Easter Dish

Last year on Easter, we had red beans and rice. I kind of wanted this to become a tradition, but as it turns out, other things happened. For one thing, my roommate and I have started eating a lot more beans just in general. They're our usual weekend food, so  the idea of having beans this weekend just wasn't going to cut it. However, we're both still rather sick of typical holiday food, so we opted for some other things.

My contribution to said meal was a potato cupcake. As I am sure you know by mow, I'm kind of a semi-homemade (as much as I hate that show) poor person cook. I have total respect for people who can cook from scratch. Several of my favorite people do this on a daily basis. However, I kind of have this 'what can I do with the stuff in the house' cooking philosophy.

Anyway, when we were working up our menu for what to have for Easter, I happened to get a Betty Crocker email about their favorite Easter dishes. I found this one for Au gratin cupcakes. This appealed to me because it was easy, cheap, and I had all the stuff in the house. Honestly, that is exactly why.

And why is that the case? Because of an old SNL sketch where Roseanne was playing this white trash mama on Moments in White Trash History. It was about how she took a can of tuna, a box of Mac, and a can of cream of chicken soup and created Tuna Noodle casserole. The sketch was funny, but it struck a cord with me as well. People think there is no dignity or culture in what the poor do to survive, but I do. I always have.

I altered the recipe a bit. For one thing, I didn't have no Better Crocker Au gratin potato mix. I had the poor people version, but it amounts to the same thing. I also chopped up a can of ham into the mix, because ham. Instead of just adding regular salsa, I added some that was all  green too, because it's more acidic and less sweet. About a third of a bag of cheddar cheese was  tossed in there as well.

My roommate and I had discussed all the changes. We also debated about the level of egg mix (I used egg beaters instead of actual eggs, by the way). In the end, we opted to add the full amount of eggs, but put some bread crumbs on top with a little spray butter.

How did my semi-homemade poor people dish turn out? Pretty good. I think it would have been better in larger muffin cups. My roommate also suggested small loaf pans. We'll see about that next time. I do think the added cheddar helped a lot though. Honestly, I think that made the dish.

In the end, it transformed the way I wanted it to. It went from being just a box of generic potatoes into something that was both lovely and elevated in taste. I'll call this a success.