Potato Casserole

Rarely do we grill out and not have this potato casserole as one of the side dishes.  It’s one of the recipes that my family requests time and time again.  It’s a good side dish for practically any entree.  It’s also very quick to stir together and you don’t have to peel and dice the potatoes.  A bag of frozen hash-browns cuts down the work considerably!

Ingredients:

1 bag frozen hash-browns, either diced or shredded (I typically use diced, but I have used shredded)

1 lg. can cream of mushroom soup (or two 10 oz. cans)

16 oz. sour cream

2 cups or more of shredded cheddar

2 Tablespoons of dried diced onion (or use fresh)

plain corn flakes for topping

1 stick margarine, softened

Directions:

Spray a 9 x 13 inch glass baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Place frozen hash-browns in a large bowl.  I usually sit them out of the freezer if I have time, just so they thaw a little and they’re not frozen together, but it is not necessary if you are short on time.  Just break the frozen chunks up with a wooden spoon.  Add sour cream, soup, and cheese.

Stir to combine well and sprinkle in diced onion and mix.

After the mixture is well combined, pour into greased baking dish and spread out to fill the dish.

Place the corn flakes in a large ziplock bag (at least 4 cups or so) and add a stick of softened, room temperature margarine.

This is the simplest, cleanest way to make the topping.  Just crush the flakes up by squeezing the outside of the bag and incorporating the margarine.

Keep working it until it’s all crushed.  You can also use a rolling pin to roll the outside of the bag.  Once they are finely crushed, sprinkle over the potato casserole.

Bake at 400 degrees for about 1 hour, or until hot, bubbly and browned on top.

You might want to have some grilled burgers and hotdogs on hand!