Finally! The 11 year battle of the “green glop” casserole has ended! And I finally won – – sort of! You see, I love the stuff, but the hubs hates it. To me, it’s one of those holiday comfort dishes that just wouldn’t be quite the same without it, but I got tired of having to eat the whole entire casserole all by myself.

There had to be a solution…the madness had to stop!!

So, this year I decided to try my hand at making a homemade from scratch version and see how that would go over with “Mr. Picky Pants”. He actually really liked it!! YAY!!

So it’s a win-win situation. I get my “green glop” and not end up with a severe case of the guilts when the last of it ends up getting pitched. Because this year, I’ll have help eating it!!

And I’m just glad he likes it, too, now! It’s so hard getting him to eat his vegetables, so this is a major victory for me! (Bright lights and angels singing!!)

So firstly, I had to make my own onions. I didn’t want them overly coated and fried like the canned stuff, so I just lightly coated them, adding extra flavors of garlic and onion powder, and baked them in the oven until lightly crispy-crunchy.

I could’ve snacked on these all by themselves!

They turned out delicious and very flavorful! So much better than the store-bought! And I really enjoy those canned ones, so that’s saying something! 😉 Fresh and homemade is always better! 

Next was to make a nice thick, rich sauce for everything to bathe in. We like our casseroles, of any kind, extra-creamy, and not runny. So I decided to go with my standby béchamel recipe, and simply adjusted the seasonings to mimic the original green bean casserole flavor that won so many hearts and continues to be a favorite to this day.

It worked beautifully, and without all of the unwanted chemicals and preservatives!  

Rich, creamy béchamel all loaded with holiday goodness!! I snuck a few small “tastes” before it went into the oven…I couldn’t help it! It was soooo good!!!! 

What it looked like fresh out of the oven after being topped and baked! I so wish you could have a taste, too!!

So, if you, too, have a “Mr. Picky Pants” in your family that gives this traditional casserole the cold shoulder every year, maybe give my homemade version a try! If my hubs gave it a thumbs up, trust me, there’s hope for all “green glop” snubbers!! Hope you enjoy and have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!! 🙂

Yield: 6 - 8 servings

Holiday Green Bean Casserole from Scratch

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Ingredients

• For French Onions:
• 2 medium onions, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 Tbl. Italian-Style seasoned dry breadcrumbs
• 1 tsp. garlic salt
• 1/4 tsp. onion powder
• butter-flavored cooking spray
• Rest of Ingredients:
• 1 stick real butter
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 cup half and half
• 2 cups milk
• 1/2 tsp. minced garlic, fresh or jarred
• 1 extra large egg yolk, beaten
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. soy sauce
• 1/4 – 1/2 tsp. white pepper, *I like a lot of pepper, so start with a 1/4 and add to taste for yourself
• 4 strips crisp cooked lean bacon, divided, and broken into small pieces (*save one strip for top!)
• 1 (8 oz.) pkg. fresh sliced mushrooms, white button or cremini work really well (*can break into smaller pieces if desired)
• 3 (14.5 oz.) cans green beans, drained very well

Instructions

For French Onions:

Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil. Spray with butter-flavored cooking spray.

Slice onions. In medium bowl, mix rest of ingredients. Toss onions in flour mixture well to lightly coat. Place onions onto baking sheet spreading out evenly. Lightly spray whole top, then evenly sprinkle any leftover flour mixture over them.

Pop into the oven and bake for 30 minutes or until nicely browning but not burning, and stirring, tossing at least twice during baking time, but 3 times is better. *Towards the end, you can pick out a few that have gotten too dark and pitch them. And when tossing, just overlap the ones that are less done on top of any ones that are getting too dark to prevent burning. (It’s easy, don’t worry!) Remove from oven and set aside.

Turn oven down to 350 degrees.

In large deep frying pan, melt butter and stir in flour over medium to medium-low heat. Cook and stir flour constantly for 2-3 minutes to cook out the “raw flour” taste. Do not brown. Slowly stir in half and half , milk and minced garlic. Whisk vigorously to get the lumps out and all the flour blended in. Continuously stir and cook for 3 – 4 minutes until thickened. Remove from heat. QUICKLY stir in about 1 Tbl. of the (béchamel) sauce into the egg yolk to prevent cooking it. Stir in another 2 Tbl., one at a time, stirring well during each addition. Then add egg yolk mixture to pan, stirring in quickly. Don’t skip this step. Adding that egg yolk makes this sauce extra rich and delicious!

Stir in salt, soy sauce, pepper, 3 of the strips of bacon broken into pieces, half of french onions (about 1 cup), and mushrooms until well combined. Gently fold in all 3 cans of green beans that have been drained well. *Taste-test and add salt and/or pepper to preferred taste.

Pour and spoon into a sprayed 2 qt. casserole dish. Cover, and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 25-30 minutes.

Remove, top with rest of onions (about 1 cup), and bacon pieces evenly, and continue to bake, uncovered, for 8-10 minutes longer. Serve hot.