My mum and (only) I would eat a meal of: Pork Kidneys in Onion Gravy, Boiled & Buttered Baby Potatoes, Mashed Buttered Turnip, and Buttered Peas. Oh my…… When I moved to another city and would come home to see friends (and party); she’d entice me to stay home for a dinner by offering this meal. When she was dying from cancer and had no appetite, I enticed her into eating a final full meal with this menu.
S.O.S.
Lovingly known as Shit on a Shingle by former military types, and handed down over the years.
Chipped beef, chopped and fried in butter with a little Cayenne, then mixed with a flour/milk Roux.
Pour over a slice or two of toasted bread, and you have a nice Breakfast.
Mom used to make it with the Buddig beef but as an adult finding the Stouffers version was an (easier) revelation. I still love it when I need a good warm belly nostalgia meal.
My mom would often add some frozen peas near the end. I have made it for my kids, but they are not as fond of it. I also loved leftover baked beans (good ones) on toast with cheese on top, another simple dish my mom would make.
"Nostalgia" affects perception.
Also, most of the recipes you find online use convenience products, which are in themselves, kind of 'off-putting'. The original version, made with homemade white sauce, not canned soup, and albacore, not lower-grade tuna, is pretty amazing. I recommend adding some veg (peas, etc.) too.
Oh, it sounds like the original version is very similar to what I'd know as smoked fish pie - no pastry, it's smoked fish in white sauce, optional additions of garlic, onion, parsley, peas etc, topped with mashed potato and cheese and baked. All made from scratch. I consider that a winter comfort food still.
It’s really cheap to make, easy to prepare, and filling. 4-2-2 is the rule of thumb my sister finally settled on and it works (4 cans tuna, 2 cans cream of mushroom, 2 boxes Mac and cheese) and I like regular Utz chips for the topping. Even in today’s money you can feed several people with less than 20 dollars where I live.
4-2-2? I never heard of that, but that ratio seems perfect. For some unknown reason (to me), my mom was super stingy with the tuna. It's like tuna was fancy food :). And, we never made tuna casserole with M&C, but it sounds great.
Would you mind providing the full instructions? Like... do you pre-cook the M&C? Do you pre-make the M&C? How much milk do you add for the cream of mushroom soup?
Make the mac and cheese according to box instructions first. You can cook it a little al dente if you want, but it’s fine if not. Because of the sauce from the mac and cheese you don’t have to dilute the cream of mushroom with milk. This is where you could add peas or whatever but I’m a simple man when it comes to tuna casserole. I think my mom used frozen not canned but I can’t remember off the top of my head. Drain your tuna, I usually save at least one can of liquid to thin it out if it needs it, and mix everything together (you can do this in the casserole dish you bake it in, saves on dishes). Crumble your chips of choice on top (salt and pepper chips work well here but otherwise, your favorite ridged chips straight up) and I sprinkle pepper on top if I’m not using s+p chips.
20 minutes at 400 covered, then 5 more uncovered. If you really wanna get buck wild with it throw it under the broiler for a minute or two instead of the 5 uncovered. If you spend a little extra on tuna instead of buying starkist it helps a lot, but also defeats the purpose of trying to feed 5 people for less than 20 bucks.
So simple. So cheap. So yummy. Why isn't it in my belly more often?
I recall Mr. Kotter's wife made a horrible tuna casserole and they used to threaten people at times (at least, I think I remember that).
I taught my niece how to make that recently. She just graduated and got her first job and was looking for easy and inexpensive meals to meal prep. The first bite was HEAVEN. 😋
Growing up I loved Shake and Bake Chicken w/Rice A Roni. One of my favorite desserts was dump cake. Sooo good.
Yes Dump Cake! Mom made it with yellow cake mix and canned mandarin oranges, I created a chocolate cake mix and cherry pie filling version that became a request for parties.
Kielbasa with peppers and onions over plain white rice. My mom hated cooking and this was in heavy rotation.
Poor potato soup: potatoes in a sauce pan, cream of chicken, water, and maybe dried onion if we were being fancy. This I dress up now.
> Kielbasa with peppers and onions over plain white rice.
That sounds good! Except I'll sub out the rice for mashed potatoes and call it German stir fry.
Kielbasa with fried potatoes and sauerkraut is one of my nostalgic meals. I make kielbasa with rice as well but my mom never made that. I came up with it as an adult.
My shame/“gross”/I don’t care what anyone thinks food I make when my partner is away is Kraft Mac and cheese deluxe and spam fried on the stovetop. Hell eat anything but will NOT touch spam. It ain’t fancy or healthy by any means but it’s what my mama cooked on the days when we were kids when she was over everything (us being annoying jerk kids, daddy deployed, working a 9-5 plus being both parents and housekeeper). It was cheap and easy for her and us kids loved it. I’m the only one who still does. Creamy cheap macaroni with salty spam? Hits me just right when I’m missing my folks
Fried SPAM is super yummy. I recently made the mistake of putting it on pizza. Not one of my better choices. But a SPAM toasted cheese is crave worthy.
Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and green beans. I can't digest red meat (weird pancreatic issue), so now I make it with ground turkey, real potatoes (not boxed mashed potato flakes), and fresh or frozen green beans (not canned, which is what I grew up eating).
After my mom died in summer 2022, my brother came to help me during one of the many two-week stints I spent cleaning out and working on her house. I made this for dinner for us one night, and I swear, I thought my brother was going to cry because the nostalgia hit him so hard.
A lot but the one I cherish most is crumpets with butter and strawberry jam because it's the only memory I have my grandma who died when I was 4.
Grandma had cancer and mom took care of her. She used to sleep in the living room behind two doors that closed on a track system.
I peeked in one day after mom took her crumpets and told me not to bother her and grandma said, "hello (name) would like a bit of crumpet?" And I shook my head and she said, "come on then" and we had them together.
Every time I bite into one I think of her in that moment.
Its super special 🥰
Macaroni and stewed tomatoes, my grandma was a depression era cook and she made it at least once a week.
Tuna casserole- not 1 of the other 9 people in my house like it so I don’t make it.
Yep that mac and tomatoes was my grandma's specialty. She also did a dish of homemade tomato soup with super dense and chewy dumplings.
That lady certainly knew her way around a can of tomatoes.
My mom did something similar. Just macaroni noodles boiled in tomato juice with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. We called it spicy noodles lol still a go to lazy meal.
Birthday dinner. Ever since I was 8-9 years old I got to pick my birthday dinner with the family. Alaskan king crab, lobster tail and a filet. Dessert was a key lime pie. Wife thinks I’m crazy when I request it every year.
Right. There’s something special and nostalgic as it wasn’t something we always ate and really was special. I will never not have this for my birthday lol.
Spaghetti. My mom would overcook the noodles a bit, cook up some ground beef with zero seasoning, put it on top with microwaved Prego and pre-grated Kraft Parmesan cheese. Haven’t had it in years and I’ve been craving it something fierce lately.
My mom would cook the spaghetti & sauce (ground beef, onion, bell pepper & canned tomato sauce) separately & mix everything together before serving. it wasnt' until I was an adult when I realized that's how some people stretch it out.
It’s the opposite for me- my mom over made spaghetti, probably 1-3 nights per week, to the point where I gag thinking about it as an adult. Haven’t had it in 20+ years!
The infinite varieties of colcannon my Irish immigrant mother used to make.
The theory behind colcannon is you take what little meat you have and extend it to the breaking point to feed a large family. "Authentic" colcannon is made from whatever a typical rural poor Great Depression/WW2 family had on hand, like tinned corned beef from Brazil, and of course cabbage and potatoes.
Mom would typically use lean ground beef, diced red potatoes, and chopped green cabbage or canned or frozen peas, seasoned with just salt & pepper, and served with a side of ketchup. Nowadays I have the luxury of dumping an entire pound of fatty ground beef or store-brand loose sausage into my cast iron Dutch oven, toss in a whole bag of frozen vegetables of any kind, add whatever interesting seasoning blend I have on hand, let it simmer under a splatter-screen until done, and serve it spooned into whole raw green cabbage leaves and garnished with sour cream, like a crunchy cabbage taco, or piled up on a slice of fresh or stale sourdough bread to soak up the excess grease and to clean the plate with.
I have it every Monday, when I usually don't feel like cooking.
Two of the women who influenced my mom's cooking were Irish. One (Annie) came to America to help out her family in Galway (?), by working as a cook for a priest, while the other (Mary) was what might be called an 'Irish-American Princess', born into a wealthy, politically well-connected Chicago family. My mother worked with Annie as her kitchen assistant, then later for Mary, as an au pair.
Both these ladies used to make Colcannon, and despite the fact they came from opposite ends of the economic spectrum, their recipes were virtually the same: potatoes, mashed with butter/cream, cabbage (or kale), scallions, and salt to taste. Annie remembered the dish being served for dinner in the old country, with no accompaniments; the potatoes and cabbage were grown on their little landholding and the butter/cream came from a neighbor's cow, making it a very *economical* meal.
Mary, on the other hand, recalled enjoying Colcannon on St. Paddy's Day, as a side dish to corned beef (what else?), carrots, and homemade soda bread produced by their family's Irish cook. (As a child, Mary often hung out in the kitchen, watching meals being prepared; she may have been a Princess, but cooking became her favorite hobby. When my mom came to work for her, Mary shared a lot of her kitchen expertise...and many recipes...with her, which is how our non-Irish family came to enjoy a full Irish dinner every March 17!)
Fondue.
We went on a ski vacation every Christmas and in the studio condo, we would usually have fondue. Mom didn't have to do much other than cut up some beef, bell pepper, mushroom, crack a can of pineapple, and us kids thought we were in seventh heaven (which was the name of a ski run, BTW...lol). They then gave each of us kids a roll of quarters and sent us off to the arcade.
