Hashbrown Casserole

This is one of those dishes that I grew up eating. My mom made it, and so did many of my friends' moms, for cookouts and potlucks and weeknight meals (we didn't eat so healthy as kids...). I thought everyone knew this recipe well until I took it to a potluck with friends here in Atlanta and it was hailed, and inhaled, as "heaven in my mouth" as our friend Rachel likes to say. My reaction was, "Really?! You mean you guys have never had this?!" because I had actually felt I was copping out bringing something so easy and quick and that everyone was surely tired of or would quickly dismiss as something we ate "then" but not "now."

Boy was I wrong. So I keep making it, and everyone keeps requesting it - sometimes 2 batches even (Derrick!) - and every time we come home with an empty dish. It's now a staple at our annual Thanksgiving potluck we do with our friends, although it still seems strange to me to think of it as a Thanksgiving dish. My husband's coworkers have discovered it too, and they now make up events just so he'll have a reason to bring it in for breakfast.

There are slightly different versions and variations - and I know some people top it with breadcrumbs or crushed corn flakes or potato chips - but this is the one I know and love, and everyone I know has come to love.

Ingredients
1 bag frozen hashbrown potatoes
1 pint sour cream
1 can cream of something soup (I use mushroom as their tends to be a vegetarian in every group now)
1 stick of butter (I sometimes use 1/2 stick and no one has ever seemed to notice)
1 (2 cup) bag shredded sharp cheddar cheese
(I love that it's 5 ingredients, one of each - so easy to remember!)

Heat oven to 450. My mom cooks this for an hour at 350, but I never seem to have an hour, so I go for about 30 minutes at 450. You don't have to wait for the oven to preheat for something like this, so just dump everything into a 9x13 casserole dish and place in the oven. Another trick from mom is that you don't have to pre-mix it either, which is hard and messy with frozen potatoes and a whole stick of butter. Just wait 10-15 minutes until everything has softened a bit in the oven and then stir it altogether. Let it go for another 20 minutes or so (about 30 minutes total) or until it's bubbling and the top starts to brown. You can't really over cook it but you can burn the top so if you need it to stay warm or it starts to burn just knock the heat down or loosely cover with tinfoil. Also amazing as leftovers!