Corn Casserole and a Tale of Two Lizards

Perfect Pairing:  Potluck

Oh the famous corn casserole.  I can’t even count how many times I have made this dish, definitely more than anything else I have ever made.  It makes an appearance at any dinner of importance at my parents'.  It is just so delicious and easy!  It literally takes under five minutes to prepare.  It is the perfect dish to bring to any potluck or family dinner.  There is one recent family dinner that I would like to focus on today.  Before I do that I need to give a little background…

My parents went on a trip to Hilton Head to visit some good friends.  While there my mom got super crafty with her friend and made all sorts of arrangements for their new house.  I guess she was inspired to bring back a little of the south.  On the last morning in South Carolina she picked up some Spanish moss outside of a breakfast restaurant.  Mom packed it up in the trunk and they were on their merry way.

A couple of days (and a thousand miles) later my parents unpacked the car back in the Midwest.  The Spanish moss was in a bag ready to go downstairs and mom noticed a twig that was not part of the moss.  She went to grab it to throw it away and it moved!  It was a LIZARD!!  Apparently I inherited my overwhelming fear of anything reptilian from my mother because I am told she screamed like she was face to face with a python.  Oh what I would give to witness that scene.  From a safe distance, of course.

After my dad stopped laughing he agreed to trap the little guy but said my mom had to help corner him.  Well, that was not happening.  She called the neighbor and the two manly men wrangled the lizard.  Here he is after being captured.  Not exactly tiny!

 

Fast forward a week to Easter Sunday.  I was home with my boyfriend and busy cooking a big Easter meal for the fam.  I commented to my mom how I could not believe I had never photographed the famous corn casserole, so before dinner I had an impromptu photo session with my boyfriend’s help (he was in charge of the spoon).  I even had an audience outside the window.

 

Apparently my audience was larger than I thought.  We were all enjoying Easter dinner and my dad said, “oh, Linda, there is another lizard on the window.”  My mom and I are VERY used to my dad making jokes like this so we giggled politely and went back to our dinner.  He laughed and said, “no, I am serious this time.”  Sure enough, there was another lizard on the window!  Cue the irrational screaming. 

 Easter dinner was put on hold while we (by “we” I mean the males in the room) dealt with lizard #2.  Once everything calmed down we had to laugh thinking about how the lizard must have been inches away from me while I was photographing the corn casserole.  Then we remembered my mom took a picture of me taking pictures. 

 Yep, there he is hanging out on the flower!  I can’t even imagine what kind of heart failure I would have endured if he jumped on the corn at that moment.

 We are all really hoping that lizards only travel in twos.  Yikes. 

 

Corn Casserole

Adapted by Lindsay at Perfecting the Pairing from Unknown

Printable Recipe

 

Ingredients:

·         4 eggs

·         ½ cup vegetable oil

·         1, 15 oz, can whole kernel corn, undrained

·         1, 15 oz, can cream style corn, undrained

·         2 cans (9 oz, total) diced green chiles (mild), lightly drained

·         ¾ cup shredded cheddar cheese

·         1, 8.5 oz, box corn muffin mix

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Crack the eggs into a large bowl, whisk lightly.  Add the remaining ingredients and stir with a spatula until evenly combined.  Pour into a greased 9x13 dish.  Bake for 45-60 minutes, until golden brown and cooked in the center.

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