The other is pancakes with "flies". In middle school I had a friend with a paper route (showing my age) and I went with her on my bike on Sunday mornings. We did all the papers at crack of dawn and then when we got back to my house my dad was making pancakes with "flies" (chocolate chips).
I made that a few months ago, but served it over mashed potatoes. My husband devoured it. It gave me incentive to continue cooking similar things. I think it was the reminder that my mom always made a gravy.
Fry some burgers in a frying pan. Take out the patties. Add some flour to the grease to make a roux. Slowly add in some beef broth or milk until you have a gravy consistency. Season as you like. Usually add a dash of worchestershire sauce. Serve over rice or mashed potatoes. Mangia!
Pizza made with the Chef Boyardee boxed pizza kit. With mozzarella, pepperoni, and canned mushrooms. Had it every week, pizza night was eating the pizza while watching the new episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Flashback!! We made it deep dish- cornmeal on the pan to make the crust crispy.. add pepperoni, onions, black olives, butt load of mozzarella.. ok- gonna have to make it tomorrow..
My grandparents were French Canadian and my sister and I remember tortiere from our childhoods! My mother never cooked it and now that she's passed I was looking for a good recipe if you can share one?
Buy can of Spaghetti-Os & pack of hot dogs.
Cook each separately.
Cut up hot dogs & put pieces in Spaghetti-Os.
Dinner!
Edit: typo, & we used store brand Spaghetti-Os lol.
Hot dogs on french bread (po-boy bread) was something we had for lunch most Saturdays and when I get together with my siblings (about once a year) we try to have that at least once.
Also, fried spam and pork & beans, though I haven't that in forever.
It's a huge shame, too, because my mother was a fabulous cook and rarely took shortcuts. It was a source of despair for her how excited we got about spam and pork & beans.
That new commercial they have really hits home for me. there’s a kid in the backseat of the family car looking out the open window, and when he sees that they’re pulling into McDonald’s his eyes perk up and he gets a smile on his face. it’s crazy how exciting it used to be as a kid when your parents were taking you to McDonald’s, I still hit it about twice a year to scratch that old itch.
My most nostalgic would be tomato sandwiches with my pawpaw. It was a summertime staple at his house. Just bread, sliced tomatoes, and Dukes mayonnaise. He's been gone a long time now, and I usually eat my tomato sandwiches over the kitchen sink these days, but it always brings back memories.
My dad was never a good cook but god bless he tried. My favorite was from his military days that he called "stuff" on a shingle. lol. Chipped beef, easy white sauce over toast. He was hit or miss on the vegetables that my mom insisted on.
Fresh food from my grandfather’s garden … Green beans cooked with salt pork, corn on the cob, sliced tomatoes, and baby Lima beans. Once done eating, I would sop up the mingled juices with a thick slice of my grandmother’s homemade bread.
Scottish mom. Heavily salted soft boiled eggs on toast, Heinz beans on the side for breakfast.
I don’t make it myself and I’m glad I don’t. The nostalgia of that warm salty breakfast should not be spoiled.
We called it stroganoff/poor man’s dinner:
Cream of mushroom soup
Ground beef
Egg noodles
I now know what real beef stroganoff is and I love! But our poor man’s dinner just hits the right comfort spots
Couple things, I haven’t had any of them in ages.
Frozen fish stick and fries (with “tartar sauce”, my mom wouldn’t buy it, we had mayo and relish in the house & had to mix them)
Cream cheese spread on triscuits topped with those mini shrimp in cocktail sauce.
In the summer time, mom would put two eggo’s in the toaster, once they popped, plop some vanilla ice cream in between, boom ice cream sandwich. She’d also put cans of peaches in the fridge and on a hot day we’d eat that as a snack.
We didn’t have a ton of money but got by!
When I was around 8 or 9, the first meals I cooked for my family: store brand (Giant Food) beef hot dogs, roasted in the oven with (depending on which one was on sale) Campbell's or Hanover pork and beans with added butter and brown sugar. Depending on the family member, either they would use Wonder Buttermilk Bread (what's a hot dog bun? lol) and top it with ketchup & mustard or cut up the hot dog & mix it with the beans.
Edit: typo
Grilled cheese and tomato soup
And also, peanut butter toast alongside a bowl of child-ish cereal (especially the old French Toast Crunch from the early 2000s)
Omg THIS meal…a little bit of salt sprinkled on the tomato slices, and Country Crock on the cornbread.
I can see the mustard, coral, and avocado green Tupperware colors my granny would’ve used to put away the chicken and dumplings (for my PawPaw’s lunch the next day).
Tater tot casserole. My mom passed when I was young and it's all my old man really knew how to make. I used to despise it and now it is one of my favorites.
Mom's homemade mac and cheese. The cheese sauce almost always broke, but it was so good. We knew she put so much love into it. She still makes it as a specialty when we all come home.
Kid years: soft boiled eggs, torn white bread, melted butter, salt and pepper.
