Squash Casserole

4-5 yellow squash
1 small onion
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 bag croutons
2 cups grated moterrey jack cheese

Peel the squash, then cut into 1/2 inch rings. Cut onion into 1/2 inch half rings. Stir in soup. Pour into 13x9 glass baking dish. Top with cheese, then croutons. Bake at 350*, covered for 25 minutes. Uncover and bake additional 10 minutes.

* You be the judge on the baking time. Some like their squash soggy ... me, not-so-much.

Texas Marinated Carrots

This is Gary's Grandpa's recipe. Although it's called Texas Marinated Carrots, I have yet to see anyone in Texas serve these. They are yummy. The credit is all his.
7 cups sliced, or baby carrots
1 can condensed tomato soup
3/4 cup sugar
2/3 cup vinegar
1/3 cup olive oil
1 TBS Worcestershire sauce
1 TBS prepared mustard
salt & pepper to taste
1-2 red or green peppers, largely diced
1 small onion, largely diced

Cook carrots until not quite done. Drain and cool. Combine soup, sugar, vinegar, oil, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, and salt & pepper. In a baking dish, layer carrots, peppers, and onions. Pour soup mixture over the tops. Gently stir to coat. Marinate for 12 hours or longer. This keeps for several days in the fridge.

* The flavor is really difficult to describe. It's sweet, tangy, salty ... everything. They're hard to stop eating once you've started.

Brandied Mushrooms

3 pounds fresh mushrooms
8 tablespoons butter
Seasoning salt (suggested: Jane's Krazy Mixed-up salt)
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup brandy

In a large skillet, saute the mushrooms in the butter until brown. Sprinkle liberally with seasoning salt. Add Worcestershire sauce and simmer until almost all sauce is absorbed by the mushrooms. Add the brandy and continue to simmer until mushrooms are tender. Serve with steak or rib roast.

**Recipe compliments of FoodNetwork.com and Paula Deen

Peas to die for!

2 bags frozen sweet peas
1/2 - 1 lb pearl onions (can also be frozen ... I think)
1 lb of bacon
3 TBS butter
salt & pepper

Fry up a pound of bacon until it's crisp. Remove bacon and crumble it for a nice wedge salad or something else. You don't really need it in this recipe, but if you dig bacon with your peas, crumble it and set it aside for later in the recipe. Drain all but a couple tablespoons of the bacon fat into sometime else to throw out. Add the pearl onions to the pan with the few tablespoons of bacon drippings and grease. Toss in butter ... since this dish wasn't sinful enough. Once the onions begin to brown around the edges and are turning transparent, add all the peas at once. Heat until peas are warm, about 5 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste. If you want bacon in the dish, go ahead and add your bacon now.

**On Christmas Eve, Ryan ate these peas by the handful. He ate an entire cup of peas, all by himself, in one sitting!