Herb and Cheese Quiche

I decided on a use for my last store-bought frozen pie crust.  It has been on the top shelf of the chest freezer for many months, mocking me every time I open the lid.  The few pies I've made lately have required specialty crusts or were unusual sizes.  All of my upcoming pie-related projects are also going to be from-scratch.

If you're not making the crust yourself, quiches are as easy as scrambled eggs.  Just because something has a French name doesn't mean it's difficult or requires special equipment.

For the purpose of this quiche, celery is an herb.  It really is anyway, but we treat the stalks as a vegetable.  My regrown celery is more of a bush, with huge leaves.  I used them instead of buying parsley, and probably will for the foreseeable future.  If I didn't already have celery salt, I would dehydrate a lot of the stems and pulverize them into powder.  I did that with the rest of the fresh lemongrass from the satay because it was starting to turn.  If you have a convection oven, check your manual.  You probably have a dehydrator option.

Remember, if you're spending a lot of money on a quiche, you're doing it wrong.  Use whatever cheese you have on hand.  Get rid of some herbs when you didn't need the whole bunch for a recipe.  You can use half and half or cream if you have it instead of milk, but that isn't necessary.  Quiches were invented to clear out leftovers.

*1 9" pie crust, bottom only
3 eggs
1 C milk
*4 oz soft cheese of choice, shredded
*2 C assorted fresh herbs such as parsley, cilantro, basil, celery, oregano, etc
*1 stalk celery
*2 Tb onion (I used the white of the green onion)
2 tsp olive oil
Salt and white pepper to taste

1.  Preheat oven to 375º.  If crust was frozen, allow to thaw while you prepare the filling.  Place it on a rimmed baking sheet in case of overflow.

2.  Finely chop celery stalk and onion.  Cook in oil over medium heat just to soften, about 5 minutes.  Set aside.

3.  In a bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, and shredded cheese.  Whisk in a bit of salt and white pepper.  Chop up the fresh herbs and add to the mix, then stir in the cooked mixture.  I put them in after, and they just floated.  Coating them in egg will give you more at the bottom of the crust when you cut it.

4.  Pour filling into the pie crust.  Bake at 375º for 20 minutes.  Lower heat to 325º and cook until set, about 15-20 minutes more.  The crust should be golden but not dark, and a knife inserted into the center should come out clean.  Allow to rest 15 minutes before cutting.  Can also be made ahead and refrigerated.  Serve hot, room temperature, or cold.

Serves 6

Difficulty rating  π

Apple Honey Cake

I decided to make an apple honey cake for Rosh Hashanah.  I've never made one, and I don't think I've had one.  They weren't a thing in my house growing up.  So, off to the internet.

I didn't really like any of the recipes out there.  They all had something "wrong" with them.  I was looking for something just slightly lighter than a coffee cake and without an overwhelming taste of honey.

What I finally realized was that I was looking for a dessert version of my own apple coffee cake.  So I started accumulating ingredients and techniques I liked from the versions out there and tweaked what I already had.

Just to be difficult, I also made this parve (neither meat nor dairy).  I don't keep kosher most of the time, but I felt like I ought to for New Year's dinner, and I was having chicken.  To get around not putting butter in a streusel topping, I used one site's idea of making it as a Bundt cake.  Well, six baby-bundts.

I'm going to make one slight change from how I actually made this for the posted recipe.  I used two apples.  The result was more apple than cake, and I probably could have fried them up as apple fritters.  It was good, just not very cakey.  The toothpick did come up clean, but when I opened one it was still pretty gooey.  I was very happy with the balance of honey and other sweeteners, so I'm keeping that.

1 C flour
1/3 C sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
*1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 C oil
1 egg
*1/2 C unsweetened applesauce
1 Granny Smith apple, shredded
*2 Tb honey

1.  Preheat oven to 350º.  Pan spray a 8" or 9" cake pan, 8"x8" square casserole, a 12 ct muffin pan, or in my case 6 baby Bundts.

2.  In a medium bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.  Set aside.

3.  Core, peel, and shred the apple.  I did it in the food processor, so I didn't bother peeling.  I just picked out any large skins that didn't shred.  Then I got the brilliant idea to switch to the regular blade and pulse in the rest of the wet ingredients instead of getting another bowl dirty.  However you decide to break down the apple, add the oil, egg, applesauce, and honey to it to create the wet mixture.

