would call it drudgery but I call it fun.

I doubled the broccoli and I had some cauliflower and cooked that up too.  I think I ended up with six cups of vegetables as opposed to three, which the recipe calls for. Also I forgot the half cup of Parmesan. Who needs it, you know, with all that Cheddar?

If my mom does not like this ... well, I cannot imagine her not liking it.

If casseroles be the food of love, cook on!