Cheesy Potato Casserole

A while ago I was miserably sick for a few days. As such, I wasn't eating much, unless you count liquid cold medicine and herbal tea as food. But one day I decided enough was enough, and I simply had to have something to eat. Which meant I really wanted total comfort food. And since I had bought two giant bags of frozen diced potatoes for a potluck that never happened, I decided I needed to make a huge cheesy potato casserole.

It was glorious!

I started out with the frozen hash browns and a couple of bags of shredded cheddar cheese. Then I looked around the kitchen and started adding other stuff. Neufchatel cheese, butter, sour cream, French fried onions, minced onion (since I didn't have very many of the fried ones left), some garlic powder, and some pepper. Had I not had the frozen hash browns I would've diced potatoes, but since I felt like death on a stick I was glad I had them to save myself the trouble.

First, I defrosted the hash browns in the microwave. Seems like it took about 10 minutes for them to stop being icy while still being cool and uncooked (I stirred every 4 minutes to make sure they heated evenly). Ideally, you would plan ahead and defrost them overnight in the refrigerator, but the microwave works in a pinch. I mixed both packages of cheese into them and set the bowl aside.

Then I melted the neufchatel cheese and butter together, also in the microwave. No, I did not use my aluminum bowl in the microwave...that would've been disastrous! I had already put the sour cream in the aluminum bowl before I decided to melt the other two, so I used a cereal bowl and then poured them into the sour cream and mixed. I also stirred in the fried onions, dry minced onions, garlic powder, and pepper.

From there, I sprayed my glass 9x13-inch pan with cooking spray and spread the potato mixture evenly into it. There was only about 1/2 inch of space left at the top, so I wouldn't try making this in a round casserole dish unless you've got a huge one.

I baked it, uncovered, at 350F for about an hour, then scattered even more shredded cheddar on top (comfort food, remember?) and stuck it back in the oven for what I intended to be just a couple of minutes. However, my illness had other plans than my being able to monitor the kitchen, so it ended up being more like 10 minutes.

Doesn't matter. Still fabulous when it came out even if the cheese was a bit overdone. It was rich, and thick, and creamy, and perfect for making me actually want to eat for the first time in a couple of days. And I had leftovers for the next several days as well, before finally putting the last of it in the freezer to see if it works. I figure if it doesn't freeze well I'm really not out anything, since I was going to have to throw it away by that point anyway.

Cheesy Potato Casserole

Serves 8

2 pounds Southern Style hash browns (frozen, thawed)

16 ounces extra-sharp cheddar cheese (shredded)

1/2 cup butter

8 ounces neufchatel cheese (low-fat cream cheese, can use full fat if you want)

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup French fried onions

1 tablespoon dried minced onion

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 cup extra-sharp cheddar cheese (shredded)

Preheat oven to 350F; grease a 9x13-inch glass baking dish.

Combine hash browns and 16 ounces cheese in a large bowl.

In a microwave-safe bowl, cook neufchatel cheese and butter for 1 minute on high; stir to combine until smooth.

Add sour cream, fried onions, minced onion, pepper, and garlic powder to sour cream mixture and stir until well-combined.

Stir sour cream mixture into potatoes, making sure all potatoes and cheese are covered.

Spread mixture evenly into prepared pan and smooth top; bake at 350F for 1 hour.

Sprinkle 1/2 cup shredded cheese over top of casserole; return to oven for 5 minutes until cheese is melted.

Let stand 5-10 minutes before serving.

Serving Size: 254 g

Calories: 691

Calories from Fat: 474

Total Fat: 52.7 g

Saturated Fat: 29.7 g

Cholesterol: 132 mg

Sodium: 723 mg

Total Carbohydrates: 32.7 g

Dietary Fiber 2.7 g

Sugars: 1.4 g

Protein: 22.5 g

I'm not even going to try to pretend this is anything that bears even a passing resemblance to healthy. But when you're miserably sick and you want comfort food, nutrition tends to fly right out the window. Considering until I made this I had been existing on tea and the occasional mug of chicken stock (I had a fabulous one I made from the carcass of the Lemon and Rosemary Roast Chicken from Thanksgiving), I figured I deserved a few extra calories.

Let's just agree to ignore the fat content, shall we?