Memaw's Green Bean Casserole

Ingredients:


Oil
Garlic Powder
6 or 7 potatoes
1 can of green beans
2 or 3 slices of cheese or shredded
1 pack of polish sausage

Preparation:



Start by going ahead and placing the oil in the pan to heat up. Place enough oil in the pan so the potatoes will cook thoroughly. Memaw always like to have the oil in the pan ready to be heated. She always liked for her oil to be really hot before cooking. Next, start by peeling your potatoes. Peel all the skin off until you see none left. Once you have finished peeling them place them in a bowl and rinse them. Make sure to move your hand along the potatoes so you can get all the access dirt off.

I was the one who always diced the potatoes. I never really liked peeling them, just dicing. As a child I loved to be in the kitchen cooking. I spent most of my time there learning new recipes from my Mom and Memaw. Anytime potatoes were being used in the kitchen , I wanted to be the one to cook them. One day Mom and Memaw were cooking and I happened to walk in there; I came to find that the recipe they were cooking had to do with potatoes. I asked:

 

"Can I do it?"

Memaw replied:

"Sure,"

and let me have at it.



After you have finished rinsing the potatoes place them in the pan to be cooked. Leave the potatoes to cook for about 20-25 minutes until almost done. Once you place them in the pan leave them to cook for about 10 minutes. Once the 10 minutes is up place the garlic powder on the potatoes. Put as much as you'd like but I'd prefer enough to cover the potatoes. Stir and put the lid back on to continue cooking.

While Memaw and I would wait for the potatoes to cook we would always play the card game 'Old Maid'. I loved to play this as a kid and still do today. We would play every time we made this recipe. We even played on any other days when there was nothing to do. Old Maid is a matching card game that you play with an opponent and whoever has the old maid card at the end of the game, looses. 

We would normally have enough time to play 1 or 2 games or maybe even more. While we would play we would talk about any and everything. She would always ask me how my day was. She always asked me questions like that.

Once 20 minutes is up go ahead and start slicing the polish sausage. You want to go ahead and get it ready before the whole 25 minutes is up. Slice it any way that you would like. Memaw always sliced it by starting at the beginning cutting it in quarter inch pieces and making your way to the end. Don't make the slices to big because then it will take longer to cook. Place the polish in the pan and even it out on the potatoes. Once you have done that, stir the potatoes, close the lid, and let it cook for about 5 min.

Right before the 5 minutes is up, take out your can of green beans. Drain all of the juice out of them because you don't want any access juice in the potatoes. Before you place the green beans in the pan, make sure to stir so you can incorporate the ingredients. Once the total 5 minutes is up, str the polish and potatoes, place the green beans on top, place the lid back on, and let it cook for another 5 minutes. You can place the ingredients in whatever order you would like, it doesn't matter. By the time you keep stirring them all the ingredients will be mixed together.

Once the green beans and the rest of the ingredients have finished cooking stir until everything is mixed together evenly. Take your cheese and place, covering the whole top. You can get any kind of cheese you would like, we always preferred to get the sliced cheese because it tasted better. You don't have to cover all of the food just make sure that it covers most. If you would like to place a little less cheese you can, but if not you can place more as you wish.

Place the lid back or you can leave it off. Let the cheese melt on the top before eating.

Enjoy!