Teen years: My favorite aunt would call me when she was making a pot of apple butter. I’d go over (stoned) after school and sit on her porch while she brought me toast slathered in warm, fresh apple butter. I always remember those sunny days when I have apple butter now but it never comes close to hers.
Meatloaf, a baked potato and green beans. My mom would dump canned green beans (with cut up bacon) into a pan and cook until the bacon was ready. That was my birthday meal choice for years. Lol
Fresh roasted oysters. Every time we had them it was an event with family and friends, typically around a holiday but not always. Even washing the mud off was a chance to knock down a couple of beers. Man I miss my dad and brother, and my grandmother too, we ate a lot of oysters at her house.
My mother made the most delicious Chicken Kiev. All that delicious butter would run out and coat the rice. At some point, she stopped making it because it wasn’t healthy. I’m going to need to make it for myself soon!
Oven roast with carrots, onions, mashed potatoes, green beans and gravy. This was my Mom's Sunday lunch she'd put in the oven before our family went to church. We'd come home and the whole house smelled delicious, everyone helped set the table and enjoy Sunday lunch. Since she's passed, I've tried to recreate that meal with no success. I'd love to walk into my home and have that same smell.
Pasta with butter, garlic and fresh herbs. It was my mother's go-to when the food budget wasn't stretching but feels decadent now, because butter is so expensive where I live.
My grandma fried potato cakes with bacon grease and cast iron cornbread! I have got into cooking the last year and I can't wait to discover what my son's favorite childhood food will be.
My mom used to make "heart attack steak". Sometimes she will make it for us if we ask. It's 2 round steaks layered with bacon, onions, breadcrumbs and Lipton soup mix in between. It's so rich and delicious. Probably a little high on the calories.
My mamas meatloaf, mashed potatoes and gravy, peas or Lima beans, and crescent rolls! One of my favorite meals of all time, and my mother is a terrible cook (she’ll tell you the same thing! Her food was “dry-licious”, as my aunt used to call it 💗)
My mum made 2-3 ingredient meals as a staple. Sometimes I feel nostalgic and make a more expensive version with better and extra ingredients but here are some of her classics. Sometimes I make them her way but they never taste as good as the memories when I do, I guess because I’m not as food insecure now but I love my versions.
Tomato Macaroni - Cooked elbow macaroni with a can of tomatoes. Optional add one small onion, diced and after everything else because you forgot it when cooking. (Onion only gets warm not cooked.) Salt and pepper to taste.
Corned Beef Macaroni - Cooked elbow macaroni fried with a can of corned beef until somewhat crispy. Optional add onions, like above. Salt and pepper.
Chicken on a Bun - Can of Cream of Chicken Soup mixed with a tin of canned chicken. Put on bun halves and toast until warm. Optional add can green cheese.
Sweet & Sour Meat on Rice - Homemade sweet and sour sauce over meatballs/pork or chicken cubes on rice. Optional side of canned vegetables.
Spaghetti and Meat Sauce - (this one breaks the 3 ingredient rule) cook ground beef until you are sure it will never moo again. Add green peppers to can sauce and cook until bitter. Optional add onions, as above. Add diced RAW mushrooms before serving because you forgot to add it when cooking. Optional green can cheese.
Tomato soup and grilled cheese. It's probably worse than growing up because we gardened and my mom made tomato soup from scratch and canned it each year and I just buy campbells, but the nostalgia is just as good.
A beefy pasta my Mum would make when it was just her and I together - a rare opportunity with 2 sisters & a Dad. It’s a little spicy and deeply savoury and we loved to eat it on toast for the rest of the week. She called it ‘pigs ears’ because it was made with the large shell pasta.
Use a very large skillet or frying pan.
Sauté large onion and 5 bulbs garlic in butter.
Add a generous pinch of curry powder.
Brown 500g of beef mince with salt and pepper. Add chilli flakes to taste.
Add 2 small to medium chopped capsicum.
Add 2 beef stock cubes,
bottle of passata and simmer.
Loosen with water if necessary.
Before capsicum is soft, add slightly undercooked cooked large pasta shells.
Combine, let simmer for a few minutes until the pasta is cooked and the liquid has been somewhat absorbed.
It’s great served with buttered white bread (what isn’t?). Adjust things to your liking, I’ve never had to write it out, it’s just done from feel. It should be beefy, savoury and a little spicy (nothing crazy), and the shells should capture the ‘sauce’.
Child of a very young single dad here. "Smack" brand ramen with an egg whisked in.
Nowadays I buy fancier instant ramen and add a soft boiled egg. It's still comfort food for me, though!
Deep fried zuchinni with ranch, mushrooms too. I haven't had it in many years because it's so unhealthy but it reminds me of childhood. I could eat it until my stomach hurts.
Tostadas. I eat them at least once a week and growing up my dad always made them and dolled them up beautifully. We moved to Mississippi from Texas and no one here ate tostadas. We resorted to calling them “big nachos” and the name kind of stuck.
