granddaughters, a recipe, and a googly-eyed rooster

posted on 14 January 2010

Back on the first weekend of the month, Maddie and Kara had stayed overnight with us, as is usual pretty much at least once a month. Well, it was a bit unusual this time… for the first time their older brother, Drew, did not come along. He’ll be nine years old in a few months, so I knew it was a matter of time before he would stop “going to gramma’s house.” *sigh* I missed him. But it gave us the opportunity to be more involved with the girls without them and their brother going through their little tussles here and there, vying for attention.

Of course I made my homemade spaghetti. Ever since Drew was able to eat big people food when he was a baby, any time any of the grandkids have come over, they have always asked for and expected my homemade spaghetti.

Kara does not let one speck of her spaghetti go to waste. If she can’t catch what is left inside her bowl with her spoon, out come the little fingers. Mmmmmmmmmmm!

This one is always drawing nowadays. I have plenty of paper and drawing items, but Maddie wanted to use Kara’s new doodle pad.

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Thought I would share another recipe with you that I’ve been making since my boys were young… wow, that would be, uhhhhh… 20 or more years. It was originally a recipe given to us by one of my aunts on my dad’s side. The first time I made it was for a Cub Scout dinner. I made two large foil pans of it. Nothing came home.

HASH BROWN CASSEROLE
½ package frozen southern hash browns (approx. 15 oz. of a 30 oz. package; these are the diced, NOT shredded)
1-2 cups slightly crushed corn flakes
1 cup shredded cheese
1 16 oz. container sour cream

Mix all ingredients and pour into greased baking dish. Bake at 375° for approximately 30-45 minutes or until heated thoroughly. Serves 4-6.

I really recommend using the diced hash browns; I once tried using the shredded hash browns because I didn’t have the diced on hand… believe me, all you’re getting is mushiness with the shredded. We like it using the sharp cheddar cheese, but I’ve used other types {mozarella, monterey, etc.} with no problems; just gives you different flavors. All the ingredients can be varied in amounts depending on your family’s tastes. I usually add pepper, but never add salt {we are pretty much very low salt anyway; extra salt just exacerbates Jerry’s medical problems}.

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Lastly, I have to show you what Drew, Maddie and Kara gave me for Christmas….

A rooster-themed notebook with extra pages and extra recipe cards… which I really, REALLY needed… and a googly-eyed ceramic rooster. {My kitchen is rooster-themed.} I had taken a picture of the googly-eyed rooster one day while browsing through Hobby Lobby while in Hutchinson and emailed it to their mom, saying how much I would love to have it myself….