Give thanks for this corn casserole!

It wouldn't be Thanksgiving without this corn casserole recipe. My mom started making it many years ago, and we have to have it at Thanksgiving and Christmas or else. One year for some reason we forgot to make it at Christmas, and that was the year we all started drinking heavily and badmouthing one another and it took a double batch of corn casserole the next year to repair our broken family relationships.

Ok, not really. But it is awfully darn good, and I wouldn't be surprised if this corn casserole won a Nobel Peace Prize someday. Here's the recipe:

1/4 C. butter (half a stick)
1/4 C. finely-chopped onion
1/4 C. chopped celery
1/4 C. chopped bell pepper (different colors are pretty!)
2 Tbsp. finely-chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 Tbsp. flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp paprika
1 C. milk
1 15 oz box of frozen corn
2 eggs, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease or spray an 8x8 baking dish or medium casserole dish. In a large skillet, melt the butter. Add onions, celery, bell pepper, and parsley. Cook until onions are soft. Add paprika and salt. Stir in flour, and keep stirring until bubbly. Slowly add milk, constantly stirring. Bring to a boil. Add corn, stirring constantly. Take off heat and fold in eggs. When thoroughly mixed, pour into prepared baking dish. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. You may want to undercook if you're planning on reheating it the next day; then it won't be dry. This can be made ahead of time for holidays and potlucks. Double this recipe for double the deliciousness! If you double it, don't increase the amount of salt. Double everything else.

I made a double batch of corn casserole with my dear friend Bluestem, quite the venerable blogger herself. This is the second year we've gotten together to make our Thanksgiving side dishes. We portioned out the corn casserole and baked them together but in two separate dishes, and that worked out beautifully! However, when we set them on the stovetop to cool, one of the dishes was still boiling and bubbling, because we forgot to turn off the element! We were wondering what the hell was going on, and when we discovered the element was turned on, we were shocked! My friend has a new stove and it's hard to remember how to turn it off. Ooops...

As the casserole baked, we sat in her lovely sunroom, drank coffee, and chatted intimately about menstruation. That post coming right up...