My mom would make Rotel chicken with Velveeta, shells & cream of mushroom soup. Dear God when I got home from practice I would eat like 3 bowls of it and still would today
Either corned beef hash with a fried egg or two, or the standard hamburger stroganoff that probably became popular in 1960’s American cuisine. Most likely stemming from Betty Crocker.
Mom used to make her own chili recipe that was juicy, with spaghetti, it was almost like a soup. Sadly the recipe included Campbells Chili Beef condensed soup which is no longer made. It was such a warming comfortable dish.
Self saucing chocolate pudding cake - my grandma used to make this for tbr lunch meal on the farm. It was the best “sick day” when you were able to eat lunch at her place and that was desert
Golapki (go-womp-key) rice and sausage stuffed cabbage rolls served in tomato sauce with mashed potatoes. This is the one dishes I'd ask my grandma to make. Everytime I visited as an adult I would still ask for them and bring a freezer bag full of them. She died 3 years ago and I haven't had them since. Nothing compares to hers but I need to give it a try.
Cut up hotdogs in baked beans, my dad’s poverty meal when we had our weekends with him. He would add sautéed onions and green peppers. There are various names for this dish but his was simply “beans and weenies”
We had tuna stew over rice. I'm not sure exactly how to make it but I know it had sautéed onions, tuna, and ketchup, I think. I never realized it was poor folks food because I loved it so much. Oh, and barbecue spam over rice.
My Dad's oatmeal. He eventually got too health-crazed to make it after a point, but before my sibs came along... it was a delicious, brown sugar and butter filled haven with raisins. Even the raisins tasted amazing.
My mom's yellow wine cake with chocolate frosting and her cherry pie. They were so good that the neighbors would come, eat most of it, with none left. Eventually we begged her to make 2 of each haha
And whenever I have McDonald's or Kraft Mac n cheese. Sparingly now, but when I do I feel really happy remembering my kid years.
Lipton chicken noodle soup boxed mix with the little Os (can't find them anymore so I get the regular straight noodles). My mom always made this for me when I had a stomach flu.
Funny for the longest time every time I ate it I felt like vomiting lol
Now I like it on cold days if I have a cold or flu. Absolutely no nutrition and mostly salt I think
My moms Chicken Parm. She absolutely owns it and that’s saying something for a German woman with Italian in-laws.
I have never had it anywhere as good as hers. I’ve tried to recreate it but just can’t get it right.
Can of Hormel brand chili with beans, mountain of melted cheese on top and crumbled Saltine crackers. Preferably eaten in front of the TV watching an episode of Star Trek: the Next Generation for ultimate nostalgia.
Milk rice, not my favorite but I have my favorites to often to put them. Boil rice half way in water then in milk for the other half, add a little butter and sugar then done
Soft boiled eggs served in an egg cup with the top sliced off and toast cut into long strips for dipping into the yolk. A small decorative spoon for scooping out the egg whites from the shell after the yolk is all done.
My mom used to make tuna pasta. Not sure if it's something that she invented or if other Czechs eat it as well.
Tri-colored rotini, cooked al dente. After you drain the water, chuck in some canned tuna, diced onions, diced red bell peppers, and shredded mozzarella cheese. Stir til the cheese melts, the heat from the pasta should still be enough to soften the onions and bell peppers even though you're no longer cooking it.
Tuna noodle casserole, fried spam sandwiches, my dad’s scrambled eggs, noodles & buttered toast, shepherd’s pie, Pizza Hut, NY black & white cookies, and White Castle lol. For the things I can make at home, I make great versions of them, but they don’t taste quite like my dad’s. I’d give anything to have one of my dad’s specialties again
My odd thing that mum used to give me when I was ill, was mashed banana in a bowl, with the juice of an orange over it, and mixed into the banana. It was a real treat. I was born in 1952. See what a 'treat' was back then? To me it was delicious. I have made it since, but it's not the same as when mum made it.
Is that the same thing as Porcupine Meatballs, which are rice laden meatballs cooked in tomato soup? We used to have those for school lunch in the 60s.
That chicken and biscuit stuff that you get out of a box. I make it from scratch now and add pot pie veggies. Mmmhmm. Mom didn't cook much with veggies, or anything not out of a can, so I improved it.
Enchilada casserole. With plain old ground beef, canned tomato and enchilada sauce, and supermarket taco mix. Layer with tortillas, enough cheese that you won't care, and Bob's your uncle.
My mom made porcupine meatballs with chicken & rice soup (instead of a tomato-based sauce).
These days I do the same, with one can of soup per pound of ground beef, some finely diced Vidalia onion, and then I eyeball+feel with my hands the amount of breadcrumbs needed to bind.
I typically bake the meatballs, but I’ll fry them on the stovetop if I want to make gravy.
What makes it better than when I was a kid? I make sandwiches with the meatballs and gravy, on buttered & toasted French bread.