4.  Add the wet to dry and stir until just mixed.  Do not over-mix.  Pour into prepared pan.  For anything smaller than a cake, only fill 3/4 full.

5.  Bake 35 minutes for a full cake or 20 for smaller versions before testing.  If the toothpick is still wet, continue to bake in 5 minute increments.  Because this is a low-sugar cake, it will not get very dark.

6.  Cool in pan 5 minutes before turning out.  Allow to cool fully and add icing if desired.

Icing

*1/2 C powdered sugar (there was a sale)
*1 tsp lemon juice
*1/4 tsp cinnamon
water as needed

1.  Combine sugar and cinnamon.  Add lemon juice, then as much water as necessary for desired consistency.  Be careful and only add one teaspoon at a time.  I goes from thick to way too thin very quickly.

2.  Drizzle over cooled cakes an allow to set 30 minutes before serving.

Serves 6 to 12, depending on pan and method of serving

Difficulty rating  π

Yehuda's Passover Brownies

No, you didn't lose all track of time and it's already Spring.  When I got out the matzoh meal for the pupusas (I have since bought more masa harina), this recipe was on the back of the canister and I suddenly wanted brownies.  It looked easy and only had six ingredients.

It also makes more than I had in mind and uses 5 eggs.  Math, sigh.  Fine, I have cut it down to 3/5 so it fits into an 8x8 or 9x9 pan, depending how thick you like your brownies.

While trying to find the backlink to the recipe on the container, I discovered Kosher.com.  It's like the Allrecipes of kosher food.  Never did find the exact recipe on the matzoh meal, but there's plenty of good ideas on the site.  Found something very close on Allrecipes, with just a different baking temperature.  Reading the comments, I think it was the Beta version of the Yehuda recipe.

Now, since it is not currently Passover, I added a few things that will not appear in the version below.  Vanilla extract, for one.  Well, mine is KLP because I make it, but I'm not going to write it as an ingredient.  I also stirred in some semi-sweet chocolate chips...because I felt like it.  And when choosing an oil, I used everyday canola oil, which is not KLP.  I would use grapeseed or cottonseed oil if I was making this for Passover.  Olive oil would impart too much of its own flavor.  Plus, it has gotten really expensive lately.

And yes, that is a lot of sugar and oil.  Not arguing on that point.

3 eggs, room temperature
1-1/2 C sugar
3/4 C oil
2/3 C cocoa powder
*3/4 C matzoh cake meal
*3/4 C chopped walnuts, optional

1.  Preheat oven to 350º and lightly grease an 8x8 or 9x9-inch pan, then line with parchment or wax paper and grease again.  I used olive oil pan spray, but KLP shortening or margarine is acceptable.

2.  Beat eggs and sugar until light.  There's no baking powder in these.  Some people argue that brownies are supposed to be dense, but that's with regular flour.  Matzoh meal is going to turn this into a brick without something airy in it.  Add oil, cocoa powder, and cake meal.  Mix well to combine.  Sir in nuts, if using.

3.  Pour batter into pan, making sure it reaches the corners.  Bake 25 minutes, then check with a toothpick and bake in 5 minute increments if not yet set.  With brownies, it's best to err on the side of slightly underdone.

4.  Allow to cool in pan 15 minutes, then lift out by the wax paper and cool to room temperature.  Slice into desired portions and serve.  Leftovers keep in a sealed container 4 days, in the freezer a month.

Serves 8 to 16, depending how big you cut your pieces

Difficulty rating  π

Homesteading Catch-Up

I haven't really had space this summer for gardening and home-improvement posts.  I suppose I could have started posting more often, but being bombarded with too many post notices is worse than going a week without.

This summer's garden was not as productive as I hoped.  Only Artie produced any buds.  The other two artichoke plants spent the summer as decorative weeds.  I'm going to try to replant some of Artie's pups instead of letting the extras die off.  If they take root, I might have more buds next year.

The many eggplants I grew from seed made lovely bushes, but not so much as a single eggplant.  Part of the problem was these tiny green locusts that I can't seem to eradicate.  I might have also been overwatering them.  At least they did better than the butternut squash, which all died.

I'm experimenting with saving eggshells for the garden.  You let them dry, bake them at 350º for a couple of minutes to kill any pathogens, then pulverize them in the blender or food processor.  Worked into the soil, the calcium breaks down over a couple of months.  This amendment is best for nightshades like tomatoes, eggplants, potatoes, peppers, etc.  Too late for this year, but maybe they will condition the front yard planter a bit.

