Tater Tot Casserole (from the Men's Section)

Tater Tot Casserole

2 lbs. ground beef
1 Lg. onion
Salt & pepper to taste
1 can tomato soup
1 Tbsp. molasses
1/4 cup brown sugar
20 oz. can brown sugar
16 oz. pkg. tater tots

Brown beef and onion. Add salt and pepper. Add soup, molasses and sugar; mix well. Add beans and mix lightly. Place in casserole. Add tater tots to top. Bake at 350 degree for 45 mins.

I love this casserole because I'm a hamburger lover.

Submitted by Chris D. Hollis of Belleville, WI

Blogger's Note: We debated whether or not to drain the browned ground beef. In the end we did and were very happy how everything turned out. Also, don't drain the can of baked beans, use the juices as well.

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Once you get all the beef into the pan, you'll start to see how much Mr. Hollis really loves hamburger.

While I was making this, it reminded me of when I asked my mother for simple recipes shortly after I had moved out of the nest. As is the case with most mothers when asked that question, she couldn't think of anything she used to make. As I make my way through this cookbook I chuckle a bit because this is the stuff I was asking about. Extremely simple to make, inexpensive and very filling.

To be completely honest I had my doubts about this one. The combination of the ingredients seemed a bit odd to me. One of the only reasons I made it was because it did not contain cream of "whatever" soup. Needless to say, two weeks in I was starting to feel like I was sweating cream of something or other soup!

In the end it turned out to be pretty good. It basically tasted like a simple sloppy joe with tater tots. Throw in some green beans and a bottle of beer and you've got yourself a manpleaser!

No-Bake Chocolate Cookies

No-Bake Chocolate Cookies

4 cups sugar
3/4 cup cocoa
1 cup milk
2 oz. butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup peanut butter
6 cups oatmeal

Mix sugar, cocoa, milk and butter together in a large saucepan. Boil 1 minute, no longer. Remove from heat and add remaining ingredients. Drop on wax paper from teaspoons. Store in airtight containers.

Submitted by Mrs. William Bates of Blaine, MN

Blogger's Note: I used Nestle Toll House cocoa and Quaker Oats (Not Quick Oats) and they were great.


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Culinarily we've come a long way since the No-Bake cookie first burst on to the scene. NowPaula Deen tells you that recipes need lots of butter to taste good, and Martha Stewart tells us that it has to be fancy and tied up with a bow. in 1977 there was none of this. We had Julia (Childs) and Betty Crocker. Both were nice ladies. I preferred Betty at the time, and still think she has a lot to offer. This is all to say that I LOVE, I mean <3>

When I was in 3rd grade (1979) our teacher, Miss Lapetina took us through an entire project on nutrition. Among the things we learned were healthy eating, look here for Mulligan Stew in the future, and healthy snacking. No-Bake cookies were one of those recipes.

I resisted the urge, with this batch, to make them nicer. You can get much better cocoa these days than you could back then. I did, however, use Skippy Natural Creamy Peanut Butter. I may wan't to relive the 70s, but I'd really prefer to do it with my arteries intact. Normally my peanut butter of choice is completely natural, i.e. peanuts and salt, but Skippy Natural has the texture of 1970s/80s peanut butter, and I was concerned something without thickeners might not work.

The total prep time for these was about 20 minutes and the actual "making" of the cookies was very simple. Drop them on wax paper. Not having wax paper in the house, I sprayed tinfoil with Baking Spray and things turned out fine. These are a great snack and a lot lower in fat than a lot of desserts. Sugar content is still quite high, so diabetics beware!!!

Frozen Corn / Mexicorn

Frozen Corn

6 cups corn
1 cup water
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1 Tbsp butter

Boil 3 minutes. Cool and put in containers and freeze. If you like Mexicorn, add green and red peppers.

Very good and easy.

Submitted by Marie Fahrbach -- Kaukauna, WI

Blogger's note: We used a pepper stir-fry mix to make our Mexicorn. It was already seasoned, so it was a little different from this recipe, but was still quite good.

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We had to make this recipe for several reasons.

1) Who puts a recipe for frozen corn in a cookbook. I thought this was the kind of thing everyone knew. However, Marie, felt her recipe was so special that she needed to tell all her friends about it.

2) MEX-I-CORN. When I read this word I cracked up. Were we so unconscious of what we were saying that we incorporate corn into what comes across as some sort of racial slur. It's got peppers. Of course, the mexicans would eat this. Meanwhile, I've never been served or even offered corn in a mexican restaurant or taqueria.

You might recognize the Mexican Chicken Casserole in the background. Dinner was a Mexifiesta!

Let these two facts not detract from the issue at hand. Mexicorn is pretty darn good. It just adds some flavor to the corn. Don't be afraid to try it. Unless of course, Zapata is some distant relative of yours, then your family might get a little offended. If they could, please just call it Corn with Peppers or even better Pepper Corn (get it? peppercorn)!

Friday Happy Hour

Raspberry Bounce

1 pint raspberries

1 pint vodka

1 cup sugar

Dissolve sugar in vodka before adding berries. Mix the ingredients in a 1/2 gallon jug. Shake once a day for a week. Let stand about 6 months.

Cherry Bounce

3 quarts cherries

3 1/2 pounds sugar

1 quart vodka

Follow same procedure as for Raspberry Bounce.

