Grandma/Kristen's Peas and Potatoes

This is a classic Grandma side dish, with a new Kristen twist.

I will be making the classic version but I will give you the Kristen version as well, and who knows maybe it will become the new classic! 

"It was wonderful with a hint of blueberries. Yum" I love that it sounds like Kristen is describing wine, not her new blueberry/potato/pea dish!

Grandma's classic version

Ingredients:

2 cups milk

4 Tbsp flour

5-6 new potatoes - large dice, skin left on

1 cup peas - can be fresh, frozen or caned 

wash and dice potatoes

boil them until they are tender enough to pierce with a fork

in the mean time

in a sauce pan mix milk and flour together and cook over medium heat until thickened, stirring often 

after sauce thickens add in peas and cook for a few minutes more

drain potatoes

pour milk and pea sauce over potatoes

season with salt and pepper

Enjoy!

Now on to Kristen's twist on Grandma's side dish.

Kristen loves this dish and wanted to make it one night, after calling her mom to get the recipe and starting to cook it she realized that she didn't have any flour.  Of course she called her mom to see what she should do. Kristen not being a cook has a limited pantry and of course didn't have any of the other items that could be used, so they came up with an interesting choice.

Blueberry pancake mix!

Kristen of course picked out the blueberries first and used 4 Tbsp of blueberry pancake mix instead of the called for flour.  Kristen said it turned out great, and had just a hint of blueberry flavor! 

Ingredients:

2 cups milk

4 Tbsp blueberry pancake mix (I only had regular pancake mix)

5-6 new potatoes - large dice, skin left on

1 cup peas - can be fresh, frozen or caned 

Grandma's squash and onion casserole

This is one of my favorite side dishes.  Grandma always made this dish in the summer when the garden was going crazy and we were swimming in squash.  This particular recipe caused me a bit of trouble there are at least 2 different version floating around and sadly I couldn't call up Grandma to ask her how she made it.  I had to tweak it as I went along.  It called for you to bake it uncovered for 20 minutes but that didn't work.  Everything was still hard the only thing that happened was that the cheese was melted.  I decided to cover it and bake it for another 20 minutes then checked it and baked it another 10 minutes.  I'm now saying that you need to bake it covered for about 30-40 minutes.  The one good thing is that it does taste correct!

Ingredients:

6-8 crookneck squash (I am using 1 big one) - sliced med/thin

1 large onion - sliced thin

2 Tbsp butter

2 cups cheddar cheese - shredded

1/2 cup sour cream

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (I didn't have cayenne so I used paprika)

1 sleeve of Ritz crackers - crushed

Chop up squash and onions

because I used a big squash I peeled mine otherwise you don't need to 

mix everything together put into a 9x13 pan

cut up the butter into little pats and top the casserole with them

Cover with tin foil and bake for 30-40 mins at 350

after baking I stirred it up after baking to make sure everything was mixed together

Enjoy!

Grandma's Sweet and Sour Carrots

This side dish of grandma's was a perfect salad to take on a picnic, becuase it has no mayo.  You can also take this salad and add some pineapple and chicken or pork for a yummy sweet and sour dish.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup oil

3/4 cup vinegar

1 tsp salt

1Tblsp worchestire sauce

1 cup sugar

1 can tomato sauce

1 tsp pepper

1 tsp dry mustard

5 cups sliced carrots -cooked but firm

1 small green bell pepper -sliced into strips

1 large onion -sliced into strips

Peel carrots and slice into small rounds, blanch carrots in boiling water for about 5 mins.  The carrots should still be firm.

combined all ingredients except for carrots, green pepper and onion in a sauce pan and bring to a boil.

Slice the green pepper and onion into strips and mix in a bowl

Add in cooked carrots

After sauce comes to a boil pour over carrot, pepper and onion mix, refrigerate.

Enjoy!

Grandma's Baked Corn

This is one of those recipes that you don't have written down, I know if from making it with Grandma. This is a dish we have every Easter, I remember every year Grandma and I having to talk through the recipe to remember everything that was in it.  This year Mom and I had to talk it through to remember it, now everyone will have this family classic.

Ingredients:

1 can creamed corn

2 cans whole corn -drained

2 eggs

1 sleeve of saltine crackers

milk

butter

salt and pepper to taste

 In a casserole dish combined the 3 cans of corn

 Crush up a sleeve of crackers and a mix in

 Cover with milk, and salt and pepper to taste.  Then add in 2 eggs, make sure everything is mixed up

 Top with little slices of butter

 Bake at 350 for about 30-45 mins, until it is set and a knife comes out clean

Dish up and serve! Enjoy!