Kraft dinner and tuna and peas casserole

[pscot]

with canned mushroom soup. Quick, easy and awful, as I knew it would be. Unfortunately there's plenty left over for tomorrow.

[wildflower]

1. But it's comfort food

I could use some of that after the Mass. election results tonight. :)

Though I'm also thinking of doing some long and involved cooking to distract myself tonight & tomorrow.

[Mojorabbit]

2. I did grilled cheese sandwiches

and tomato soup. I needed comfort food too.

[unapatriciated]

20. that is my al time favorite comfort food.

I make grilled cheese sandwiches with fresh tomato and red onion served with tomato basil soup. Yum.

[Warpy]

3. I know a worse one

Cooked brown rice mixed with a can of veg-all and a small can of tuna. It tastes terrible but it's remarkably filling, more so than all the ingredients separately would be, and kept me going during a lot of bad cash flow times in the 60s before I learned how to cook.

To this day, I remember the vile flavor with a certain degree of fondness. It was comfort food because it was so filling.

[pscot]

8. Say, I owe you, bigtime

I want to thank you for turning me on to that Ain5 trick. That is pure genius. Versatile too. This week I added some dark rye flour to the mix and produced a bauern brot that eats better than devils food cake.

[Warpy]

11. Just don't try this one

Oh, it's great if you're starving, but just.

[hippywife]

9. My filling poverty food back in the day

was tuna-mato casserole. Make a box of mac and cheese, throw in a couple of cans of tuna and a can of diced tomatoes. My roommate and I, and most of the members of the band, lived on that stuff. When I married, and before I stopped cooking out of cans and boxes, Bill really liked it, too. :rofl:

[Arkansas Granny]

4. I always made mine with egg noodles instead of the Kraft dinner and

put a crumb topping on it and my kids would eat it like there was no tomorrow. It was on the menu at least twice a month.

[pscot]

5. This had a crumb topping

made of panko and parmesan dotted with butter. It did raise the tone a bit

[The empressof all]

6. Kraft Dinner is like Crack to me

Just one bite and the pot is gone. I don't know what it is but...I love it....especially made with a bit of extra butter and whole milk. I make it once every few years....That's enough.

[pscot]

7. We keep it around because our granddaughter

subsists almost entirely on red meat and highly refined starch.

[ginnyinWI]

10. mix in some real cheese when you re-heat it.

Maybe throw in some herbs, garlic, onion, chopped tomatoes even. Crushed potato chips on top? Freshly ground pepper.

I've compared the old recipes from the 50s and 60s to today's and it seems like they used hardly any herbs and spices and pepper, and way too much salt. (And it was a lot more centered on meat, as if we were all going to be protein-deficient without some meat at every meal--but that's another posting) I usually end up adding more onions, more garlic, more herbs and taking away at least half the salt.

[tango-tee]

12. My son and nieces loved it...

Whenever my son comes to visit me here in Germany from Texas, I make a variation of The Unspeakable Tuna Casseroni. That's what he has called it for the past 35 years: Casseroni. Don't ask me why, I don't know.

Fresh mushrooms, sauteed in a good bit of butter (forgive me Doc, for I have sinned!) with finely chopped onions, garlic and herbs such as thyme and oregano. A bit of white wine. Let it bubble a bit.

Add some flaked tuna. Even better, salmon. Not necessarily the canned variety.

But.... and this is Mother Anke's secret to the whole concoction: Make a real béchamel sauce. Don't buy that horrible, packaged, crappy wallpaper glue called white sauce. Make it yourself. It is so easy, and not time-consuming at all. Season your béchamel with a sprinkling of nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste. Perhaps a little paprika, and another gentle touch of garlic? And, if the mood strikes you, a little more white wine.

I've prepared this successfully with peas added to the whole thing, also some sliced carrots.

Our simple family dishes which the grown children will love until their dying day.... I say: Get out of my way, where's the stove?

[tigereye]

15. I used to make mac and cheese from scratch with bechamel

but my son continued to want the boxed kind! :rofl:


When we were kids, my mom often made a cold macaroni salad dish with tuna, carrots and celery. It was very filling and fed 5 kids and parents...


I think she also made a warm version with peas. Oh, and over-cooked pan-fried liver some nights. Ugh.

[beac]

13. Tuna casserole (the recipe with the crushed potato chips) was the

very first thing I ever learned to cook. It was from a book (whose title I've forgotten) that my mother had when she was a girl.

Fortunately, we both grew up to have a bit wider culinary repertoire, but I have fond memories of that heart-attack-in-a-baking-dish goodness.

[The empressof all]

14. OK...I was so depressed today I gave in and ate a box

Luckily i didn't have the Kraft but I did have some Fiber Gourmet. http://www.fibergourmet.com/Mac.aspx I have to say it was equally satisfying and far less guilt producing. I still ate the whole fricken box which isn't a good thing just not as bad. Now I won't have to do that again for a while.

[hippywife]

17. Well, I dare say

that you've probably been lacking in calories the past couple of weeks. I wouldn't be too hard on yourself. :hug:

[The empressof all]

18. Ahhhh If only that were true....

But then again....Ice cream is a liquid right....like water....right? No calories! :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Actually I've been indulging more in a product called Arctic Zero which has only 140 calories a pint. About 44 Carbs in a pint so still not great for me but I feel less guilty and I don't get that awful sugar jitter.

[hippywife]

19. Look...

I was trying to make things all better here. You aren't helping. :rofl:

[Lugnut]

16. OMG!

My daughter calls that Tuna Slop. She loves it. Me? Not so much.

[tigereye]

21. my mom made that, well, without the Kraft part

it was good and cheap and fed 5 kids. So there you go.



But the stuff from scratch is so much better.

[kestrel91316]

22. I have a secret fondness for that sort of glop. It got me through college.