For those of you who may not know, I have been challenged by a fellow blogger, Healthy in All Hues, to make recipes of seven different fellow foodie bloggers. There are so many delicious choices that I narrowly limited it to eight, and I am seriously thinking about challenging myself to make at least one fellow blogger’s dish per month. I think it’s a great way to promote other bloggers and get to try new recipes, a win/win! For the third installment of my WordPress Cooking Challenge, I selected a Broccoli Cheese Potato Casserole from Quirky and Wonderful.

I’m a practical mother with half of a dozen mouths to feed on a regular basis. Casseroles make a lot of sense to me. They are often loaded with with meat and cheese which not only makes them tasty, but filling- which is always helpful when feeding a crowd. Many times they can be prepared ahead of time, which is really convenient when meal planning. And when you come across a recipe that calls for a tater tot crust, well “hook, line and sinker!” But the best part about this dish was there were so many yummy flavors going on that I could hide the broccoli from my little ones!

The recipe wasn’t difficult, but did require a couple steps. Firstly, let me say that I have never steamed broccoli in the microwave before. What a time saver! Secondly, one of the stages specifically called for Oreida brand potato crowns, but did go on to say that if I tried another brand to let her know (which she confided in the reader, namely me, that she would not rat me out to her mother-in-law, the originator of the recipe). So I feel compelled to say I did try another brand; I used Whole Foods 365 brand of Tater Puffs. Since this was my first tasting of the dish, I cannot confirm nor deny that it was better or worse than another. But I can say that the casserole at large was very satisfying, both in flavor and in mass. Also to follow the recipe I was unable to find condensed organic soups, I could find cream of celery (but not condensed). I’m curious if one of our non GMO cheese dips would make a good replacement for the condensed cheese soup in the future? I must also admit that the recipe was written in a double portion, one for now and one to freeze for the future. And I took the liberty to cut the recipe into half to just make one dish, because we were leaving for the weekend and I did not have the space in my freezer to store another. (Note to self: clean out freezer!)

Thanks Quirky and Wonderful for taking the time to pass down a family heirloom of a recipe. I can see how it would be a comforting dish to a new mother! (I think I enjoyed the leftovers even more! The flavors had even more time to combine… and I wish I had one more in the freezer.) Because there are several stages to the process and Quirky and Wonderful has kindly taken the time to spell it our for you, click here for the original recipe and instructions.