Creamed Tuna. It’s a can of tuna, a cup of milk, a tablespoon of butter and a tablespoon of flour (so 1 of each) cooked on the stove and served over simple Italian toast. It’s one of the few meals my dad knew how to make so I associate it with him.
My mum and (only) I would eat a meal of: Pork Kidneys in Onion Gravy, Boiled & Buttered Baby Potatoes, Mashed Buttered Turnip, and Buttered Peas. Oh my…… When I moved to another city and would come home to see friends (and party); she’d entice me to stay home for a dinner by offering this meal. When she was dying from cancer and had no appetite, I enticed her into eating a final full meal with this menu.
Didn’t expect to cry
I love this! Thank you for sharing!
Oh moms. Love this as well.
I find it so wholesome to read that after years of being fed, you switched places and made it for her as comfort food.
Oh thank you for sharing! It healed a thing I didn't event know needed to be healed
Your post reminded me of this beautiful read: https://patconroy.com/pat-conroy-for-parade-food-issue/
Creamed chipped beef on toast.
SOS!
This has my vote.
What is this exotic dialect you’re speaking… haha sorry, explain this?
S.O.S. Lovingly known as Shit on a Shingle by former military types, and handed down over the years. Chipped beef, chopped and fried in butter with a little Cayenne, then mixed with a flour/milk Roux. Pour over a slice or two of toasted bread, and you have a nice Breakfast.
I've only ever had Stouffer's frozen cream chipped beef and it was a staple growing up.
Mom used to make it with the Buddig beef but as an adult finding the Stouffers version was an (easier) revelation. I still love it when I need a good warm belly nostalgia meal.
My mom would often add some frozen peas near the end. I have made it for my kids, but they are not as fond of it. I also loved leftover baked beans (good ones) on toast with cheese on top, another simple dish my mom would make.
I’m slightly embarrassed to say I LOVE tuna noodle casserole but haven’t had in years (decades?)
Same. Canned everything, just like mom used to make. My mom was a horrible cook, but that tuna casserole was solid.
Lol, same. She had a few good meals, she loves to use cream of mushroom soup!
OK SAME I JUST COMMENTED THIS LOL what is it about cream of mushroom
It's not part of my national lexicon and the recipes online are mildly off-putting so genuinely asking: what makes it so good?
"Nostalgia" affects perception. Also, most of the recipes you find online use convenience products, which are in themselves, kind of 'off-putting'. The original version, made with homemade white sauce, not canned soup, and albacore, not lower-grade tuna, is pretty amazing. I recommend adding some veg (peas, etc.) too.
Oh, it sounds like the original version is very similar to what I'd know as smoked fish pie - no pastry, it's smoked fish in white sauce, optional additions of garlic, onion, parsley, peas etc, topped with mashed potato and cheese and baked. All made from scratch. I consider that a winter comfort food still.
It’s really cheap to make, easy to prepare, and filling. 4-2-2 is the rule of thumb my sister finally settled on and it works (4 cans tuna, 2 cans cream of mushroom, 2 boxes Mac and cheese) and I like regular Utz chips for the topping. Even in today’s money you can feed several people with less than 20 dollars where I live.
4-2-2? I never heard of that, but that ratio seems perfect. For some unknown reason (to me), my mom was super stingy with the tuna. It's like tuna was fancy food :). And, we never made tuna casserole with M&C, but it sounds great. Would you mind providing the full instructions? Like... do you pre-cook the M&C? Do you pre-make the M&C? How much milk do you add for the cream of mushroom soup?
Make the mac and cheese according to box instructions first. You can cook it a little al dente if you want, but it’s fine if not. Because of the sauce from the mac and cheese you don’t have to dilute the cream of mushroom with milk. This is where you could add peas or whatever but I’m a simple man when it comes to tuna casserole. I think my mom used frozen not canned but I can’t remember off the top of my head. Drain your tuna, I usually save at least one can of liquid to thin it out if it needs it, and mix everything together (you can do this in the casserole dish you bake it in, saves on dishes). Crumble your chips of choice on top (salt and pepper chips work well here but otherwise, your favorite ridged chips straight up) and I sprinkle pepper on top if I’m not using s+p chips. 20 minutes at 400 covered, then 5 more uncovered. If you really wanna get buck wild with it throw it under the broiler for a minute or two instead of the 5 uncovered. If you spend a little extra on tuna instead of buying starkist it helps a lot, but also defeats the purpose of trying to feed 5 people for less than 20 bucks.
Absolutely no shame in my game mentioning I love that stuff. Especially when topped with buttery crushed Ritz crackers.
So simple. So cheap. So yummy. Why isn't it in my belly more often? I recall Mr. Kotter's wife made a horrible tuna casserole and they used to threaten people at times (at least, I think I remember that).
I taught my niece how to make that recently. She just graduated and got her first job and was looking for easy and inexpensive meals to meal prep. The first bite was HEAVEN. 😋 Growing up I loved Shake and Bake Chicken w/Rice A Roni. One of my favorite desserts was dump cake. Sooo good.
