This. This casserole was my all time FAVORITE dish that my mama used to make for us, for dinner, growing up. I’m not sure if it was a side dish or a main dish, but whatever it was, I LOVED it.

I’m pretty sure she made it as a main dish. One of my favorite things about my mom, was how healthy and versatile she cooked. She made Dutch, American, Indonesian, Japanese food – you name it, we had it. She always made sure we had a vegetable at dinner, and cooked only using healthy and light ingredients. We also ate vegetarian quite often – at least once a week – which I love. I’m pretty sure if you tried to serve a solely vegetarian dish to my husbands family growing up, they would riot.

However, my husband is one of 4 boys. I only have 1 brother and 2 sisters. My dad is a doctor, and worked a lot growing up, so half the time he wasn’t home for dinner. My sisters and I loved light eating. And my brother had no choice but to go along with it. Until he turned 16, and then my mom would find Jack-in-the-Box wrappers in his car…

I’m not entirely sure where this recipe originated from, but I know my mom got it from my grandma. I just have a handwritten post it note, from my mom, with the repine on it. Those are the best kind.

Here’s the recipe…

• 3 Cups Cooked Rice
• 2 Cups Frozen Corn
• 1 Small Onion Minced
• 2 Cups Grated Cheddar
• 1.5 Cups of Milk
• 1/2 tsp Chili Powder
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 1/4 tsp Pepper

1. Mix all ingredients together in a big bowl
2. Grease a casserole pan
3. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes

Pretty much the most simple recipe you could ever make. Right?

I opened the oven when the timer went off…and that smell? Oh my gosh. You know smells that bring you right back to your childhood. That was the whiff I got. 2 minutes later I made Mark take the same whiff. I thought he would get all teary eyed and sentimental, like me. He didn’t. Instead, his nostrils got burned because he sniffed too hard when I opened the oven. Which was actually a better reaction than I could have hope for.