The green bean casserole is my family tradition for Thanksgiving

My sister, Lydia Schmidt, was overwhelmed in everything she did – with the exception of one small thing.

She was a loving and devoted girl, a sister, a mother and a friend. She was a compassionate patron.

She could make you cry when she sang with her clear soprano voice, and she was the undisputed beauty of my family.

But forgive me for spilling the beans (green), Lydia could not cook, she was worth it.

For our annual Christmas cookie day, where familywomen and friends prepared hundreds of baked treats, Lydia could be counted on to bring the wine. She was a pair of extra hands willing to break an egg with the best of them.

How lucky she had to fall head over heels in love with a cute guy who was also a creative cook.

I decided to take my sister out when I heard that a 92-year-old woman, Dorcas Reilly, died last month.

Reilly created the green bean casserole, the famous fusion of Campbell's mushroom soup, green beans and crunchy fried onions that has honored millions if not billions of people? – Thanksgiving tables since the 1950s.

The dish is a staple of Thanksgiving tables in the Midwest. Satellite Internet was recently discovered when he discovered "the most popular recipes in all food-related categories on Google Trends last November," he writes on his website.

The green bean casserole was the most sought after Thanksgiving recipe in the country's broad middle section – Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Colorado, Dakotas and Texas.

According to Campbell's estimates, at least 20 million American households will serve a bean casserole for Thanksgiving this year.

I think my sister knew this recipe by heart.

In our family, as I often suspect, each of us has taken possession of a Thanksgiving dish over the years. I prepare mashed potatoes – silky Yukon Golds full of butter, milk, salt and lumps. (The bumps make them "rustic", or at least that's how it goes in my head.)

My sister Lori brings her calorie-free corn, made with cream cheese. Mom cooks pumpkin pies. The person who is hosting is usually stuck with, I mean, blessed, roast the turkey. (In fact, I've volunteered for this job in recent years after mastering Queen Sandra Lee's recipe for "Roast Turkey Turkey Turkey." Try it.)

Lydia has always brought the pan of green beans, made exactly like Dorcas Reilly had imagined in the 1950s, when she invented a quick accompaniment dish for busy women like my little sister, the mother of five whose schedule was always full.

Reilly concocted what Campbell's called "the mother of all comfort food" by "simply combining two things that most Americans had on hand in 1955: green beans and Campbell mushroom cream soup," writes Washington Post to his death last month.

This kind of recipe had my sister's name written on it. I was afraid of being bad at writing because, frankly, no one in my family cared that I could not make Pioneer-Woman-Truss and put a Thanksgiving turkey in the oven.

She could however make a nasty batch of chili con queso in the pot. We counted on it for the holidays. She was an ace with a block of Velveeta.

Her green bean casserole recipe comes straight from French crispy onion container. It's easy, just five ingredients mixed: Campbell's condensed mushroom soup, milk, black pepper, green beans and these fried onions, the "crunchy product".

"Mom was so good that she always let me put the crunchy thing on top," my niece and goddaughter, Mary, texted me about her mother's green bean pan, adding a emoji in the heart to emphasize it.

Ahhh. Lydia knew what she was doing in the kitchen after all.

His children love this casserole. But never in all those years when my sister came in with a pot of green beans for Thanksgiving, I never told her that I did not like green bean pans.

To spare anyone's feelings, I would put a spoon on a plate in case someone would look at it, but no one ever was.

We lost Lydia in May 2016. She had ovarian cancer. She was only 49 years old. I think of her every single day.

This first Thanksgiving without her, I finally confessed to our mother my aversion to the bean casserole. I wondered if there might be a recipe that I could enjoy anymore, so I became one of those people googling green bean casserole recipes at Thanksgiving. My search looked like this: "green beans pan healthy."

Yes indeed. What did I think? Fresh beans, not canned, and no Campbell soup.

He bombed.

Does anyone in the family even remember that I served him? Kevin? Ron? No matter who? I have also repressed the memory.

It's like taking a pumpkin pie in the face, I learned my lesson: Do not change the tradition, at least in my family.

If your family loves Ocean Spray Jelly Cranberry Sauce – the one in the shape of a can can – do not confuse it with a version shot with fresh cranberries. (Team Ocean Spray here.)

And as I did all these years, my niece Sarah, the youngest of my sister, did not tell me that my green bean casserole was disgusting. At least not until I asked him a few days ago.

"The original is so much better," I sent a text message with a cheerful face emoji.

Mom and Dorcas Reilly knew it better.