(St. Paddy’s Hash Bash Casserole, Cabbage Au Gratin, Cottage Cheese Pineapple Salad, Chocolate Mint Brownies, Springtime Filled Confetti Cookies, Grandma Schmidt’s Danish Coffee Cake)
St. Paddy’s Hash Bash Casserole
1 lb ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tsp crushed, minced garlic
1 bag of coleslaw (1 lb pkg)
hashbrown potatoes, frozen (2 lb bag)
salt
pepper
olive oil
Brown the beef and onion in a skillet until the onion is tender. Add the garlic. Stir. Place the mixture in a 3 qt casserole dish or a 9×13 pan. Layer the coleslaw mixture over the beef. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Using as many potatoes as desired, layer enough hashbrowns over all. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and then drizzle with olive oil. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour, removing the cover the last 15 minutes to brown the potatoes if desired.
I picked up a beautiful head of cabbage at a local Farmer’s Market this past weekend. With St. Patrick’s Day coming up, I thought it’d be fun to try making Mom’s Cabbage Au Gratin recipe. I have eaten it many times, but I don’t ever remember cooking a cabbage. May the luck of the Irish be with me!
Cabbage Au Gratin
1 head of cabbage, chopped and cooked with salt & a little sugar until tender
2 TBSP melted butter
2 TBSP flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1/2 cup shredded cheese (American, Velveeta, cheddar, etc.)
buttered bread crumbs, optional
Step 1: Text Mom to find out how you cook the cabbage with a little salt and sugar.
No response!
Ok, let’s think about this logically. First, chop the cabbage. Judging from the huge pile of cabbage, it’s going in a large stock pot. So that means boil it in water with some salt and a little sugar.
Step 2: Make the cheese sauce. Melt the butter over low heat. Add flour. Over low heat, mix until smooth. Gradually add the milk and salt, stirring constantly. Cook over medium heat, stirring until the sauce is smooth and medium thick. Add the cheese. Reduce the heat to low. Stir until the cheese melts. (This part went well except for the timing. I was timid when cooking the cabbage initially. I needed to have put it on high heat right away and get it boiling. Because I did not, the cheese sauce was ready much sooner than the cabbage so it sat for a while.)
Step 3: Place half of the cabbage in a 2 quart casserole dish. Pour 1/2 of the cheese sauce over the cabbage. Repeat layers. Top with buttered bread crumbs if desired (I did not). Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until mixture is hot and bubbly.
I think I could have baked mine a little longer. Since I used a really large head of cabbage, I would have enjoyed a little more cheese sauce.
Cottage Cheese Pineapple Salad
20 oz can of crushed pineapple
3 oz package lime Jell-O
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups Cool Whip
1 cup cottage cheese
dash of salt
Bring to boil the pineapple (with juice) and sugar. Remove from heat. Stir in the Jell-O until dissolved. Chill in the refrigerator until slightly set. Mix together Cool Whip, cottage cheese, and salt. Stir into the Jell-O mixture. Chill until completely set.
Chocolate Mint Brownies
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1 cup butter, melted
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
Filling: 2 cups powdered sugar, 1 TBSP water, 1/2 cup butter (softened), 1/2 tsp mint flavoring, 3 drops green food coloring
Topping: 2 cups milk chocolate chips or mint chocolate chips, 9 TBSP butter
In a mixer bowl, combine the sugar and cocoa. Mix in the melted butter. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Beat well. Add vanilla. Gradually add the flour and salt, beating until the batter is creamy. Pour the batter into a greased 9 x 13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees 20-25 minutes (mine took about 30 minutes–just make sure center tests done). Cool.
Prepare the Filling: Combine the ingredients in a mixing bowl. Beat until creamy. Spread over cooled brownies. Refrigerate until set.
For Topping: Melt chips (I used semi-sweet since that’s what I had) and butter in a saucepan over low heat. Let cool for 30 minutes or until luke warm, stirring occasionally. Spread over the filling layer. Chill before cutting. Store in the refrigerator.
Cut into 1/2″ x 2″ sticks. (Mine didn’t cut smoothly but still taste delicious!)
Springtime Filled Confetti Cookies
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup shortening
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup multicolored candy sprinkles
Filling: 3/4 cup butter (softened), 2 cups powdered sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, milk, 2 to 3 drops of red or green food coloring
In a mixing bowl, combine the sugar, butter, shortening, vanilla, and eggs. Beat well. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix well, and add to creamed mixture. Stir in the candy sprinkles. Cover the dough with plastic wrap. Refrigerate 1 hour for easier handling. On a floured surface, roll out dough to 1/8″ thickness. Cut with a 2 1/2″ round cookie cutter. Place on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake at 400 degrees for 5-7 minutes. Cool 1 minute. Remove from pan. Cool.
For Filling: Beat the butter until softened. Gradually add the powdered sugar, vanilla, and just enough milk to make it the spreading consistency of frosting. Spread filling between 2 cookies. Repeat with the remaining cookies.
*I had leftover Valentines sprinkles so used them and made matching pink frosting. If I had the traditional multicolored sprinkles, I would have made a pretty green filling. This dough is very soft and a little tricky to handle. Be sure to chill it and have a little patience with it. For fun, I made bunny and carrot shapes for Easter. Circles probably would have been easier to handle with the soft dough.
I treasure the recipe cards my grandma gave me written in her own handwriting. This delicious recipe was given to my grandma from a member of her Circle at church which she then copied down and gave to me. In honor of what would have been my grandma’s 90th birthday (March 28, 2016), I’d like to share this delicious recipe from Grandma.
Grandma Schmidt’s Danish Coffee Cake
Now, I doubt Grandma ever iced her coffee cake in pink. Since I was out of almond flavoring (substituted vanilla), I used maraschino cherry juice to make the icing in an effort to give it that cherry/almond flavor which is what really makes this recipe delicious. Typically, it’s served with sliced almonds on top. Again, I used what I had on hand. In this case, that was chopped pecans.
What a sweet remembrance of Grandma. She was special.
My ever-witty husband always called it “Cabbage au-rotten.” But we loved it, too. By the way, that head of cabbage you had was so big I probably would have made 4 meals from it! 🙂 Love all the photos in today’s post.
I wondered if I would have been able to try your recipe as well as make the “Cabbage au-rotten” out of that one head of cabbage. As I chopped it, my pile got pretty darn big. It filled a really large stock pot. I knew it would shrink down when cooked, but there was still alot of it. I will be eating that cabbage for days.