Growing Communities through Community Gardens plus a Hash Brown recipe

 I am a member of the Collective Bias Social Fabric Community. This shop featuring growing communities and an #OreIdaHashbrown recipe is part of a social shopper amplification for #CollectiveBias and its advertiser.

Growing Communities through Community Gardens plus a hashbrown recipe

While our community garden has brought our community together through growing food, it stays together as we share meals with one another and truly get to know each other. So when I considered how I could give back to my fellow gardeners, I thought it would be wonderful to share our first meal of the growing season together with a delicious Hash Brown recipe.

I invited all of the plot renters/growers to meet my family and me at the garden for a nice meal we could share. It would be the perfect excuse to get together between our community garden meetings and chat about more than what we’re growing. Plus I’d do all the cooking and clean up! Win-win, right?

By sharing these meals with one another we are truly growing communities and establishing strong roots in our neighborhood. I couldn’t imagine not having these wonderful people in our lives.

Growing Communities Shredded Hash Brown Potatoes at Walmart.jpg

Since we were planning on feeding a large group of people, I decided to make a tasty and delicious Cheesy Hashbrown Casserole. This casserole dish is easily doubled (or tripled) if needed so that’s exactly what I planned to do.

I’ve tried this casserole out on my playgroup and they absolutely loved it! It paired perfectly with my overnight french toast casserole (and both can be prepped the night before if needed!).

I grabbed my daughter and headed to Walmart to pick up a few bags of Ore-Ida Shredded Hash Brown Potatoes and other ingredients we’d need for dinner. This casserole is perfect for a brunch menu but also works great for dinner when it’s paired with a delicious salad.

growing communities hash brown recipe ingredients

As soon as we got home I headed into the kitchen to prep my double batch of cheesy hashbrown casserole. Since I normally have to make a half batch for our family (the kids don’t eat a lot) I wasn’t sure how hard it’d be to double the recipe.

Luckily doubling the recipe was as simple as grabbing a larger bowl and splitting the mixture into two casserole dishes! This casserole comes together so nicely and took less than 10 minutes to prep and get into the oven.

Since I’m not used to feeding a crowd, I had to test the casserole out before serving it. I totally burned the roof of my mouth as I snuck my first bite before it cooled down a bit! It was just as good as I remembered it. So the burned mouth was worth it.

growing communities hash brown recipe with ore ida

Cheesy Hashbrown Casserole

  • 1 condensed cream of chicken soup * (10.5 oz.)
  • 2 Cups Sour cream
  • 1 Teaspoon Salt
  • 1/4 Teaspoon Ground black pepper
  • 2 Cups Shredded cheddar cheese
  • 1/3 Cup Sliced green onions
  • 1 Package Ore-Ida® Shredded Hash Brown Potatoes (30 oz.)
  • 2 Cups Crushed corn flake cereal
  • 1/4 Cup Butter (melted)
  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat 13×9 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together soup, sour cream, salt and pepper. Stir in cheese, onion and hash browns until well mixed. Spoon evenly into baking dish.
  3. In a medium bowl, mix together cereal and butter. Sprinkle evenly on top of hash brown mixture.
  4. Bake uncovered for 45 to 50 minutes, or until hot and bubbly. Allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste if desired. Garnish with additional sliced green onion if desired.

 

growing communities hash brown recipe feeding a community

Once the casseroles were ready I packed everything up (I also brought a large kale salad and some sparkling water) and grabbed the kids and food and headed to the garden to set up.

Luckily when you have a community event, people want to help. So a few of the early birds helped me set up.

As I set up the kids enjoyed exploring the garden like they do just about every other day. They decided to build fairy houses with the other kids there.

growing communities hash brown recipe dinner spread

Being able to sit around the table as a community united is such a great feeling. I know that these people give their time (and money) to help better our community and truly give back.

A great example of giving back is our kids preschool teacher. Not only does she help enrich and better our kids lives, she’s also very involved in the community garden and our neighborhood association.

Whether it’s supporting local businesses by giving recommendations or helping to educate people by providing great resources, she’s always trying to give back and share her knowledge with our community.

growing communities hash brown recipe serving community

If it wasn’t for our community garden I wouldn’t know half of the people in our community that I now know. There’s something about coming together for a common goal and watching it blossom into something amazing.

