www.Cooking Age.com   Debra Elliott collects cookbooks and now has more than 300 in her Danville home. But one of her latest edditions is a special one. Elliott was selected to have her “That Broccoli Casserole” recipe featured in the Christmas Kitchen cookbook published by Gooseberry Patch. “It was the first recipe I ever submitted to a magazine, book or anything, and I just did it as an afterthought,” Elliott said. “I sent them the broccoli casserole recipe and never thought any more about it,” Elliott said. “I never heard anything from it, and I thought, ‘Okay, they won’t use it.’”

Three months later, Gooseberry Patch contacted her about the recipe. “I’d forgotten about it, and they contacted me by e-mail, and they said we’re interested in this recipe,” she said. After Elliott and Gooseberry Patch set the amounts of the ingredients and cleared up some confusion with the steps, the company made a batch at their test kitchen. Then a company representative called, saying they enjoyed the dish and wanted to print the recipe in their Christmas Kitchen cookbook.

“I think that it’s very different from your traditional broccoli casserole, and I think that people would enjoy it. It’s very much a comfort food, and people are getting back to comfort foods,” Elliott said. She added that one of the advantages of the recipe is how interchangeable the ingredients can be.

“It’s a very flexible recipe … I’m not a big mushroom fan so you can substitute a lot of things for it,” Elliott said. “Sometimes I’ll put water chestnuts instead of mushrooms in it, giving it a little more crunch.” Sometimes she adds chicken to the casserole, which transforms the versatile recipe from a side dish to a main dish. Elliott’s “That Broccoli Casserole” recipe is actually a modification of one she found in a magazine. “I found it a long time ago, and it was a little different, and I just tweaked it a little bit to where it was more our tastes,” she said. Elliott has been making the casserole for her family and church ever since then. Cooking since she was a young girl, Elliott said she would be in the kitchen while other children would be outside playing.

“Everybody in my family hates to cook, except me ... I probably started around the age of 10, just experimenting. I find (cooking) very relaxing, and I enjoy doing it.” Elliot said cooking from scratch is important to her because it nurtures the idea of family togetherness. “I can remember growing up that was something that brought everybody together, what you cooked at home, what you prepared at home. And then everybody ate together,” she said. “And it’s so easy now, you know, after you get off work, to pick something up.” Elliott said many parents are passing on their culinary habits, or lack of them, to their children.

“I think that it’s more than just about cooking. I think that it tells your children that we want to take the time to do what’s best for them,” she said. “I know a lot of people think it’s just easier to go somewhere and buy it frozen.” Elliott said when cooking from home, it’s easier to control what the family eats, and home-cooking shows how important it is for the parents to provide for the family. But when Elliott cooks for her family, she does not make “That Broccoli Casserole” very often. “I make it a lot for church. I make it a lot for other families,” she said. “It’s so strange — my husband, he hates broccoli. It’s a good, comforting, versatile dish to have   I just can’t get him to eat it.”