The Naked Brothers Band – "Fishin' for Love" (2007)

She reads magazines

And eats green beans

And she whines till the day is done 

For years, my contribution to our family’s Thanksgiving feast has been peas and mushrooms.  (I recommend the recipe from the 1953 edition of The Joy of Cooking.) 

But this year, I’m making green bean casserole in honor of the late Dorcas Reilly.

Dorcas Reilly serves up her
famous green bean casserole

Reilly, who died last month at age 92, created hundreds of recipes during her years as the manager of the Campbell Soup kitchen.

But the green bean casserole recipe that she came up with in 1955 – which combines green beans, cream of mushroom soup, and crispy fried onions – was by far the most popular.  

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Reilly’s green bean casserole is a Thanksgiving staple.  According to Campbell Soup, that dish is served at nearly 30 million Thanksgiving dinners each year.

If you’ve never eaten green bean casserole on Thanksgiving, you’re not a real American, and should go back to wherever it was you came from!

Andy Warhol was a fan

Here’s the recipe, straight off the Campbell Soup website:

Ingredients:

1 can (10 1/2 ounces) Campbell's cream of mushroom soup

1/2 cup milk

1 teaspoon soy sauce

1 dash black pepper

4 cups cooked cut green beans

1 1/3 cups French's french-fried onions

Directions:

In a 1 1/2-quart casserole dish, combine the soup, milk, soy sauce, black pepper, beans and 2/3 cup onions.

Bake at 350°F. for 25 minutes or until the bean mixture is hot and bubbling.  Stir and sprinkle with the remaining onions.

Bake for 5 more minutes or until the onions are golden brown.

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Dorcas Reilly’s original recipe is good enough for me, and it should be good enough for you as well.  

But Campbell Soup couldn’t resist gilding the lily.  

She's a beauty!

In addition to its classic green bean casserole recipe, ithe Campbell’s website offers up recipes for “Green Bean Casserole Dijon” (Dijon mustard and swiss cheese) and “Green Bean Casserole Italiano” (sun-dried tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, and Italian herbs and spices).

Dijon mustard?  Sun-dried tomatoes?  (Poor Dorcas Reilly must be rolling over in her grave.)

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Surprisingly, there are quite a few songs that mention green beans.  I think “Fishing for Love” is the best of the bunch.

“Fishing for love” was featured on the soundtrack of the fourth episode of “The Naked Brothers Band,” a mockumentary series about two brothers who dreamed of being in a famous rock band.  It aired on Nickelodeon in 2007-2009. 

The show’s creator was Polly Draper, who was one of the stars of the Thirtysomething series back in the day.  When Draper’s two sons were little boys taking a bath together, one suddenly stood up and announced, “We’re the Naked Brothers Band!”  Hence, the title of the Nickelodeon series – which starred her sons, Nat and Alex Wolff. 

Nat and Alex Wolff

Nat and Alex, who were only 12 and 9 (respectively) when “The Naked Brothers Band” debuted, wrote and performed all of the show’s songs.

After the third season of the show had wrapped, Nickelodeon proposed lengthening the fourth season from 13 episodes to 60 episodes.  Polly Draper and her husband were afraid such an ambitious shooting schedule would interfere with the boys’ schooling – ya think? – and turned the network down.

Click here to listen to “Fishing for Love.”

You can click on the link below to buy the song from Amazon: