This week we baked up a Toasty Cheese Bake casserole for our family night cooking adventure. This recipe comes from the Betty Crocker Recipe Card Library, 1971, Budget Casseroles.
This was another dish that was extremely easy to put together. Brown your meat, toast your bread, layer, and throw it in the oven.
The recipe calls for 1/2 pound of ground beef. We thought this amount was too little for a main course entree that contained so much bread. We decided to use 1 pound of beef instead.
Another change we made was in the cheese. We used shredded cheddar and Jack instead of Shredded American. Our grocer does not carry shredded American nor block American cheese, only sliced.
This Hamburger Cheese Bake recipe is fantastic. The hamburger almost tastes like sausage the way it blends with the egg, cheese, and mustard. If you are looking for an easy, different, meal, you might want to try this little treat.
For Easter we decided to create a little appetizer for our family gathering: Baked Cheese & Tomato Fondue. This cheese dish recipe turned out to be a real hit. From McCall's Great American Recipe Card Collection (1973), Budget Stretchers.
The recipe is pretty easy to follow. However, the dish requires two days for completion. You build up your fondue the night before you plan to serve it, refrigerate it over night, and you cook it the next day.
My daughter learned a lot about preparation with this meal. The store we frequent does not sell grated or shredded Swiss Cheese. We were able to pull out the old shredder, which was fun. Grating the onion was not fun. We were in tears. It was a powerful onion.
I think this Baked Cheese & Tomato Fondue would make a nice side dish for a family dinner, as long as your having guests over or have a large family. The cheese dish recipe calls that it makes 6 servings. I really think you get more out of it.
You have to be a fan of Swiss cheese to eat it. The dish is rich and Swiss cheese is the dominant flavor. Well it does require 3/4 lb of it.
I believe this recipe could easily be cut in half. We did have a little left over and it refrigerated well to be served the next day-my husband popped it in the oven for lunch, it was still yummy! Here's how our Baked Cheese & Tomato Fondue came out:
I think Swiss cheese is a good cheese to use for it. The cheese melts fantastically and pulls through the fondue like pizza cheese does on commercials. I imagine you could use Mozzarella, but you would lose the flavor.
Frankly, I'm not going to change a thing with this appetizer recipe. I think it's perfect as it is.