Submitted by Michael Emmerich of the Home Office (Madison, WI)

Blogger's Note: 3 quarts of frozen cherries is ridiculously expensive. Instead we used 1 1/2 pints of cherries, 1 1/2 pints of vodka, 1 1/2 cups of sugar. The recipe is a bit of a meld between the two recipes, but I think it will work.

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Now the waiting and the research begin. We put this together last night and have already shaken it this morning. I'm not sure exactly what the six months is supposed to do, except that there is a certain amount of time needed for flavors to meld properly. Years ago, when I made Bierlikör (Beer Liqueur) it required a 4 month melding period.

We will sample the bounce periodically over the next six months to see how the taste is progressing, and in fact, will probably need another batch for the 4th of July party we have planned.

Furthermore, this is going to need a special cocktail recipe. There aren't any old recipes that call for flavored vodka, so if you have any that call for cherry vodka, please send them my way, and we'll be sure to try them in anticipation of the Cherry Bounce House on the 4th!

Just in time for the Super Bowl!!!

Rye Bread Bowl

Bakery round rye or white bread

1 cup beer

1 small jar or tube of cheddar cheese

1 of bacon flavored cheese

1 of smoky flavored cheese

1 of port wine cheese

Carve the bread as you would a pumpkin, allowing 1" of bread on all sides and bottom with a good sized round opening at the top. Ahead of time melt the cheese and beer in a saucepan. Pour the mixture into the hollowed out bread and place on a cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Save the inside pieces of bread for dipping out the fondue-like cheese.

This is for special times -- a favorite of men! It goes a long way and I guarantee you'll hand out this recipe to your guests.

Submitted by Paula Lamberg -- West Bend, WI

Blogger's note: We used a sourdough round and found the recipe to work just fine. Our cheese of choice was Bucky Badger. They did not have a smokey flavored one, so I substituted garlic. However, true Wisconsinites will tell you that Kaukauna Cheese is the best stuff out there.

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We made this last night when we had my brother over for dinner. He's gluten intolerant, so we did him the favor of serving the cheese with tortilla chips. It was kind of like eating nachos at the ball game. All in all, pretty darn good and something we will be making again in the future.

In the end, we also decided that it might have been better if we hadn't used the sharp cheddar. It was just a little sharp for our taste. If you like sharp cheddar then go for it!

Also, the bread bowl was too small to accommodate all of that cheese and beer. When we make it again, we'll probably leave out one of the cheeses and reduce the amount of beer. I know, it's a travesty to ever reduce the amount of beer in anything, but we also thought the recipe was a little runny.

Swedish Pancakes

Swedish Pancakes

3 well beaten eggs

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp salt

3 cups milk

2 cups flour

3 Tbsp melted butter

In blender or mixer, add sugar, salt, milk and flour (added gradually) to the beaten eggs. Beat on low speed and add melted butter until smooth.

The pancakes are thin and disappear so fast we've not yet caught up enough to count them! Often we have to make two batches for our family -- then, if there are a few left, we cool them, put ice cream on each, roll them up and wrap individually in foil. Put in freezer.

Submitted by William D. Gibbs of Schofield, WI

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I don't know that I should be trusted to make breakfast. I used 3 cups of flour instead of the 2 the recipe called for. I did catch the mistake early and added some extra milk, but in the end the ratios were all off.

The pancakes were good, although I know they weren't what they should have been. I think I'll try again on Thursday and see how things go.

The Swedes usually serve their pancakes with fruit. After all, only America and Canada seem to have a massive fascination with maple syrup. Lingonberry preserves are very popular, but just about any berry can be found on a menu. Check it out if you get the chance.

Mexican Chicken Casserole

Mexican Chicken Casserole

4 chicken breasts

1/2 lb. grated sharp cheddar cheese

12 corn tortillas

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can cream of chicken soup

2 7-oz. cans Ortega green chile salsa

1 can tomato sauce

1/2 can of water

sautéed onion

Sauté chicken breasts in oil slowly. Cut into bite sized pieces. Cut tortillas into 4 strips. Grease large shallow casserole. Mix following ingredients in one bowl: chicken and mushroom soups, chile salsa, tomato sauce, water and onion. Put some sauce in bottom of pan first; then layer 4 tortillas at a time in a lattice design, 1/3 chicken, 1/3 sauce and 1/3 cheese. Repeat in layers, ending with sauce and cheese. Refrigerate 24 hours. Bake 1 1/2 hours at 350 degrees.

Yield: 6 servings.

Good party dish because it can be made ahead.

Submitted by Patricia McGuigan -- San Francisco, CA

Blogger's note: I used an 8 oz. can of tomato sauce. I also couldn't find cans of salsa, and I'm not sure I would have used one if I could find it, so I used Ortega chile verde taco sauce (mild).

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I'm interested to see what the dish tastes like today, because we did not wait 24 hours. It was great without having to wait, so I'm sure it will be even better today.

After a week of running this blog and trying some recipes, we are definitely starting to understand the fascination with cream of something soup. Everything stays moist and has a nice rich texture. As you can see, the dishes don't look all that fabulous, but they do taste good.

This casserole actually tasted something like a chicken tamale. Not bad for 1977. Of course, the snob in me needs to point out that the recipe did come from San Francisco where they have Taquerias that have celebrated decades of existence instead of from Wisconsin where the oldest "taqueria" around is La Bamba. Not exactly the best Mexican food I've ever had.