Calico Bean Casserole (with Roger's modifications and possibilities) + Easy Cornbread. Roasted Asparagus

Calico Bean Casserole

Calico Bean Casserole With Corn Bread Topping

 

Calico Bean Casserole Recipe

I got this recipe off Allrecipes.com, which by the way, is a great resource.  It looked interesting and is prepared with minimal dish washing and prep.

1 (15 oz) can kidney beans, with juice
1 (16 oz) can pork and beans
1 (15 oz) can butter beans, with juice
1/2 cup Ketchup
2 tsp white vinegar
1 Tbs dry mustard
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 lb lean ground beef OR 93/7 ground turkey
4 oz bacon, chopped
1/2 cup chopped onion
Salt and Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350F (allow 30 min for preheat in RV oven)

In a large skillet, over medium heat, fry the ground beef/turkey, bacon and onion together until no longer pink.  Drain liquid.

In a disposable 12x9 aluminum baking pan, combine ingredients, mix thoroughly, adding salt and pepper to taste.

Bake in preheated oven 30-40 min.

1/6 serving about 513 calories (with ground turkey)

Rogers Modifications and Possibilities

Now I looked at this recipe and thought, "This cries out for a corn bread topper"

Here is the Albers Cornbread Recipe:

Preheat oven to 400F (allow 30 min for preheat in RV oven)

1 cup Albers yellow or white corn meal
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 Tbs baking powder.  (BTW, when is the last time you looked at the expiration date on your BP?)
1 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 large egg, lightly beaten. (or 1/4 egg substitute)

Combine meal, flour, baking powder, salt in med bowl.  (You could use the wiped out fry pan to minimize dish washing)  Combine milk, oil, and egg, and add to the dry ingredients.  (or, do as I do and mix all together at once).  Pour in to prepared pan.

Bake 20 to 25 min.

Topping Casserole With Cornbread

Spoon the cornbread mixture over the top of the casserole for a topper before baking.  I bake the casserole and cornbread combination at 400F for 30 min then check to see if cornbread starts to brown.  You may have to extend baking time for up to 15 more minutes for the combination.

After preparing this with the topper, it ends up about 50/50 cornbread to casserole.  If you don't like so much bread topping, you could cut the cornbread recipe in half

This full recipe does add about 315 calories per serving to the Calico Bean Casserole

Roger's Easier Bisquick Cornbread

I looked at this cornbread recipe and thought, "I would bet that you could substitute Bisquick for the flour, baking powder and salt".  I did the Bisquick substitute and added the 1/4 cup sugar and 1 cup corn meal to the rest of the ingredients.  Came out great.

Roasted Asparagus

Since the oven was on and I had this asparagus on hand, I decided to roast it.  Put in a ziplock bag with some raspberry* vinaigrette dressing (or your choice) and marinated for at least an hour.  Bake at 400F for about 20 minutes.  Nicely done and still a little crisp.  Note the rack that fits in the bottom of the pan.

*Word of the day:    Raspberry. 

I did not know there is a "p" in raspberry.