Holdiay Recipes: Mom's Pineappe Casserole

Happy Monday! Ryan and I have been home and back in our normal routine for a few weeks now, which means I'm starting to miss Georgia and family again. To ease my homesickness (if that's wasn't a word before- it is now!), I've decided to FINALLY post one of my families favorite side dish recipes, Hot Pineapple Casserole! This recipe literally takes 5 minutes or less to prepare and always turns out so great, especially paired with a Honeybaked Ham. We usually eat this as part of our Christmas dinner, but it's great for any meal of special occasion. In fact, I think this might be on our Valentine's day menu next month! 

Ingredients: 

• 2 large cans Chunked Pineapple, drained 
• 1 cup Sugar
• 5 tbsp Flour 
• 1 1/2 cup Ritz Crackers, crushed 
• 1 stick Butter, melted 
• 1 1/2 cups Cheddar Cheese 

Directions: 

Place the drained pineapple into a buttered casserole dish. Combine sugar and flour and pour over the pineapple. 

Sprinkle cheddar cheese and ritz crackers over the top of the casserole. Pour the melted butter over everything and bake for 30-35 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly. Serve hot. 

 

Baked Scalloped Potatoes

The theme for Life Group yesterday evening was "Edible Food", which, clearly, narrowed things down for me! With a plethora of options and plans to go out of town this weekend, I decided to search our fridge for something I could throw together. (Sounds like it should be super appetizing, right?) My eyes spotted the bag of potatoes and I instantly knew what I was going to make- Baked Scalloped Potatoes!

Here's what you need:

• 4-5 medium sized Baking Potatoes
• 4 tbsp. Butter
• 4 tbsp. Flour
• 1 1/2 cup Milk
• Salt, Pepper, and Paprika (to taste)
• 1 1/2 cup Cheddar Cheese, shredded

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small saucepan, melt butter. Stir in flour and whisk until there are no lumps. Let the mixture sit and thicken.

Pour in milk, salt, pepper, and paprika and whisk until everything is incorporated. On medium-low heat, bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat to low and stir in 1 cup cheddar cheese.

Thinly slice potatoes and place half on the bottom of a lightly greased baking dish. Pour half of cheese mixture over top potatoes before repeating the process with the remainder of potatoes and cheese sauce.

Top potatoes with 1/2 cup of cheese and sprinkle with a dash of paprika. Bake, uncovered, for about an hour. Enjoy!

It seemed to go over well with my fellow life-groupers so that's a definite win in my book!

-Sarah