"casseroles" news and stories

They're cheesy, cheap and classic. What are talking about? Casseroles, of course! In this brand-new series food writer and blogger Emily Farris, author of "Casserole Crazy: Hot Stuff for Your Oven" crafts tasty new casseroles exclusively for Slashfood readers. Green Eggs and Ham is her premier dish -- just in time for Easter.

As a kid, I never understood why Easter dinner was called "dinner" if it happened at noon. Luckily, one of the great things about being an adult is that we can make our own rules and name our own meals. And because I still can't bring myself to call a meal that happens that early "dinner," this year I'm hosting Easter brunch.

Am I making a 10-pound ham and scrambling three-dozen eggs while my guests drink free-flowing mimosas? Nope, this thing is happening potluck style. Like most people I know, I can't afford to host lavish brunches (not to mention dinners!), but wanted my meal to incorporate the different elements of Easter and, well, be a little brunch-y. So green eggs and ham it was, with eggs, ham, spinach, biscuits and my favorite thing in the world: cheese.

After a bit of experimentation, I wound up with a sort-of upside-down quiche with a biscuit crust, and who wouldn't go crazy for that? Although it'd be a wonderful meal for Easter brunch or supper, it's also a great way to use up that leftover Easter ham. Regardless, it's the sort of thing that would make Dr. Seuss -- or the Easter Bunny -- proud.

There are few holiday dishes so polarizing as green bean casserole. If it was part of your usual Yuletide feast growing up, the stuff is sacrosanct and utterly essential to holiday joy. The bulk of it -- the french-cut green beans, cream of mushroom soup and French-fried onion strings -- must come blopping and clattering from cans and be baked in a casserole until it resembles a roiling green bog topped with a dry moss of frizzled onion straws. There are always seconds, and there's hardly ever any left over for a midnight refrigerator picnic.

If you didn't grow up with it skulking on the holiday table, good gravy, does that stuff look ten-foot-pole nasty.

Like to make casseroles, and need new topping ideas? Here are a couple of healthier topping options.

• It's spring, and time for salads.
• The bread basket: good or bad?
• Restaurant reviews: Mulan and MKT.
• This Vermont company is making soy milk, tofu, and other alternative dairy products.
• Maple syrup: the first crop of spring in Maine.
• This week's recipes: Vegetable Cutlets, Fromage, Tuna Noodle Casserole, Baked Fennel and Tomato Casserole, Coleslaw, Maple Baked Beans, Lemon-Walnut Loaf Cake, and Nonna Santopietro's Cookies.

Though the month of January is usually long, cold, dreary, and just all-around blah after the hype of the Holidays, one of the best things about it is the sale season! January is an awesome month for taking advantage of sales to stock up on small appliances, gadgets, and utensils, especially if one (or more) of your New Year's Resolutions was something along the lines of "cook at home more."

Amazon.com has a pretty sweet deal on a 9-piece Corningware set in French white. The entire set retails for $50, but is on sale right now for $14.99. We can't think of a better reason to buy the set than all the warm, hearty casseroles and oven-baked dishes you want to make to get you through the rest of winter.