Backstory:  Excellent Cook Nancy sent me a link to a blog by Bryn Mooth called writes4food.com.  Nancy’s cousin had sent the link to this blog to Nancy for us to check out.  Understand??  On the day I first looked at Bryn Mooth’s blog, there was a recipe from the Clara Project.

As I understand it, Bryn paid $3.95 for a set of recipe cards at a local antique shop.  The recipes were from Clara Williams’ estate and were mostly recipes from the 1930’s.  Each week, Bryn has posted a recipe from this collection, and she has gotten good press from the project.  FYI:  Clara Williams (age 98) was a home economics teacher, and she is still living at a Cincinnati retirement village.

The vintage recipes from the Clara Project got me to thinking.

Perhaps I could share recipes from my mother’s cookbook, A+ in Cooking with you on a semi-regular basis.  (Yes, my copy is well worn)  All of the recipes in Mother’s cookbook are favorites from the families of her former students.  Mother taught school for 44 years, and the recipes span several generations.  (Mother even has a recipe in her cookbook from the first class she taught in Huckabay, Texas. – I am looking for it.)

What to share with you was the question?  I had squash from the farmers market.  As I searched the squash recipes, I saw the recipe for that was submitted by Mother’s dear friend Sidney.  (True story – Sidney and Mother traveled from Andrews to Ballinger to get their hair cut about once a month.  (Google says it is 182 miles from Andrews to Ballinger, and it takes 2 hours and 48 minutes.   And from Ballinger to Andrews it is 182 miles, and it takes 2 hours and 48 minutes.  Do the math.  That would be a day trip of 364 miles – 5 hours and 36 minutes travel time just to get their hair done.  They did love their beautician Kay and gladly sacrificed their Saturdays for beauty.  What fun times they had on those treks.)  Sidney can cook.  I knew anything she submitted would be wonderful, so I decided to give this recipe a try.

Angie’s Squash Casserole – I have no idea who Angie is.

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees.  Lightly butter a 9X9 or 9X13 casserole dish.

Slice two pounds of squash and boil the squash until it is soft.  (I added a little salt to the water.)

Drain the squash and set aside.

Dice onion, celery and green pepper.  You will need one cup of each.

Sauté the onion, celery, and green pepper in one stick of melted butter.

Remove from the heat.  Add the squash to the vegetables and mash the squash along with the vegetables. (No picture – sorry)

Here are the ingredients for the sauce.: Sliced water chestnuts (drained), 1 cup mayonnaise, two eggs, 1 cup cheddar cheese (grated), 1 small jar of pimentos.  Honestly I was worried about the mayonnaise since I do not like too much mayo in dishes, but no need to worry.  This really works.

Also, the crunch of the water chestnuts in this casserole is essential.  I think the water chestnuts make this casserole.  My advise.  Do not leave out the water chestnuts.  Crunchy water chestnuts are wonderful!

Mix the sauce ingredients together and blend with the squash.

Pour the mixture into a lightly buttered casserole dish.  Mine was about 9X9.  (Next time I might try a 9X13 casserole dish.  I think it would work.)

Crush 1 1/2 “sticks” (That is what the recipe says.  You might call theme tubes.) of Ritz crackers.  Put the crackers in a plastic bag and use a rolling pin to crush them.  Easy-breezy!

Combine the crushed Ritz crackers with 1 stick melted butter.

Spread crackers over the squash mixture and bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes of until lightly brown.  (Mine took more like 45 minutes.)

Let the casserole sit for a few minutes before serving.  This is so good.

Blessings to you and yours,

Click HERE or the title of this post for the recipe.  Under the SHARE button is a print link.