Free Recipe Friday. . .A Taste of the Gulf!

Even though I am married to a 'Taylor', 

it also means I am married into a long line of Zimmerman's
on my mother in laws side.

Without giving you the whole family tree,

that side of the family is being represented here today

as we go back in time on this Free Recipe Friday.

I was given this recipe wayyy back in the early days of our marriage.

One day, back in the mid 80's, my sweet hubby and I

had driven his Granny and Grandad Zimmerman

down to Beaumont to visit their son Stanley, wife Arlene and their family.

We stayed only for the day...but had a great time
watching Uncle Stanley sit in his chair and smoke his pipe,
catching up on family news and happenings...but before leaving,

Aunt Arlene cooked us the most fabulous lunch...

a meal I had never, ever had before.

I asked for the recipe and am forever grateful that she obliged!

We have been making this for years!!!
(The oleo listed below even shows the recipes age!)
I'm not sure if this was something Aunt Arlene concocted on her own,
if it was an old recipe or a common one - but oh so glad
it made its way to our taste buds!
It is basically a stuffing....although we have never 'stuffed' anything with it...
but I'm sure you could get really adventurous
and stuff a turkey or a chicken with this yumminess -
just be really careful about cooking it all the way through.

Our kids used to pick the shrimp out of it, grrrr.

There was nothing so aggravating as heading to the fridge

in anticipation of eating some leftover 'Aunt Arlene Special'

and you open the lid and someone has picked half of the shrimp out!

But surely no one in YOUR family would EVER do that!!!!

(Thankfully, our kids aren't so picky anymore!)

So, here you go...Aunt Arlene calls it Seafood Casserole...

our family has tried to rename it...but, to me it will always be

Aunt Arlene's Seafood Casserole...

you really need to make it nowwww!

INGREDIENTS

1 stick oleo - melted (butter or margarine)
1 small onion - diced
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon mustard

1 can cream of mushroom soup

8 oz. pkg - Pepperidge Farm Herb Stuffing Mix
1 1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon worchestershire sauce
1 can crab meat 
(we recently substituted half of a can of pink salmon
and is was just awesome!)
1 lb. medium size raw shrimp - peeled and deveined
(fresh or frozen)

Now here comes the really difficult part...
combine all ingredients in a medium size bowl.
Just dump 'em in there...all of it....and give it all a good ol' stir.
Now, spray a casserole dish (equivalent to a 9x13)
with non-stick cooking spray and dump the mixture right in.
That's it....that's all there is to it!
Bake in a 350 oven for 40-45 minutes.
If you overfill your dish as I did, you may want to make sure and
bake it on a cookie sheet to catch any dribbles.
Serve this up with a good green salad
and maybe some crunchy bread or good crackers.
This is even great made ahead!