The Pond did much better.  The scrap garden items did very well, and I now have reliable celery.  I'll definitely replant green onions from now on.  The two pumpkin vines in the pond bloomed and fruited on cue, as opposed to the three in the front yard that looked like I never watered them.  It doesn't seem to matter how much bagged soil I work into the front planter, those plants are never happy.  But, I did manage to grow two lovely pie pumpkins; and really, how many do you need in a year?

I got one good pickling cucumber out of the lettuce patch though.  Obviously not enough to can, which was annoying since I finally found Pickle Crisp.

My best harvest turned out to be seeds.  I let all my cilantro bolt and got half a cup of coriander seed.  Some of that will be planted next year.  The rest will be used as spice.  I really love freshly ground coriander, now that I have a grinder that is much easier to clean.  I have enough basil seed for the neighborhood.  Maybe I'll also try to plant some of my old fennel seeds, just to see if any sprout.

Dried coriander stems full of seeds

What I'm really disappointed in is that I didn't have any time this summer for home improvements.  I wanted to paint the wood fence.  I really need to hire termite services.  Eventually, the house needs painting.  I did manage to remove a small wasp nest above my bedroom window, but only because it was abandoned after a light rain flooded it.  I still want to repaint the hall closet, now that I'm storing canning supplies and pie filling in there.

I don't know how Papa Smurf found the energy to do all these things on the weekends when he still worked full time.  Maybe it was different because his job was largely desk work and I'm on my feet all day.  He also had a housewife to do the cleaning, cooking, and everyday errands.  Getting the brakes on my car done requires setting aside half a day that I can't spend doing something else.  This is why it always seems like retired people are so busy; they're just catching up on postponed to-dos.  I did max out my vacation hours at six weeks.  If I could get off two weeks in a row, I could probably knock out my entire fix-it list.

Perhaps the reason I didn't have extra time and energy was all the canning.  I've never canned this much in a summer before, but I've been going through jams faster since I decided to buy plain yogurt and spoon my own jams in instead of buying fruit on the bottom.  That way, I have plain yogurt in the fridge for other recipes.  Plus, commercial fruity yogurts have too much sugar for my taste.  When the last of the 10 lb bag of sugar went into the kitchen canister, I realized how much I had really been canning.

One thing I did pick up was a new apron.  Yes, another one, but I'm putting four in the garage sale pile.  The problem is all my aprons, including the original Yellow Apron, sling around the neck.  I'm prone to terrible neck spasms and lost a day of work recently because the pain was so intense.  I just can't wear a bib apron anymore and bought a pinafore/smock-style.  Since they came in 20 colors, I just had to get the yellow one.  It's more of a mustard, but close enough. It goes on like a sundress over whatever I'm wearing and has pockets so I'm not constantly leaving my glasses somewhere.  They're cheap enough that I might order a less pretty color to wear while doing housework or gardening.

Now, I just need to get motivated for those postponed home improvements!

Pupusas

I only needed a couple days of dinners and decided to use up the rest of the masa flour in the bag.  I've never made pupusas and decided to teach myself how.

The recipe I found at A Cozy Kitchen for a Salvadoran pupusa is basically the same as the gordita recipe on the bag, just stuffed.  It also includes the recipe for curtido, the quick-pickle slaw served on the side.  Ok, so I didn't realize curtido was a thing and have never tried any when someone brings pupusas to work.  I also didn't want to compound my leftovers problem by using a quarter of a cabbage and opened a jar of kimchi instead.  The recipe isn't all that different.  Curtido just sits for 4 hours to marinate, while kimchi ferments for the better part of a week.

I am not filling these with much in the way of traditional fillings, which would put the beans on the inside, or maybe shredded pork.  I shelled out for the Oaxacan cheese because I had a use for the rest of it.  Everything else I used was already in the house.

I came up a wee bit short on masa harina and decided to improvise.  It just has to be a neutral tasting, gluten-free flour, right?  So I made up the quarter cup with part garbanzo flour and part matzoh cake meal. Not enough of either to change the taste.  Technically, the matzoh meal isn't gluten-free, but the glutens have already been cooked and will not create new strands when added to anything.  The end result tasted just like other pupusas I've had and the consistency of the dough matched the description in the recipe I was following.  I'm only mentioning it as a disclaimer.

