Crockpot Green Bean Casserole

Image from campbellskitchen.com

Save your oven for other things, and save some day-of panic: Here's the classic green bean casserole that everyone wants for Thanksgiving, tweaked to work in a crock pot / slow-cooker, and with optional make-ahead instructions.

Slow-Cooker Green Bean Casserole Recipe

Slow-Cooker Size: 4- to 6-quart       Makes 16 to 20 servings

30 oz. fresh or frozen green beans, cooked and well-drained
2 (10 3/4-oz.) cans cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
      or make your own
1/4 to 1/2 c. shredded mozzarella
2 (4.5-ounce) jars sliced mushrooms, drained  (optional)
1 T. dried minced onion (omit if using garlic-flavored soup)
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 - 1.5 t. kosher salt (taste before adding)
1 (6-ounce) can French fried onion rings

Combine first six ingredients in a large bowl. (Beans thru pepper.)

Optional: Store covered in your fridge until ready to cook. Add an extra hour of bake time because it will be cold when it goes in the crockpot.

Spoon casserole mixture into a lightly greased slow cooker.

Cover and cook on LOW 2 hours. (3 hours if all ingredients are refrigerated.)

Taste and add salt as necessary. Sprinkle onion rings on top of casserole. Cover and cook on LOW 30 more minutes.

(I've lost the source for this recipe. If you recognize it, please comment.)

Recipe review: Pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting

This recipe came up on AllRecipes when I was looking for a sheet cake to make for a potluck, but it's actually for a 10x15 cake pan. Maybe "sheet cake" means different things in different parts of the country, but here in Kansas, it means a very thin cake -- about 1" deep -- baked in a rimmed cookie pan. This time, though, I made it in two 8" x 8" foil cake pans, so as to not have to retrieve my pan. It worked for that, too.

Several reviewers commented that the cinnamon was too weak in its given amount and that it needed other spices; others opined that the frosting needed more cream cheese flavor. So I made some tweaks, and it turned out perfect!

Here is the original recipe, and here is my edited version...

Pumpkin Cake

1 (15 oz.) can canned pumpkin puree
2 cups white sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
cream cheese frosting (see below)
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour (or spray) a 10 x 15" cake pan.

In a medium mixing bowl, beat pumpkin, sugar, and oil. Add eggs, and mix well.

In small mixing bowl (a 4-cup measuring cup works nicely), combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt, and stir till well combined. Add these dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture: pour in a third, and stir a bit; a third and stir a bit; the rest, and stir gently until well blended. Do not overstir.

Pour batter into a greased 15 x 10 inch baking pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry. Cool completely before frosting.

Spread frosting on top, then sprinkle with nuts, if desired.
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Cream cheese frosting

 1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, softened
 1/2 cup butter, softened
 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 - 3 cups powdered sugar

Using a mixer, blend the cream cheese, butter and vanilla; mix well. Add in powdered sugar gradually. At about 1.5 cups of sugar, taste test, and continue gradually adding and tasting until it's to your desired sweetness.

*Note: If made in a full-size cookie pan -- also called a jelly roll pan -- this could be used to make a pumpkin roll. Once baked, the semi-cooled cake is turned out onto a clean, flat dish towel, then gently rolled up while it cools. Once cooled, you would unroll it, spread it with cream cheese frosting, then roll it back up, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for an hour or more. To serve, cut in 1" slices. See Libby's website for how-to details.
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The sheet cake image is from AllRecipes. The pumpkin roll image is from Libby's website.
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