Daffodil Days

(hopefully I can get a picture of this later but at the moment the camera is MIA)

Grandma S. made this for us when W. was a brand new baby. It was wonderful having Grandma and Great Grandma to take care of us when baby #2 came along.

I have to admit that I didn’t really like French Baked Hash that time that Gma S. made it (sorry Gma!!). But it wasn’t her fault or the recipe’s fault. It was the fault of my pallet not yet being acclimated to green peppers and onions. In the nearly 10 years since then I have grown quite fond of peppers (I still prefer red and yellow to green but I’m getting there!) and I can tolerate onions quite well now. Years of kids driving me absolutely INSANE with their pickiness has caused me to smother any picky tendencies of my own.

The recipe tastes a lot like the middle of the stuffed cabbage rolls my mom used to make. That works out great because I would never eat the cabbage of those stuffed cabbage rolls (poor poor Mom; stuffed cabbage rolls are a LOT of work!) but would just eat the middle out of them. The best part about the recipe is that you throw everything together raw (including the ground beef and the rice), toss it in a baking dish and stick it in the oven. An hour and a half later you have dinner ready!

Without further ado…

French Baked Hash
from the kitchen of Great Grandma Alta and Great Grandma Spain

1 pound ground beef (raw)
1 cup white rice
Chopped green pepper
Chopped onion
Chopped celery
1 cup HOT water
2 cans tomatoes or tomato sauce
1 can drained sliced mushrooms (opt.)
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix all together in 8×8 casserole and bake at 350 F 1 hour to 1 hour and a half or until rice is tender. If it seems to be too dry after 45 minutes of cooking add enough hot water to moisten and stir a bit.

Serve with a green salad and some buttered bread and you have an easy no fuss meal!