Tag: one-dish meals

Lorrie’s Roosevelt Beans

Once in a while I admit to being a “heat and eat cook.” Here is a recipe that combines the convenience of opening cans for supper with the added flavors of freshly sautéd sausage, bacon and onion plus the zip provided by condiments that you are almost sure to have in your kitchen.

Lorrie emailed me a photo she took of the recipe for Roosevelt Beans printed on the menu at the Roosevelt Lodge in Yellowstone National Park. She was also kind enough to explain how she modified the recipe and even shared the results of her research about it. A comment about Roosevelt Beans on Recipelink states that Roosevelt Lodge got the recipe from a cookbook published by a Lutheran Church at McIntosh, Minnesota and attributes the dish to Naomi Jean Thompson (Hillgartner).

Considering the courage and ingenuity of the ladies who bring dishes to potlucks, I think it’s very likely that Naomi Jean did bring this bean casserole to church one Sunday morning and was urged to share the recipe with her friends and neighbors. A few days ago a lady told me that the “old” First Lutheran Church cookbook had the same or a very similar recipe, so it may be one invented by many different ladies once beans were being sold in cans.

I like both the name and flavor of this dish, it is easy to prepare and the different beans make it attractive. You can set it proudly on the potluck table or serve it as a main course for five or six with a salad and bread.

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 lb. country pork sausage
1/2 lb. bacon, chopped into 1/2-inch dice
1 medium onion (2 1/2 inch diameter)
1 (16 oz.) can pork and beans
1 (16 oz.) can kidney beans
1 (16 oz.) can lima beans
1 (16 oz.) can butter bean
2 T brown sugar
2 T cider vinegar
1/2 to 1 tsp. garlic powder, optional
1/2 cup ketchup
1 T spicy brown mustard
1/2 cup water
1/4 tsp. black pepper
Salt to taste

PROCEDURE:

Preheat the oven to 325º and chop the onion into a half inch dice.

Cut the bacon into quarter inch pieces. Fry the sausage and bacon together over medium heat, breaking up the sausage as it cooks. When the sausage is about half done, add the onion and continue frying until the onion is translucent but not brown. Remove the meat mixture from the heat but don’t drain it.

Drain the liquid from the butter, kidney and lima beans and put them in a large mixing bowl. Add the can of pork and beans with their liquid. Stir in the meat mixture along with the sugar, vinegar, garlic, ketchup, mustard, black pepper and water. Add a little salt if you wish.

Transfer the beans to a three quart casserole and bake uncovered at 325º for forty-five minutes.

NOTES: Lorrie said that she used a cast iron skillet so she could use the same pan to fry the meat and onion and bake the casserole. I like one-dish recipes, but our cast iron skillets are not large enough.

Be very careful with the salt. The meats and beans have plenty of salt for us, but you may want to add a little. Some versions of Roosevelt Beans give you a choice of substituting ground beef for the sausage. In that case, I would definitely add at least a quarter teaspoon of salt.

Aunt Lil’s Tuna Casserole—A Quilling Family Recipe

In 1934, Campbell’s Soup Company introduced Cream of Mushroom and Chicken Noodle soups to the American consumer. Today, these two products still rank in the top ten shelf-stable food items sold in grocery stores.

It’s easy to understand why these soups have remained so popular. They are excellent emergency foods. When I was a kid, if the family had a flat tire or some other problem and got home late, Mom could open a couple cans of chicken noodle or cream of mushroom soup, slice some homemade bread and leftover roast and have a meal on the table before Dad finished his beer.

But the success of these soups goes well beyond their consumption as soups per se. Shortly after buying her first can of cream of mushroom soup, some inventive housewife probably said, “I wonder what would happen if I mixed a can of soup and a can of tuna with these leftover noodles?”

What happened, of course, was that a family quickly became addicted to tuna noodle casserole. At the urging of her husband and offspring, she took the casserole to a church potluck and shared the good news that it was easy to make, cheap and popular with the kids. The rest is history.

Something very similar happened with chicken noodle soup. Now, after eighty years, there are hundreds or perhaps thousands of recipes that call for a can of condensed soup, water and whatever else might be available in the refrigerator or pantry. Campbell’s has of course published quite a few recipes as a way to increase sales, but their efforts are dwarfed by the many contributions of adventurous cooks who simply wanted new dishes for the family table.

When I asked our friend Lorrie for a recipe she remembered from her childhood, she came up with “Aunt Lil’s Tuna Casserole.” It’s a good example of how cooks created variations on the standard tuna noodle casserole. To be entirely honest, I wondered whether we would like this dish, but it turned out to be much tastier than we expected. You should give your family the opportunity to try it too.

Here is Lorrie’s introduction to the recipe:

“This dish was a staple when I was growing up, and as noted in the recipe, my Grandma Quilling used to add a drained can of Veg-All to make it a complete meal.  Of course she always had a dessert course, often something one of us had baked (that was often my duty, though Grandma and Aunt Camilla baked as well) or something canned the previous summer–usually applesauce or a peach half in an amazing heavy syrup…

“Aunt Lil’s identity is somewhat shrouded in mystery.  My mother claims to have met her, but my Grandpa Q. was an only child and my Grandma had two brothers.  Exactly whose aunt she was, no one is quite sure.”

Here is how to make Aunt Lil’s Tuna Casserole.  

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup rice
1 can tuna
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can chicken noodle soup
2 cans water
1 can Veg-All or or other canned mixed vegetables (optional)

PROCEDURE:

Preheat the oven to 375° and grease a nine by thirteen-inch flat casserole or baking pan.

Spread the rice evenly in the casserole or pan. Flake the tuna evenly over the rice.  Use a teaspoon to spoon the mushroom soup and then the chicken noodle soup evenly over the tuna and rice. Drain the vegetables and scatter them over the other ingredients. Rinse the cans with the water and pour it gently into the pan.

Bake uncovered for forty to fifty minutes or until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is done.

Serve with salad, bread and dessert.

NOTES: When we shared this casserole with some friends, I included the vegetables. We all liked it, and a couple of us had seconds. However, we thought that it would be interesting to sprinkle some “crunchies” like crushed corn flakes on top.

Since tuna cans are smaller today than they were a few years ago, you might want to use two cans of tuna. Lorrie says that she sometimes uses two cans.

Although the original recipe does not call for vegetables, I think that her grandmother was right to add them. They add color and flavor.