Column and photos by Ali Carter, Wisconsin Potato Growers Auxiliary
In our home hangs a framed letter gifted to me on Mother’s Day by my then eight-year-old daughter.
The letter is filled with the reasons I am loved, sprinkled with a few sweetly misspelled words, and scrawled in her precious little-girl handwriting. I treasure this letter.
And one line particularly brings a smile each time I read it: “I love my mom because she makes the BEST casseroles!”
Back then, we ate a lot of casseroles. A lot of casseroles. I made it my mission to stretch our food budget as far as possible while feeding our family of six.
This meant some creative cooking and yesterday’s leftovers often became today’s casserole. Not exactly elegant dinner fare, but we always ate well, enjoyed mealtimes together and made some memories with a few of the inspired combinations attempted over the years.