Pupusa

*1-3/4 C masa harina
1 tsp kosher salt
1-1/2 C water
vegetable oil

Filling

1 C shredded Oaxaca cheese (or mozzarella)
*1/3 C diced avocado
*2 Tb pine nuts

Curtido

1/4 head of green cabbage, thinly shredded
1 carrot, grated
1/2 Tb Mexican oregano
1/2 C hot water
1/2 C apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar

1.  Early in the day, make the curtido.  Toss together cabbage and carrot shreds in a large bowl.  Separately, mix remaining ingredients into a dressing.  Pour over the vegetables and toss to distribute.  Cover and refrigerate until ready to use, at least 4 hours.

2.  For the pupusas, stir together masa harina and salt.  Add water and mix into a wet dough.  Let that sit around while you prep the filling and griddle.

3.  Heat a skillet or griddle over medium heat.  Add a teaspoon or two of oil to the pan, like you were making pancakes (hence the Pancakes label on the post).  Fill a small bowl with about a half cup of water and a tablespoon of oil.  This is for your hands, so the dough doesn't stick.

4.  Scoop out the dough into 1/4 C mounds onto a piece of parchment or wax paper.  If you have a 2 oz ice cream scoop with a release, that's the easiest way to do it.  Add any remaining dough to the scoops to get 8.

5.  Wet your hands with the oil and water, then take up one scoop of dough.  Flatten it by tossing it between your palms into a circle.  Place a generous pinch of cheese in the middle, then a less generous pinch of avocado and a few pine nuts.  Fold the circle in half, then bring in the sides.  Toss the ball back and forth again into a disc about 4" across.  It's ok if some of the filling is barely visible.   Set the pupusa back on the paper and move onto the next, rinsing and re-oiling your hands between each one.

6.  Set as many discs as comfortably fit on your griddle.  Cook until firm and lightly browned on the bottom, about 5 minutes.  Flip and cook the other side another 5 minutes.  Any darker parts are probably cheese that was poking through and nothing to be concerned about.

7.  Remove pupusas to a plate and keep warm.  Re-oil skillet and cook the rest.  Serve warm, with the curtido on the side.

Makes 8, which can be 4 servings as a main dish

Difficulty rating :)

Creamy Chicken and Pasta

I feel like I should make a new label of 30-minute meals, but that would mean going through ten years of posts.

In addition to not having as much time as I'd like to make dinner, I'm also working through visitor groceries.  I bought too much, not knowing how many meals we would have at home.  Turns out, only two dinners.  I was ready for five.  Melody Smurf did go for a Covid test halfway through the visit, and I realized I did not have enough vegetables for four people for two weeks.  They would have ordered in a ton of snacks and other groceries if we had been quarantined, but it turned out she was just motion sick from driving up PCH twice in a day.

So today's Pantry Project items are half a cup of cream, the rest of the shredded chicken in the freezer, a bit of Writer Smurf's white wine, and some celery from the garden.  Other ingredients were also on hand, but not on the verge of spoiling.  The only item I bought was the massive Brussels sprouts, after deciding I didn't want to use any of the frozen veggies on hand.  The ingredient list does look intimidating, but a lot of it is seasonings, including the celery.

*3 C dry farfalle (bowtie) pasta
1/2 lb veggie of choice, fresh or frozen
1 Tb butter
1 Tb flour
*2 cloves garlic, minced
*1/4 C minced celery
*1/4 tsp fennel seed
*1/4 tsp coriander seed
1/4 tsp chili flakes
*1/4 C dry white wine (optional)
*1/2 C cream
1 C milk
salt and pepper to taste
*3 C shredded chicken
1/2 C grated Parmesan cheese

1.  Start heating a large pot of water for the pasta.  In a separate saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.  Add the flour and cook into a roux.

2.  Add garlic, celery, coriander, fennel, and chili flakes to the pan and heat until fragrant, one minute.  Add the cream and work into a thick sauce.  Add the wine, if using.  This was when it started to smell like my mac'n'cheese recipe.  While the alcohol is cooking off, check to see if the pasta water is boiling.  Add both the pasta and the vegetables to the water.  They should take about the same amount of time to cook.

3.  Gradually add remaining milk to the sauce, allowing it to thicken as it returns to a low boil each time.  Stir in chicken and cheese, then taste.  Add salt and pepper as needed.