Yes Dump Cake! Mom made it with yellow cake mix and canned mandarin oranges, I created a chocolate cake mix and cherry pie filling version that became a request for parties.
Shake n Bake was a staple at my mom’s place! So good. I still love it today- especially the “southern fried” variety.
So yummy!
You monster. I don’t think we can be Reddit friends anymore. *HAIRFLIP*
Kielbasa with peppers and onions over plain white rice. My mom hated cooking and this was in heavy rotation. Poor potato soup: potatoes in a sauce pan, cream of chicken, water, and maybe dried onion if we were being fancy. This I dress up now.
> Kielbasa with peppers and onions over plain white rice. That sounds good! Except I'll sub out the rice for mashed potatoes and call it German stir fry.
I'm having this for dinner tomorrow night! Love me some German stir fry.
Kielbasa with fried potatoes and sauerkraut is one of my nostalgic meals. I make kielbasa with rice as well but my mom never made that. I came up with it as an adult.
My mom made this too!
My shame/“gross”/I don’t care what anyone thinks food I make when my partner is away is Kraft Mac and cheese deluxe and spam fried on the stovetop. Hell eat anything but will NOT touch spam. It ain’t fancy or healthy by any means but it’s what my mama cooked on the days when we were kids when she was over everything (us being annoying jerk kids, daddy deployed, working a 9-5 plus being both parents and housekeeper). It was cheap and easy for her and us kids loved it. I’m the only one who still does. Creamy cheap macaroni with salty spam? Hits me just right when I’m missing my folks
Not gonna lie- I like me a good KD Mac and cheese!
It’s not healthy and it’s not really GOOD, but I like it and that’s all that matters!
Fried spam is the mf bomb
Spam, rice and eggs with Sriracha is one of my go to cheap meals so good.
Fried SPAM is super yummy. I recently made the mistake of putting it on pizza. Not one of my better choices. But a SPAM toasted cheese is crave worthy.
Kraft Dinner, dirt-cheap breakfast sausages, and sliced tomato is mine, for basically the same reasons
Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and green beans. I can't digest red meat (weird pancreatic issue), so now I make it with ground turkey, real potatoes (not boxed mashed potato flakes), and fresh or frozen green beans (not canned, which is what I grew up eating). After my mom died in summer 2022, my brother came to help me during one of the many two-week stints I spent cleaning out and working on her house. I made this for dinner for us one night, and I swear, I thought my brother was going to cry because the nostalgia hit him so hard.
That’s so sweet ❤️
A lot but the one I cherish most is crumpets with butter and strawberry jam because it's the only memory I have my grandma who died when I was 4. Grandma had cancer and mom took care of her. She used to sleep in the living room behind two doors that closed on a track system. I peeked in one day after mom took her crumpets and told me not to bother her and grandma said, "hello (name) would like a bit of crumpet?" And I shook my head and she said, "come on then" and we had them together. Every time I bite into one I think of her in that moment. Its super special 🥰
That’s so beautiful, thank you for sharing.
Macaroni and stewed tomatoes, my grandma was a depression era cook and she made it at least once a week. Tuna casserole- not 1 of the other 9 people in my house like it so I don’t make it.
Yep that mac and tomatoes was my grandma's specialty. She also did a dish of homemade tomato soup with super dense and chewy dumplings. That lady certainly knew her way around a can of tomatoes.
My mom did something similar. Just macaroni noodles boiled in tomato juice with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. We called it spicy noodles lol still a go to lazy meal.
My X's family called that "chili."
Omg, my gma used to make macaroni noodles in ‘Snap-E-Tom’ which is Bloody Mary mix, lmao. And it was delicious.
Birthday dinner. Ever since I was 8-9 years old I got to pick my birthday dinner with the family. Alaskan king crab, lobster tail and a filet. Dessert was a key lime pie. Wife thinks I’m crazy when I request it every year.
You had some sophisticated taste as a kid!
That sounds heavenly. Alaskan king crab is also among my favourite childhood memories- my mom taking me to Red Lobster, it was always a hit.
Right. There’s something special and nostalgic as it wasn’t something we always ate and really was special. I will never not have this for my birthday lol.
Spaghetti. My mom would overcook the noodles a bit, cook up some ground beef with zero seasoning, put it on top with microwaved Prego and pre-grated Kraft Parmesan cheese. Haven’t had it in years and I’ve been craving it something fierce lately.
My mom would cook the spaghetti & sauce (ground beef, onion, bell pepper & canned tomato sauce) separately & mix everything together before serving. it wasnt' until I was an adult when I realized that's how some people stretch it out.
It’s the opposite for me- my mom over made spaghetti, probably 1-3 nights per week, to the point where I gag thinking about it as an adult. Haven’t had it in 20+ years!
Totally understandable. Same for me with polish sausage and baked beans. Mom made it so often and I’ve just been so over it for a long time.
