Check out this thread for some good ideas. I'll look for some other recipes that my own parents enjoy and I'll get back tomorrow.

Here is a link that might be useful: Casseroles

Thanks so much. I really appreciate the help.

My parents enjoy tuna noodle casserole - if you need a recipe let me know. Don't forget rice - shredded chicken with some broccoli or spinach and a creamy sauce with or without cheese is nice.

My parents like ground beef and its easy to eat - here are some that they like and I like too.

Meat And Potato Loaf

Easy meatloaf and potatoes in one dish

Ingredients

4 cups thinly sliced peeled raw potatoes,
1/4 cup chopped onion,
1 lb. ground beef,
5 oz. can evaporated milk,
1/2 cup breadcrumbs,
1/4 cup chili sauce (or catsup),
1/4 cup chopped onion,
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Mix potato slices and 1/4 cup chopped onion together and place in greased 2 quart square baking dish.
2. Mix remaining ingredients together and spread over potatoes.
3. Decorate top with more chili sauce or catsup (if desired).
4. Bake 350* for 1 hour.

MEATLOAF MUFFINS WITH BBQ SAUCE
Recipe courtesy Rachael Ray

Recipe Summary
Difficulty: Easy
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Yield: 6 servings

1 2/3 to 1 3/4 pounds ground sirloin
1 medium onion, cut into chunks
2 ribs celery from the heart of the stalk, cut into 2-inch pieces
1 green bell pepper
1 large egg plus a splash of milk, beaten
1 cup plain bread crumbs
2 tablespoons grill seasoning (recommended: Montreal Steak Seasoning by McCormick)

1 cup smoky barbecue sauce
1/2 cup tomato salsa
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Vegetable oil or extra-virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
Put ground beef into a big bowl. Put onion and celery into a food processor. Cut the bell pepper in half, rip out the seeds and throw them into your garbage bowl. Cut the pepper into a few pieces and add to the food processor. Pulse the processor blades to finely chop the vegetables into very small pieces then add them to the meat bowl. Add egg, beaten with milk, bread crumbs and grill seasoning to the bowl.

Next, mix together the smoky barbecue sauce, the salsa and the Worcestershire sauce.

Pour half the sauce mixture into the bowl with the meatloaf mix. Mix the meatloaf together with your hands. Wash up.

Brush a 12-muffin tin (1/2-cup each) with vegetable oil or extra-virgin olive oil. Use an ice cream scoop to help you fill meat into a each tin.

Top each meat loaf with a spoonful of extra sauce. Bake about 20 minutes. Cut open 1 muffin to test that the middle is cooked through.

Meatloaf Patties and Pan Gravy

Recipe courtesy Rachael Ray
Show: 30 Minute Meals

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Yield: 4 servings

Cook's Notes: Buy tomato paste in the tube, rather than a can; it makes storage of leftover product easier. Tomato paste in the tube is often kept with Italian specialty foods, rather than with the canned tomato products.

1 1/3 pounds ground sirloin, 90 percent lean ground beef
1 slice white bread, spread with softened butter, then cut into small cubes
1/8 cup (a splash) milk
1 egg
2 teaspoons grill seasoning blend, or coarse salt and black pepper combined
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1 rounded tablespoon tomato paste
1 medium onion, finely chopped, reserve 1/4 amount

3-Condiment Pan Gravy:
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 medium onion, finely chopped, reserved from meatloaf mixture
2 tablespoons (a handful) all-purpose flour
1 to 1 1/2 cups beef stock
1 tablespoon ketchup
1 rounded teaspoon spicy brown mustard
1 tablespoon steak sauce

Place meat in a large mixing bowl and create a well in the center of the meat. Fill the well with the bread cubes and dampen them with a splash of milk. Pour 1 beaten egg over bread and add seasoning or salt and pepper, allspice, tomato paste and onion to the bowl.

Combine the meat, bread and grill seasoning or salt and pepper and form mixture into 4 large oval patties 3/4-inch thick. Pan fry meatloaf patties in a nonstick skillet over medium high heat 7 minutes on each side under a loose tin foil tent. The tent will reflect heat and allow the steam to escape the pan.

Remove meat loaf patties to a platter and return pan to heat. Reduce heat to medium and add butter and onion to your skillet. Cook the onion 2 minutes and sprinkle pan with flour. Cook flour 1 minute and whisk in 1 cup beef stock. Bring broth to a bubble. If gravy is too thick, thin with additional stock. Stir in condiments and remove gravy from heat.

Slice meatloaf patties and drizzle with gravy.

Turkey Meatloaf with Cranberry Glaze

Posted by: dishesdone (My Page) on Thu, Feb 24, 05 at 11:16
This is a favorite in our house!

1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup mashed jellied cranberry sauce(canned)
2 pounds ground turkey
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup bread crumbs
3 eggs -- lightly beaten
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup diced red onions
1/2 cup (approximate!) chicken broth -- (just enough to moisten)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

For the glaze, spread the brown sugar over the bottom of a greased loaf pan and spread the cranberry sauce over the sugar. In a large bowl mix all the remaining ingredients until well incorporated.
Form the meat mixture into the loaf pan, laying out over the cranberry glaze. Bake in 350 degree oven for 1 hour.
Serving Ideas : serve with a potato gratin and string beans almondine. From Cooking Live with Sara Moulton

MARILYN'S Sausage Noodles Marzetti

5 oz. packaged noodles; cook & drain
1# bulk sausage (I use the kind with sage.)
1 medium onion chopped
2 stalks celery; chopped
1 (15 oz.) can crushed tomatoes (Italian seasoned are good.)
cup dry white wine (optional)
¼ cup water
2 teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar (donÂt leave this out!)
salt & pepper to taste

In a large skillet, combine sausage, onion and celery. Cook until sausage is no longer pink and vegetables are tender. Add tomatoes, wine, water, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, salt and pepper; stir well. Simmer 15 minutes. Add noodles; heat and serve
Mar

I got this recipe here from Anne. I've made it several times. It's awesome and oh, so, easy!

No Peek Casserole

This is a recipe that my family literally will fight over. It makes a delicious gravy (what they fight over) and absolutely nothing to making it.I double the recipe and there is still none left at the end of the meal.
No Peek Casserole
2 lbs stew meat (I use 3 lbs)
1 can Campbell's Chicken Mushroom Soup
1/2 cup Ginger Ale
1 pkg Lipton Onion Soup Mix
1 4 oz jar mushrooms, drained (optional)

Preheat oven to 300. Combine ALL ingredients (DO NOT brown meat and DO NOT dilute soup with water) together. Mix well. It will be lumpy before it's cooked. Pour into a casserole dish and cover. Bake 2 1/2 to 3 hours. DON'T PEEK!! Serve over pasta, rice or mashed potatoes. The smell as it's cooking is WONDERFUL

My MIL was having swallowing and chewing difficulties when she was in her 90's. The kitchen at the nursing home put her on "mechanically soft" diet.....which included lots of things like coarsly chopped macaroni, and potatoes and vegetables. All meats were well cooked and coarsly chopped with lots of broth added.
Since this same kitchen also cooked for the poeple living in apartments, the same food was cooked for all....but things like meat was chopped and cooked a bit more in broth...potatoesw ere cut up and mixed with broth, fruit salads were chopped finer as was green lettuce salad and soup was served with all meals as a dip for bread and sandwiches. Apple sauce was served often.
Linda C

Thanks so much to all of you for the time you took to type and send these recipes. I will pass on to my friend and will let you know how she did with them.
Thanks - Karen

Layered Chicken/Broccoli Casserole

I lost the original recipe, but this is close. Very good and easy to make, freezes too. You could cut chicken and broccoli up into very small pieces.

4 cups cooked chicken breasts
10 oz or more of frozen broccoli
1 c cooked rice
2 cans cream mushroom or chicken
small sour cream
3TBL Butter, melted
1tsp lemon juice
Grated Parmasan cheese

Grease large casserole dish.
Mix soup and sour cream and put in bottom of dish
Rice
Sprinkle Paprika and Curry over rice
Broccoli
Chicken
Parm Cheese
Combine lemon and melted butter and drizzle over the top
350 for about 40 min

The original recipe called for uncooked minute rice. I use cooked brown or basmatti rice and it works great. I use more than 1 cup rice and just add by looks. I think it might be too sloppy if you don't...although that may be good in this case. The flavor is very nice regardless.

Angelaid, that "No Peek" Casserole was absolutely delicious! I just made it tonight--so, so easy, and the meat just fell apart--and the gravy--YUM! I wasn't able to find Chicken Mushroom soup, so I just used half a can of Cr. of Chick and Cr. of Mush, and froze the rest for the next time. Great for an easy company dish, too! Thanks so much for sharing! A definite keeper!

I'm going to try the No Peek Casserole and am wondering about the soup it calls for. Is the Chicken Mushroom soup a Cream soup?

No Peeking???!!!! It's hard not too, cause it smells soooo good!!!

Thanks for the recipe. It's going over rice and my husband is going to be thrilled. That and some butter beans cooked with ham hocks. Yum.

Emeril Lagasse just did a show on Casseroles and they looked very good.

Chicken mushroom soup is available in Campbell's.
Kathy g in MI