November 2, 2011

Green Pepper Casserole

I've been having fun cooking recipes from a vegetable cookbook I bought at a charity book sale a few weeks ago. You can read about Danish Tomatoes here, and Carrot Loaf here. I liked both of these recipes.

And now I've found another gem...... Green Pepper Casserole.

The recipes in this 1972 cookbook were "created and perfected by homemakers from Maryland to Texas" and most of them are delightfully simple.

Green Pepper Casserole was created and perfected by Doris C. Mountjoy, Stanford, Kentucky. She uses 1 cup of cooked chopped green peppers to make this recipe.

I, however, homegrown countrygirlified it... I used peppers from my garden that I froze a couple of weeks ago.

Peppers freeze beautifully, and they don't need any special treatment prior to freezing them. No blanching, no curing, nothing special, just dice them up and freeze them! They become soft and lose some crunch, but they retain their taste and can be used in soups, stews, chilis, casseroles, omelets, and lots of other things.

So, a few weeks ago, when I heard it was going to frost, I grabbed up all of the remaining sweet and hot peppers from my garden. I diced them all, green, red, orange, and yellow sweet peppers, and added some minced jalapenos, and then vacuum packed them in two cup portions.When thawed, two cups of diced peppers measure out as one cup. And since they are soft from being frozen, I didn't cook them first, as Doris C. Mountjoy, Stanford, Kentucky suggests. To make Green Pepper Casserole the homegrown countrygirl way, squeeze the excess liquid from the thawed peppers. Combine the peppers with one cup of cracker crumbs (I used saltines).

Add one cup of cheddar cheese, two tablespoons of melted butter, and one 12 ounce can of evaporated milk. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, stir together, pour into a 7x11 buttered casserole dish and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.I'm a little bit embarrassed to admit that I have already made this casserole three times. It's a good versatile dinner side dish. And it goes nicely alongside a cup of soup for lunch. But I think my favorite time to eat this is with breakfast. And this is now going to be one of my "go to" breakfast and brunch recipes, especially on holidays.I had this breakfast for dinner. (I love having "breakfast for dinner!")

GREEN PEPPER CASSEROLE
from Southern Living's "The Vegetable Cookbook" 1972
Recipe by Doris C. Mountjoy, Stanford, Kentucky

1 1/2 cup milk
1 cup cooked chopped green peppers
1 cup cracker crumbs
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Combine all the ingredients in a greased casserole. Bake at 350 degrees fro about 30 minutes.

2 comments:

Candy C. said...

When I saw the first picture I thought there would be eggs involved! I think I'd better get out in the garden and pick the remaining peppers before the grasshoppers get them all. I have some chopped in the freezer and this looks like a perfect way to use them! :)

homegrown countrygirl said...

Candy C. ~ I'm jealous that your garden hasn't been killed by frost yet! (But ohmygosh, I'm not jealous of your droughts... those are scary-bad.)