I make some kind of casserole at least once a week. I'm from the deep south and always figured it was a southern thing. For the record, no one in my family is even the slightest bit overweight.

Anonymous wrote:I am from NY, and think of casseroles as things for people:

1. from the 60's/70's
2. from the Midwest

So being that I'm neither, I never make casserole. My mother used to make what we called White Trash Casserole (aka Green Been Casserole: green beans, cream of mushroom Campbell's soup, french fried onion rings).

+1

I'm not the poster of the pictures, but the third picture looks a lot like this: http://www.perrysplate.com/2011/03/stacked-roasted-vegetable-enchiladas.html I've made it before, and it's really delicious.

I something like this considered a casserole?

http://www.joyouslydomestic.com/2013/07/roasted-chicken-and-potatoes.html

This is particularly good because of the whole lemon (cut up) baked along with the chicken. I use sweet potatoes rather than white potatoes. Carrots are also good.

They sure seem to be enjoying a second life on Pinterest. I've only ever made one at my husband's request (the one mentioned earlier - the classic green bean/mushroom soup/fried onion casserole for Thanksgiving). I was not a fan since I tend not to like my food all globbed together.

That said, last year I did have Easter at a neighbor's house who made something delicious he called "funeral potatoes." Basically au gratin. And I've had breakfast casseroles that weren't bad. It's the ones with canned soup that gross me out, I guess.

I like the idea of them, but I'm a vegetarian and they do seem heavy on the creaminess and low on the veggies. If I could find one with beans and grains and fresh veggies rather than frozen or canned I'd give it a shot.

The family eats meat, but we are kosher style, so that eliminates the meat based ones with cheese or cream bases.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also from NY, and I love them (as long as they're well done, not cream of soup crap). There's something homey and comforting about them, and I love that with about 10 minutes of extra effort, I can usually triple the recipe and throw a couple in the chest freezer for nights when I don't have time (or energy) to cook.

I didn't know they could be frozen! I need to find some recipes. I'm a vegetarian who doesn't eat canned soups, and based on a few short Google searches, I assumed there were none I could eat. I will look harder. Thanks.

You can also mix everything together and freeze it in a big freezer zip loc bag. Let it thaw and then pour into a pyrex pan for heating

OP here. I just made a pork chop/potato bake for supper tonight and put together a chicken/broccoli alfredo casserole for Tuesday night. All DH has to do it heat it, slice some bread and call it done!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also from NY, and I love them (as long as they're well done, not cream of soup crap). There's something homey and comforting about them, and I love that with about 10 minutes of extra effort, I can usually triple the recipe and throw a couple in the chest freezer for nights when I don't have time (or energy) to cook.

I didn't know they could be frozen! I need to find some recipes. I'm a vegetarian who doesn't eat canned soups, and based on a few short Google searches, I assumed there were none I could eat. I will look harder. Thanks.

Pretty much all of them can be frozen. Prepare them and put them in a disposable pan (not pyrex, for the previous poster), cover in a couple layers of foil (I sometimes do plastic wrap and then foil, but I don't really trust my husband to check before throwing it in the oven), and freeze without baking. When ready to cook, you can put it right from the freezer into the oven, you just need to allow extra baking time.

Anonymous wrote:If you make extra for the freezer, what do you freeze them in? Aluminum foul pans or do you have lots of extra Pyrex pans?

You can line a pyrex baking dish in foil, fill it and freeze it. When it's solid, pop out the meal and wrap in more foil and you get your pan back to use. When you're ready to heat a dish, put it back into the pyrex, thaw it and bake.

Anonymous wrote:I remember my Mom making yummy casseroles for dinner when we were growing up. Not just stuff thrown together with cream of mushroom soup, either. I find myself going in streaks with casserole type of meals (I'm talking chicken/broccoli/pasta alfredo, tuna noodle casserole, a delicious taco one, etc), but in casual conversation with friends and coworkers, I rarely hear that anyone eats these type of comfort meal types of foods.
Are casseroles un-cool?

Wow. Just remembered my mom making the same thing. What happened to them?

Anything made in a casserole dish is technically a casserole. Which covers many types off meals. Macaroni and cheese for example is a casserole.

Anonymous wrote:Also from NY, and I love them (as long as they're well done, not cream of soup crap). There's something homey and comforting about them, and I love that with about 10 minutes of extra effort, I can usually triple the recipe and throw a couple in the chest freezer for nights when I don't have time (or energy) to cook.

I didn't know they could be frozen! I need to find some recipes. I'm a vegetarian who doesn't eat canned soups, and based on a few short Google searches, I assumed there were none I could eat. I will look harder. Thanks.

If you make extra for the freezer, what do you freeze them in? Aluminum foul pans or do you have lots of extra Pyrex pans?

I still make an occasional casserole but growing up my mom used to throw one together at least once a week to use up leftovers - they were always creative & really good. I tend to do a meat/veggie stir fry when I want to use up leftovers - maybe not that creative, but pretty good.