Apparently as a child I didn’t like the green bean casserole at holiday meals. As I got older, my grandfather seemed to have convinced me to regularly have at least a single bean with my meal – for good luck or perhaps what he told me about their hair-straightening properties (haha!). As more years passed, somehow I grew to genuinely like the casserole, and sometimes met with “I didn’t think you liked the green bean casserole!” Now I think that was probably the idea all along (foot-in-the-door technique?). I’m grateful for that, and really everything my grandfather did for me. Sadly he’s no longer with us, but I do want to say that he was truly a master of holiday meals – an avid cook and baker – and he always made sure we ate well!
So maybe this is a sort of milestone, fittingly during the COVID pandemic and therefore not traveling to see family (and in our experience they like to plan the holiday menus!) – that I made my own green bean casserole. The whole thing just for myself – my spouse can’t have soy. Especially when I was younger I hadn’t thought much about how much work goes into each dish. But I was pleasantly surprised how simple this one was! Just a rendition of the classic Campbell’s Soup recipe, relatively loose with measurements (as I tend to be). And of course I used the whole 6oz can of French fried onions – I now appreciate this casserole as a festive way to enjoy fried onion goodness.
I’m pleased to report it turned out well! I suppose a bit of a rite of passage. That’s just what I love though – dishes that are hard to mess up. And relatively inexpensive. And maybe a good bet if you’re bringing a dish to a future post-COVID family gathering where the food should be just-so!
In the future we’re hoping to try substituting the soup with a simple homemade cream of chicken soup with mushrooms – we have yet to find a pre-made cream of mushroom soup free of soy. Then maybe both of us can enjoy it. Though I wouldn’t get my hopes up – I seem to be more of a casserole person than my spouse is.
picocosm 