Cheesy Potato and Beef Casserole

Creamy, cheesy, and dee-lish! This potluck favorite won’t last long on the serving line at the church potluck. Make it for your next family gathering and your relatives will love you for it.

1 pound ground beef
6-8 small potatoes, white or Yukon Gold
1 package Lowry’s Brown Gravy Mix
1 package Pioneer White Gravy Mix
8 ounces cheddar cheese, grated; divided use
salt and pepper

Brown ground beef and season to taste. Drain, return to pan and add brown gravy mix and ½ cup of water. Mix well and layer in 9 inch by 13 inch casserole dish.

Boil whole potatoes until the skins split. Cool, peel, quarter and layer over ground beef mixture.

Prepare white gravy mix as per directions and add grated cheese, reserving some cheese for topping

Pour white gravy and cheese mixture over potatoes and beef, top with reserved cheese, and bake in 350° oven for about 20 minutes or until heated through and cheese topping is melted. Garnish with chopped parsley for bit of greenery before serving.

(Note: This dish can be prepared ahead, refrigerated, and baked just before serving.)

For 30 years Pottsboro has been home to the Clements. Susie and Robert share farm duties including tending cows. Susie has already been in the insurance business for over two decades. In her spare time she enjoys shopping and exercising with friends. Cooking is more than a hobby. Susie says she would love to have a catering business someday. Susie and Robert have two children and just added their first grandchild to the family.

Blackberry Cobbler

Blackberry cobbler is a southern treat that brings smiles to the faces to anyone who loves fresh berries. Loretha Riales has developed a tried and true recipe that’s easy to make and a blast to serve at any potluck.

Blackberry Cobbler – Loretha Riales (First Presbyterian Church)

Filling
-4-6 cups fresh or frozen and thawed blackberries
-1 cup sugar
-1 tablespoon plain small pearl tapioca
-1 tablespoon butter

Crust
-12 cups all purpose flour
-2 teaspoon salt
-2 cup solid shortening
-3 cup ice water

Place blackberries in 9 inch by 13 inch baking dish. Combine sugar and tapioca, sprinkle over berries and mix well. Top mixture with bits of butter.

Mix flour and salt and cut in shortening using a pastry blender or food processor until mixture is “mealy” and shortening is well distributed. Sprinkle mixture with a small amount of ice water and blend with fork. Add more water as need until mixture forms a ball. Handle the dough as little as possible. Turn out onto floured surface and roll out in a rectangle large enough to cover the dish. Roll dough onto rolling pin and unroll over baking dish. Seal sides of dough to dish and cut small decorative slices in dough to vent steam from the filling.

Bake in 400° oven until fruit filling is bubbly and crust is GB&D (golden brown and delicious) 30–45 minutes. Remove from oven and allow cobbler to cool on wire rack for about 20 minutes to give the filling time to thicken. Serve warm with whipped cream or ice cream.

Loretha Riales and her husband Roy live in Bailey near Bonham. They are the parents of two adult children and two teenage grandchildren. Loretha is an artist whose principal medium is printmaking. Her hobbies are gardening, sewing, reading and volunteering as an art teacher in the Bonham ISD.

3 Layer Corn and Green Bean Casserole

Verna Blood is the queen of potluck casseroles at Grace Lutheren Church. Her cooking is greatly anticipated and she always leaves with an empty dish.

3-Layer Corn & Green Bean Casserole

1st Layer
-24 ounces (2 cans) French style green beans, well drained
-24 ounces (2 cans) whole kernel corn, well drained
-3 cup onion, minced
-Salt and pepper to taste

Mix vegetables, season and spread
in 9 inch by 13 inch casserole.

2nd Layer
-1 can cream of celery soup
-8 ounces sour cream
-1 cup American or cheddar cheese, grated
-3 cup slivered almonds, toasted

Mix first three ingredients well and spread over layer of beans and corn. Sprinkle with almonds.

3rd Layer
-1 sleeve Ritz crackers, crushed (a Zip-lock bag and a rolling pin will do the trick)
-4 ounces (1 stick) butter, melted

Mix crushed crackers and melted butter and use mixture to top dish. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes.

Originally from Minnesota,Verna Blood has been in Denison fifty-two years. She is a retired physical education teacher and taught for the Denison ISD. Cooking led her to work at the former Texoma Lutheran Camp and also for the Behavioral Health Center in Sherman for five years. She enjoys spending time with her two grandchildren and swims daily.

Apricot Chicken

Deb Montgomery gets a lot of attention when she arrives at a church potluck. Her reputation for absolutely deee-licious casseroles is legend. So, we asked Deb to put together one of her all-time favorites for us.

Apricot Chicken

-10 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
-2 cups mushrooms, sliced
-1 large onion, peeled and roughly chopped
-2 carrots, diced large
-2 teaspoons dried thyme
-1 rib celery with leaves, sliced
-1 package onion soup mix
-1 can (about 11 ounces) apricot nectar

Place chicken pieces on the bottom of a crock pot and sprinkle with the onion soup mix. Add apricot nectar and top with vegetables and herbs. Cook on low setting for 6 to 7 hours or until the chicken is very tender. Serve over couscous or rice and garnish with diced apricots.

Born and raised in Sherman, Deb Montgomery and her husband Jerry have six adult children and twelve grandchildren. She attend St. Stephens Episcopal Church in Sherman. Deb spent 30 years as a real estate consultant and escrow closer. These days, she is happiest when in the kitchen or arranging floral designs.

Coconut Sweeties

Coconut Sweeties

-1 package of cake mix (your choice of flavor and color)
-1 can prepared frosting (your choice of flavor and color)
-Maraschino cherries
-1 package shredded coconut

Prepare cake mix in form of cupcakes or mini cupcakes according to package directions.

Frost and top with shredded coconut and cherry.

Next Page »