Sun ! ~ Polish Casserole ~ 200 Years of Migration to USA ~ Rerun Dinner ~ Chocolate Covered Cashews

Good 35º ice on the barn roof foggy morning.

Yesterday the sun actually came out for a while! Back and forth all day. Icy this morning and the prediction is for 70ºs today. Hmmmm....... 

Now this is good.... It's a POLISH CASSEROLE:

4 cups penne pasta (or any kind of pasta that will hold sauce)

1½ pounds smoked Polish sausage or Kielbasa cut into ½" slices (or I have used cut up leftover ham from Easter!)

2 cans (10¾ oz each) condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted

1 jar (16oz) sauerkraut, rinsed and well drained

3 cups (12oz) shredded Swiss cheese, divided

1 1/3 cups milk (2%)

4 green onions

2 T. Dijon mustard

4 garlic cloves, minced

Preheat oven to 350º. Cook pasta according to package directions, drain and transfer to large bowl. Stir in sausage, sauerkraut, 2 cups cheese, milk, onions, mustard, and garlic.

Spoon into 2 greased 8 oz square baking dishes, sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake uncovered 45-50 minutes, until golden brown and bubbly.

Option: Cover and freeze unbaked casserole up to 3 months. Thaw in fridge overnight. Remove from fridge 30 minutes before baking. Bake uncovered in 350º oven for 50-55 minutes. There you go.... make ahead for easy dinner!

This is quite interesting... 200 years of migration to the USA... thanks Hilome for this! Also watch the lower left of the screen for the time lapse. Notice what happened after 1970. Each dot represents 10,000 people!!!

http://metrocosm.com/us-immigration-history-map.html

Historically this date.....

753 BC – Romulus and Remus founded Rome (traditional date).

1918 – World War I: German fighter ace Manfred von Richthofen, known as "The Red Baron", is shot down and killed over Vaux-sur-Somme in France.

1952 – Secretary's Day (now Administrative Professionals' Day) is first celebrated.

1982 – Baseball: Rollie Fingers of the Milwaukee Brewers becomes the first pitcher to record 300 saves.

And births this date include.....

1889 – Efrem Zimbalist, Russian-born American concert violinist (d. 1985)

1905 – Edmund G. "Pat" Brown, Governor of California (d. 1996)

1915 – Anthony Quinn, Mexican-born American actor (d. 2001)

1926 – Elizabeth II, Queen of the Commonwealth realms

1935 – Charles Grodin, American actor

1951 – Tony Danza, American actor and comedian

1980 – Tony Romo, American football player

Later dinner was reruns. Loved that Costco quiche and also had some of Omaha Steaks roasted root vegetables with it. 

All I know. Nuff said. Happy TGIF. Ciao.

xo Sue Mom Bobo

April 21st

National Chocolate Covered Cashews Day

Here are today’s five things to know about Cashews

1. Pistachio, mango, cashew and poison ivy are in the same family.
2. Cashews are native to Costa Rica and Central America. The fresh cashew nut has a substance inside that produce a big burn and rash in skin and mouth, at the same time this is a highly valuable product known as Cashew Nut Shell Liquid or CNSL, ingredient that have special structural features for transformation into specialty chemicals and high value polymers, this is important considering the fact that, since this is a renewable resource, is better than synthetics.
3. One thing is the cashew nut and a different thing is the cashew apple, this last one is a kind of fruit to which it’s attached the nut, this fleshy fruit has an aroma some people love while others dislike, the most common way of preparation of this fruit is doing a tasteful juice mixed with water and sugar.
4. Cashews in Costa Rica are harvested during March and April.
5. A quite interesting experience is to burn in wood fire a raw cashew nut, this CNSL is highly flammable and while it burns produces impressive tiny explosions. Kids shouldn’t try this without parent’s supervision.  Gases and fumes can also irritate, so this experiment should be done in open spaces.

Fun Fact:

 India is the world’s largest producer of cashews, with Brazil second and Africa a distant third.

 While high in fat, cashews actually contain less fat than other mass-produced nuts, such as almond and walnuts, and the amount of dietary fiber contained make them a good food for weight loss when eaten in moderation.

Cashews have a high fat content, which means that if they are left at room temperature, they won’t stay fresh for long.