Green Bean Casserole

Green bean casserole is one of those things that remind people of their childhood holidays. It's usually something their mom always made and as such they have a very distinct idea of what it should be like. Similar to potato salad, everyone makes it just a little bit differently and thinks theirs is the best. I did not grow up with this (we had green beans with spetzle for holiday meals) so I can be objective in these recipes. I found one on Allrecipes.com that did not involve cream of mushroom soup and I liked it a lot. Naturally I made a few changes which are reflected here.

2 T butter

2 T flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp white sugar

diced onion

1 c sour cream

one big bag frozen french cut green beans (it called for three cans, steamed fresh beans would also be good)

2 c grated cheese (calls for cheddar, I used leedermeyer because it was what I had)

1/2 c crushed Ritz crachers

Preheat oven to 350. Melt butter and saute onion. Mix in flour and cook for one minute. (This was a bit odd, it would probably have been good to cook the onion, set it aside then melt the butter and add the flour.) Stir in salt, sugar and sour cream. Add green beans and stir to coat. Mix in about half of the cheese.

Transfer to a casserole dish. Spread the remaining cheese on top with the crushed crackers. Bake for 30 minutes or until top is golden and cheese is bubbly.