We have a place to teach our children not only how to grow vegetables and herbs but how to grow community as well.

They’re learning their neighbor’s names, realizing there’s more to where we live than just our home. And instead of looking down when we walk around the neighborhood, we look around and wave, smile, and greet each other.

growing communities hash brown recipe playing in the garden

I foresee many more meals at the community garden with our new friends and neighbors as the weather gets warmer and the beds start producing more.

Being able to give back, even with a simple meal, has brought me such a wonderful warmth. And it was so easy to do.

If you haven’t done so, consider whipping up a double or triple batch of cheesy hashbrown casserole yourself and feeding someone in your community, whether it be a community hero or charitable organization.

growing communities hash brown recipe community garden mission statement

 How do you grow community?

Cheesy Hashbrown Casserole

Pinterest Inspiration

Comments

  1. I love your garden, makes me wish I had a nice yard like yours. A great place for a fun family picnic!

  2. What a wonderful community garden! We have a big yard so I need to build raised beds this year, and I’ve talked to my neighbor about gardening together.

    and the recipe? Total yum!

  3. What a wonderful way to share – family, friends, food – the trifecta of all the best! Maybe I should start a “community garden” on our 8-acre plot of land. Do you think that would count as a “community garden”? (just kidding; but that really isn’t a bad idea, because we don’t have much planted on our plot and it would be a way to put it to good use!). Also, the casserole looks delicious – always looking for new recipes to try!

  4. Oh i love that community garden idea! How fun! And seriously; what a fun excuse to get together and have a party! Yum! I love that potato casserole too! Yum!

  5. I love the community involvement. That is wonderful. It is a great way to get people together for a common purpose. This casserole looks amazing! Definitely a recipe I am going to try for my family.

  6. This is absolutely awesome! I’m going to search and see if we have something similar.

  7. What a great idea! That casserole looks amazing!

  8. This looks like a great cause and a fun time. What an excellent way for you to help give back!

  9. I’m so jealous of our community garden, and that awesome hash brown recipe! I’m bookmarking it now so I can make it this weekend!

  10. What a nice community garden! So nice to have a group to *grow* with 🙂 Looks like your casserole was a hit! #client

  11. I was just outside thinking I need to plant something this year. Those hash browns look amazing. They would go great with my breakfast or dinner I am planning tonight.

  12. I make a similar hashbrown dish that is a family fave! I make it for all the holidays! Tell me more about this community garden business. I would love to do something like that in our community!

  13. This looks amazing Danielle! I can’t wait to give it a try for a Sunday brunch with the family. I’m also incredibly jealous of your community garden – I’m guessing that you’ve gained a ton of knowledge in part from this community growing?

  14. I absolutely love this post. LOVE. It’s so nice to have a community of people who want to interact with one another. I live in a community of older people who sit behind their windows waiting for you to do something wrong so they can call the HOA and tell on you. It’s a lot of fun. NOT. I love that you were able to easily make a double batch of this recipe to serve to the people who help you grow. #client

  15. Unfortunately, I don’t, but I wish I did. I also wish there was something like this in my small town. There is a community garden is Baton Rouge but it’s too far of a drive for me. I could make something like this happen, if I could get some land some how. I love to garden but can’t do it alone. What a great community garden, and love the potluck style lunch. Your hash browns looks delicious. Thanks for the recipe.

Trackbacks

  1. […] the past few weeks we’ve spent a lot of time in our garden at home as well as at our community garden. So when the kids got sick of pulling weeds I thought it’d be fun to change things around. […]

  2. […] if you already have a community garden in your community, adding a community compost site will make things a lot easier when it comes to […]

  3. […] bin very minimal. Or you can build your own compost bin at very little cost like we did at our community garden with pallets (shown […]

  4. […] new home. We loved having our garden beds at the old house and even though we have a plot at the community garden still, we’re missing the ease in walking out our door to pick fresh veggies and herbs. And […]

  5. […] Cheesy Hashbrown Casserole courtesy of A Crafty Spoonful […]

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