4.  When the pasta is al dente, drain the whole pot.  Add pasta and vegetables to the sauce and turn to coat.  If you like a thinner sauce, add more milk.  Serve hot.

Difficulty rating  π

Sausage-Stuffed Pancakes

Apparently, this is a TikTok thing.  I saw one video of it and decided it was worth trying.

Be aware, this does take a little time because you have to cook the sausage first, then let it cool enough to handle.  Normally, I would have that going on the side while I was working on the pancakes.  You can also cook the sausage the night before and refrigerate it until you're ready to add it to the batter.  There's also nothing wrong with using microwave patties.  It's whatever kind you like.

Because of the meat, two or three pancakes is plenty for a serving.  It took us two days to go through all of these, so I'm calling it around 6 servings.  There will also probably be some extra batter after you run out of sausage.  I think I got 4 plain pancakes out of the rest.  They don't count as vegetarian because sausage was dunked in the batter.  If you're going to serve a vegetarian, make those first, then start with the fun stuff.

The batter is just my regular buttermilk pancake recipe, cut in half for the amount of sausage I was estimating I would get.

1 C flour
1 Tb sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
*1 C buttermilk
2 Tb milk
1 egg, beaten
2 Tb butter, melted
1 lb bulk breakfast sausage or 16 1oz patties
Vegetable oil for the pan

1.  Portion out the sausage into 16 golf ball sized portions one ounce each.  Flatten each almost impossibly thin, because meat seizes up as it cooks.  Pan fry on a skillet over medium heat, probably in batches, until done and slightly crisp on both sides.  Remove to a paper towel lined plate.  This can be done ahead and refrigerated.

2.  In a bowl or pitcher, stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Separately, combine buttermilk, regular milk, egg, and melted butter.  (If using powdered buttermilk, add the powder with the dry ingredients and the water with the wet.)  Stir the wet mixture into the dry until just combined. Let sit 5 minutes, while you preheat the griddle.

3.  Heat a griddle or skillet over medium heat.  Add a few drops of vegetable oil to the pan to grease it.

4.  Drop a few of the cooked sausages into the batter and turn to coat.  Allow some of the excess to drip off, but keep the patty coated.  Immediately transfer to the skillet.  Cook as you would a normal pancake, until lightly set and starting to get golden on the bottom.  Flip and cook another couple of minutes on the other side.  Keep warm while you work your way through the patties, re-oiling skillet between batches.

5.  If there's still batter left at the end, cook like normal pancakes.  They'll just have a touch of sausage flavoring.  Serve warm with maple syrup.

Makes about 16

Difficulty rating  :)

Pan-Asian Tea

Now I know why people go out for dim sum.  I loved the idea of pulling from a huge variety of Asian cultures for this party.  What I didn't realize was how much my teas rely upon pre-baking at least half of the dishes.  The only thing I was able to make ahead was the almond cookies.  Everything else had to be fresh that day, or even within a few hours.

I had also planned to cheat on the bun dough and buy some at Mitsuwa, but they're primarily Japanese and didn't carry it in either the refrigerated or freezer sections.  I did not want to go all the way to 99 Ranch for it.  I can make dough faster than that.

At least the rest of the family got into it.  Techie Smurf made precise onigiri once I showed him how it worked, way more triangular than mine.  Writer Smurf wanted to pinch the bao dough all day.  Yes, I do know how to make silky dough.  Melody Smurf helped to decorate the cake.  Somehow, everything was ready by the time our few guests arrived, but I forgot to take pictures of the full platters.  I chickened out on inviting the intended dozen people once the Delta variant became a surge.  There are far worse things than eating tea leftovers for two days.

Cha Siu Bao (China)

Malaysian Chicken Satay

Onigiri (Japan)

Red Bean Buns (Taiwan)

Hong Kong Egg Tarts

Chinese Almond Cookies

Gelatin Fruits Cake

Various teas from India, China, and Japan

Malaysian Chicken Satay

I've over-done chicken teriyaki in my life and decided to make a satay for grilling at Writer Smurf's party. Never mind that I've only had it a few times at catered events.  It looked good and seemed like a safe bet.

This turned out much easier than I was expecting.  Cut up chicken, whiz marinade in the food processor or blender, marinate for several hours, skewer and grill.  You could do this as a stir-fry or bake if you don't want to light up the grill.

