My co-worker and friend Michala shared this recipe of her mom’s with me.

This dish is a Thanksgiving dinner tradition Shelly H. prepares every year.

Michala has mentioned it numerous times and raves about how good and how easy it is.

Cream Cheese Corn

INGREDIENTS

— 1 stick of butter or margarine

— 1 8 ounce block of cream cheese

— 1-1/2 bags of frozen corn

INSTRUCTIONS

Melt butter and cream cheese in the microwave and then add corn and microwave until corn is hot, stirring occasionally. Add salt if desired. Stir and serve.

I decided to try this recipe when my Aunt Carolyn asked me to prepare a corn dish to help with a bereavement meal to be served at our church.

The meal was going to be served Saturday, so on Friday when I got off work, I went to the grocery store to purchase these ingredients plus all of the things on my grocery list.

When I got to the frozen vegetable section, there were several brands of frozen corn, and several different size bags. I debated about five minutes before texting Michala to find out what size bag of corn to buy. She said the 14-ounce bag was what her mom used.

I was going to prepare a Crock Pot full of corn and decided I’d buy enough ingredients to quadruple the recipe, surely that would fill the pot up.

When I got home from the store, I got the Crock Pot out and was trying to figure out how much corn I needed to fix. I looked at the pot, then looked at the bags of corn, then looked at the pot and back at the bags of corn.

Finally, I decided to place the bags of corn in the pot and see how many it would hold. Three bags almost filled it up, which meant I’d be doubling the recipe.

Since I was doubling the recipe, I decided I’d prepare the dish in a big pan on top of the stove instead of using the microwave.

I put two sticks of butter and two eight-ounce packages of cream cheese into the heavy pan and turned the heat on medium.

It took forever for the cream cheese to melt and to get the two ingredients combined. But finally, I was ready to add the frozen corn.

I poured in three bags and started to stir. The coolness from the corn cooled the butter and cream cheese mixture and it firmed up. I was getting a little frustrated because I thought this was going to be so simple to put together.

I didn’t want the mixture to burn, so I turned the heat down a bit and let it gradually heat back up.

Finally, after longer than I wanted, the mixture began to loosen up and I could stir it.

I stirred until the corn was hot then took a little taste. It needed salt, so I sprinkled some in.

After adding the salt, I tasted it again and it tasted pretty good. I poured the mixture into the Crock Pot and low and behold, there was still room in the Crock Pot for more.

Since I had the ingredients, I decided to prepare one more serving  of this recipe.

The second time around I decided I’d try preparing it in the microwave instead of on top of the stove. Maybe that was the trick to this recipe being easy.

I also decided I’d let the corn sit out on the counter to thaw a bit while I melted the butter and cream cheese this time.

The second time around I placed a stick of butter and a block of cream cheese in a dish in the microwave, covered the dish and let it heat for a minute. The mixture wasn’t melted, so I let it go another minute, and another minute and another minute.

It began to melt, and I kept stirring and putting it back in the microwave to continue heating until it was what I’d say was melted — lumpy, but melted.

I added a bag and a half of the thawing corn to the mixture and guess what? It wasn’t thawed enough and it cooled the butter and cream cheese again.

I stirred and stirred, then put the dish in the microwave to heat. I started out heating it two minutes at a time and stirring in between.

Finally, it became hot and was easy to stir.

Once the mixture was heated through, I added a little salt, stirred, and poured it into the Crock Pot.

The pot was now full to the top and I put the lid on a put it in the refrigerator, you know, so it could firm up again.

Saturday morning when I got up, I figured the Cream Cheese Corn would take a while to heat up. I turned the pot on low and went about my morning routine getting ready for the day.

After eating breakfast, I lifted the lid of the pot (a real no-no if you are cooking in the thing), and tried to stir the corn. It had softened around the edges, but the center was still pretty firm. I placed the lid back on and turned up the heat. I needed to get the dish to church by 10:30 a.m. and didn’t want my aunt to have to fool with trying to get my dish hot.

Before heading to town with the Crock Pot in tow, I stirred the mixture and it was soft and creamy. I took a little taste. It was warm, but not as hot as it needed to be.

When I arrived at church, I turned the pot back to low and plugged it up, giving it one more stir.

I left the mixture in good hands and headed home. My aunt let me know she would clean up my Crock Pot and leave it in the church kitchen for me to retrieve on Sunday. She said if there was corn left, she was going to take it home with her.

The next day, before I could ask my aunt about the Cream Cheese Corn dish, she let me know my Crock Pot was clean and there was not one kernel left for her to take home. They had several comments that it was really good and the grieving family appreciated it.

My aunt let me know she had tried a little bite and so had a couple of other people who were helping serve the meal. Everyone thought it was really good.

I’m so glad this dish turned out, and I understand why it’s a tradition with Michala’s family. By the way, when I tried a little taste, I thought it was good too.

There are enough ingredients in the freezer to make this dish again and I can’t wait to prepare it for my family or maybe take it to one of our church fellowships, I know there’s one coming up soon.

Sarah Condley is an amateur baker and chef who is compiling a cookbook of her favorite recipes.