By Kevin Williams
This is a popular recipe in Amish homes and I’m not surprised. This is a hearty, basic “plate piler” that can feed a bunch of people and leave plenty for seconds (and thirds).
An interesting aside, most Amish cooks, in my experience, use stainless steel cookware, not cast iron. Cast iron was once very popular and the main skillet of choice in the Amish kitchen but some very enterprising and successful door-to-door salespeople really did a great job 50 years or so ago of persuading Amish cooks to ditch their cast iron and switch to easier-to-clean stainless steel. So that is what you find today in the majority of Amish kitchens. That said, cast iron is making a comeback among the Amish just as it is among the rest of America.
My Mom didn’t have an onion so she used diced frozen onion and you could use sliced or shredded cheddar.

Potatoes and sausage form the foundation of this delicious supper!

This is ground sausage, but you could use ground turkey, hamburger, or venison. This is a very versatile casserole!

You can use sliced or shredded cheese.

This is the delicious casserole in its final form. I have to once again give my parents kudos to portion control. I’d have my plate piled with this!
This is a versatile recipe, you could switch out the sausage for hamburger and get a hamburger skillet but my parents tried it this way and my Dad (who isn’t what I’d call picky, but he can be a bit of a food critic) deemed it “delicious.” So there you go. Enjoy!

- 1 pound freshly ground sausage
- 2 cups peeled and freshly grated potatoes
- 1 large onion, diced
- 1 10¾ ounce can cream of mushroom soup
- 3 /4 cup water
- 12 slices American cheese
- Brown the sausagein a large skillet over medium heat.
- Layer the potatoes and then the onion on top of the beef.
- In a small bowl, stir together the soup and the water until combined.
- Pour the soup over the sausage, potatoes, and onion.
- Layer the cheese slices over all.
- Cover the skillet and simmer over low heat for 40 minutes.
- The cheese will be golden and bubbly when done.