I chose a Malaysian version of satay from Rasa Malaysia.  It isn't spicy, unless you count some serious eye-watering from the shallots.  I cheated on the sauce and bought some Thai peanut satay sauce at Mitsuwa Marketplace.  I needed a bunch of stuff there that was not easily available at the supermarket.  Writer Smurf started looking up nearby houses for sale on Zillow soon after.

Which brings up the lemongrass.  Yes, you can get it in major markets now, either fresh or dried, but it was much cheaper at the Asian market.  So were the shallots, which surprised me.  For 90¢ I got four healthy stalks of lemongrass.  I need to come up with something to do with the rest of it, and will probably just end up drying and turning it into powder.  But even if it goes to waste, it's nowhere near as big a loss as if I'd spent $4 on the same amount at Sprouts.  Ethnic markets are awesome.

3 Tb neutral oil
2 stalks lemongrass, white parts only
*2 cloves garlic, peeled
4-6 small shallots, peeled
2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp kosher salt
2 Tb sugar
2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken, cut in bite-sized chunks

1.  If grilling, soak wooden skewers in water for at least 2 hours.  Don't need to start a fire.

2.  Place all ingredients except the chicken, roughly chopped if necessary, in the food processor.  Run until mostly smooth, adding water if too chunky.  Warning, when you open the lid, your eyes will probably start watering.

3.  Place chicken pieces in a gallon plastic freezer bag or a metal bowl.  I don't recommend using a plastic bowl for this, because you're never getting the yellow out.  Pour marinade over the chicken and toss to coat.  Refrigerate for at least 6 hours to marinate.

4.  Thread 3-4 pieces of chicken onto each skewer, if using.  If grilling, cook about 5-8 minutes on each side, depending how large you cut your pieces and the heat of your grill.  For stir-fry, don't use skewers.  Add oil to a skillet on medium-high and cook about 10 minutes, stirring frequently.  To bake, you can still leave them on the skewer, but they won't get charred.  Cook at 350º for about 20 minutes, or until cooked through.

5.  Serve with a peanut sauce and sides of fresh cucumber and onion, maybe a side of rice.

Serves about 6

Difficulty rating  π

Bacon Parmesan Scalloped Potatoes

I recently learned about Campbell's Cream of Bacon soup and had to pick up a couple of cans.  They are only at Walmart and Dollar General as far as I know.  After they were safely home, I started to look for recipes to use them.

Campbell's does have several recipes up to the task.  This one stood out above the rest, then I cut it in half because that's a lot of potatoes.  And added half a pound of bacon because, you know, bacon.

This isn't a last-minute recipe, despite the cheat of using a can.  It takes a while to cook bacon in general, and almost as long to slice the potatoes.  Then the whole casserole takes about an hour to bake and cool to a sliceable consistency.  But you can also do it as a prep-ahead in the morning and bake it later, saving half an hour in the evening.  The leftovers also make a pretty good breakfast.

*1 can Cream of Bacon soup
1/2 C milk
*1/3 C grated parmesan
*1 green onion, finely chopped
*3 cloves garlic, minced
1-1/2 lbs Yukon gold potatoes (about 3)
*1/2 lb thick-cut bacon

1.  Cook bacon in a skillet until crispy enough to chop.  Drain, cool, and cut into bite-sized pieces.

2. While the bacon is going, thinly slice potatoes.  Peeling is optional.  I used the V-slicer on thin to get beautiful slices.

3.  In a large bowl, combine soup, milk, half the parmesan, half the green onions, and the garlic.  The original recipe adds salt, but there's a ton in the soup and I was adding bacon, so I skipped that.  Oh yeah, stir the bacon into the sauce too.

4.  Add the potato slices to the sauce and coat all of them in the sauce.  That part and arranging them neatly in the casserole might have been the most time-consuming part of all of this.

5.  Start preheating oven to 425º.  Arrange saucy slices in an 8"x8" or 9"x 7" casserole.  The slices should overlap in an orderly manner so you don't end up with any areas that are too dense.  Top with any remaining sauce.  Cover casserole with foil.  At this point, you could also refrigerate to bake later.

6.  Bake at 425º for 35 minutes, until potatoes are fork-tender.  Remove foil and top with remaining cheese.  Change oven setting to broil and cook an additional 10 minutes to set the top crust.  Sprinkle with remaining green onions and allow to cool until no longer bubbling.  Serve hot.

Difficulty rating  :)