Ground Hog Day
Posted: Sat Feb 01, 2020 6:59 am
Well, here it is Ground Hog Day! I remember the celebrations and anticipation from when I was a kid!
I don't think its done everywhere, but that was the day for a big family get together, and my mother would cook a huge meal, and everyone ate too much and sat around and groaned. Uncle Dewlap would have a little too much to drink. Us kids would rip and tear, oh, it was a wonderful time.
On that day, mom would make something out of ground pork. That's why its called Ground Hog Day. It is a custom brought over from the Grindova area of the Baltics. In later years, it sort of died out, and most people have forgotten that that's the true reason for the day. They added the nonsense of a rodent seeing its shadow later, and now that's all anyone knows.
I got Mom to write out one of our favorite recipes from when I was a kid. This is a modernized version, with can of mushroom soup. Its relatively quick and easy, and I am sharing it here if anyone wants to try it, for an old fashioned Ground Hog Day meal.
Bon Apetit!
GROUND HOG CASSEROLE
INGREDIENTS
1 tablespoon butter
1 medium onion, chopped
1 cup sliced mushrooms (canned or fresh)
1 cup celery (thinly sliced)
1 carrot (shredded)
1⁄2 cup green pepper (finely diced)
1 cup Minute Rice (not cooked)
2 (8 ounce) cans cream of mushroom soup (no water)
1⁄4 cup milk
1 lb ground pork
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 375°C.
Sauté onion, mushrooms and celery in butter over med high heat.
Add green pepper and shredded carrot and cook until slightly softened.
In casserole dish mix cans of soup, milk and rice.
Add ground pork to sauté pan and brown.
Once pork is cooked through add pork/onion/celery/carrot mixture to soup/rice mixture in casserole dish.
Cook for 1 hour in oven at 375°C.
I don't think its done everywhere, but that was the day for a big family get together, and my mother would cook a huge meal, and everyone ate too much and sat around and groaned. Uncle Dewlap would have a little too much to drink. Us kids would rip and tear, oh, it was a wonderful time.
On that day, mom would make something out of ground pork. That's why its called Ground Hog Day. It is a custom brought over from the Grindova area of the Baltics. In later years, it sort of died out, and most people have forgotten that that's the true reason for the day. They added the nonsense of a rodent seeing its shadow later, and now that's all anyone knows.
I got Mom to write out one of our favorite recipes from when I was a kid. This is a modernized version, with can of mushroom soup. Its relatively quick and easy, and I am sharing it here if anyone wants to try it, for an old fashioned Ground Hog Day meal.
Bon Apetit!
GROUND HOG CASSEROLE
INGREDIENTS
1 tablespoon butter
1 medium onion, chopped
1 cup sliced mushrooms (canned or fresh)
1 cup celery (thinly sliced)
1 carrot (shredded)
1⁄2 cup green pepper (finely diced)
1 cup Minute Rice (not cooked)
2 (8 ounce) cans cream of mushroom soup (no water)
1⁄4 cup milk
1 lb ground pork
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 375°C.
Sauté onion, mushrooms and celery in butter over med high heat.
Add green pepper and shredded carrot and cook until slightly softened.
In casserole dish mix cans of soup, milk and rice.
Add ground pork to sauté pan and brown.
Once pork is cooked through add pork/onion/celery/carrot mixture to soup/rice mixture in casserole dish.
Cook for 1 hour in oven at 375°C.