Not-so-PC Casserole

I'm blessed with an amazing (and large) family on both my mom and dad's sides - the head and heart of each of these being my grandmothers. As I continuously struggle to manage raising one child while washing laundry, cleaning the house (with Jon's help), making dinner, etc....they successfully did this with 13 and 9 kids, respectively. Yup, you read that right - these women fed, cleaned up after, dressed and disciplined that many kids! I'm exhausted just typing it.

So when I was younger, maybe middle-school aged, someone on my dad's side of the family put together a cookbook containing “family” recipes that were mostly my grandma’s. Should have been titled “Recipes of a Saint” or the like for the fact that she day after day put homecooked meals on the table for a family of 11. But I’m pretty sure it was something basic like ______ Family Recipes. I wish I could get a cookbook from my other saint grandma as well, but I don’t think one exists. Anyway…one of the recipes from his childhood that my dad decided to resurrect was the recipe formerly known as Boy Scout Casserole. Apparently the cookbook putter-togetherer went all PC on my poor grandma’s recipes and renamed it “Person Scout Casserole”. Despite its feminist re-branding and relative simplicity, this recipe is delicious, comforting and one of my go-to’s when I need something easy and fulfilling. But, being the rebel that I am, I call it Boy Scout Casserole. Screw the PC. Or maybe the girl scouts? (OK not really but in full disclosure I was an awful girl scout. I am pretty sure I only lasted a few weeks. Maybe months. Not long enough to earn any badges of significance or sell delicious cookies. I was too busy for girl scouts. When I was 7. For real.)

But back to the recipe...

Sara's Not-so-PC Boy Scout Casserole (adapted from Grandma's recipe)
Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

1 lb lean ground sirloin
1 medium onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 can petite diced tomatoes
14 oz crushed tomatoes (half a large can - you can freeze the other half for later!)
1 lb pasta (preferably whole wheat - can be shells, rotini, fussili, whatever's on hand)
1-2 tsp dried basil
1-2 tsp dried oregano
1-2 tsp dried parsley
Sea salt & cracked black pepper to taste
2-3 tablespoons sour cream
3 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Also start a large pot of salted water boiling for the pasta to cook while you're cooking the rest of the ingredients. In a deep-sided skillet, brown the ground sirloin. Once it's brown, toss in the onions, garlic and green pepper. After the onions and green pepper have softened a bit (cook just a few minutes), add the tomatoes - diced and crushed, as well as the herbs. If you don't have crushed tomatoes you can easily sub tomato sauce here. I also put ranges for the dried herbs because it depends on how heavily spiced you like your food. I like mine well seasoned. Allow this mixture to simmer just for a few minutes.





Hopefully by now your pasta is done. If you are super cool like me, your cupboard contains countless partial boxes of dried pasta. Like these.




And you finally decide that you might as well use them up. So your lovely al dente pasta looks like this.


Once you've drained the pasta, mix it with the sauce from the skillet and a healthy dollop of sour cream and pour it into a 13 x 9 casserole dish.

Then top it with cheese. Lots of cheese. I typically just use sharp cheddar (the orange kind) but we had some Vermont white cheddar lingering in the fridge that asked to be invited to the party. Who am I to say no?

Pop the casserole into the oven just long enough for the cheese to get all bubbly and start to brown. Usually 10 or 15 minutes.

If you let it set a few minutes, it will come out in cleaner helpings. But I'm not a particularly patient person. So mine looks like this.

All tastes the same though! Like something warm, familiar, and made by grandma!