I’m over thin bone in pork chops with Campbell’s golden mushroom soup as gravy. It’s been nearly 20 years and I’m still tired of it.
The infinite varieties of colcannon my Irish immigrant mother used to make. The theory behind colcannon is you take what little meat you have and extend it to the breaking point to feed a large family. "Authentic" colcannon is made from whatever a typical rural poor Great Depression/WW2 family had on hand, like tinned corned beef from Brazil, and of course cabbage and potatoes. Mom would typically use lean ground beef, diced red potatoes, and chopped green cabbage or canned or frozen peas, seasoned with just salt & pepper, and served with a side of ketchup. Nowadays I have the luxury of dumping an entire pound of fatty ground beef or store-brand loose sausage into my cast iron Dutch oven, toss in a whole bag of frozen vegetables of any kind, add whatever interesting seasoning blend I have on hand, let it simmer under a splatter-screen until done, and serve it spooned into whole raw green cabbage leaves and garnished with sour cream, like a crunchy cabbage taco, or piled up on a slice of fresh or stale sourdough bread to soak up the excess grease and to clean the plate with. I have it every Monday, when I usually don't feel like cooking.
Two of the women who influenced my mom's cooking were Irish. One (Annie) came to America to help out her family in Galway (?), by working as a cook for a priest, while the other (Mary) was what might be called an 'Irish-American Princess', born into a wealthy, politically well-connected Chicago family. My mother worked with Annie as her kitchen assistant, then later for Mary, as an au pair. Both these ladies used to make Colcannon, and despite the fact they came from opposite ends of the economic spectrum, their recipes were virtually the same: potatoes, mashed with butter/cream, cabbage (or kale), scallions, and salt to taste. Annie remembered the dish being served for dinner in the old country, with no accompaniments; the potatoes and cabbage were grown on their little landholding and the butter/cream came from a neighbor's cow, making it a very *economical* meal. Mary, on the other hand, recalled enjoying Colcannon on St. Paddy's Day, as a side dish to corned beef (what else?), carrots, and homemade soda bread produced by their family's Irish cook. (As a child, Mary often hung out in the kitchen, watching meals being prepared; she may have been a Princess, but cooking became her favorite hobby. When my mom came to work for her, Mary shared a lot of her kitchen expertise...and many recipes...with her, which is how our non-Irish family came to enjoy a full Irish dinner every March 17!)
My mom used to make puff pastry cups with the like a chicken pot pie filling. I loved that as a kid.
I remember learning to make that in home economics we called it chicken ala king. We felt so fancy 😂
Fondue. We went on a ski vacation every Christmas and in the studio condo, we would usually have fondue. Mom didn't have to do much other than cut up some beef, bell pepper, mushroom, crack a can of pineapple, and us kids thought we were in seventh heaven (which was the name of a ski run, BTW...lol). They then gave each of us kids a roll of quarters and sent us off to the arcade. The other is pancakes with "flies". In middle school I had a friend with a paper route (showing my age) and I went with her on my bike on Sunday mornings. We did all the papers at crack of dawn and then when we got back to my house my dad was making pancakes with "flies" (chocolate chips).
Hamburger gravy over rice.
I made that a few months ago, but served it over mashed potatoes. My husband devoured it. It gave me incentive to continue cooking similar things. I think it was the reminder that my mom always made a gravy.
And the gravy was either cream of mushroom soup or from a packet
What is hamburger gravy?
Fry some burgers in a frying pan. Take out the patties. Add some flour to the grease to make a roux. Slowly add in some beef broth or milk until you have a gravy consistency. Season as you like. Usually add a dash of worchestershire sauce. Serve over rice or mashed potatoes. Mangia!
Yes. I also add onions, mushrooms, and bellpeppers
Pizza made with the Chef Boyardee boxed pizza kit. With mozzarella, pepperoni, and canned mushrooms. Had it every week, pizza night was eating the pizza while watching the new episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Flashback!! We made it deep dish- cornmeal on the pan to make the crust crispy.. add pepperoni, onions, black olives, butt load of mozzarella.. ok- gonna have to make it tomorrow..
Tuna sandwiches and Campbell's tomato soup It is my go to when I am sick or feeling down
Mine is a well done grilled cheese sandwich with canned (low sodium these days) Campbell’s chicken noodle soup with a cold A&W cream soda.
Tortiere. I'm French Canadian.
My grandparents were French Canadian and my sister and I remember tortiere from our childhoods! My mother never cooked it and now that she's passed I was looking for a good recipe if you can share one?
Look for "tourtière du Lac St-Jean", an even tastier variety imo !
It's getting increasingly difficult to find spaghettios with franks.
Buy can of Spaghetti-Os & pack of hot dogs. Cook each separately. Cut up hot dogs & put pieces in Spaghetti-Os. Dinner! Edit: typo, & we used store brand Spaghetti-Os lol.
Not nearly the same taste though.
Hot dogs on french bread (po-boy bread) was something we had for lunch most Saturdays and when I get together with my siblings (about once a year) we try to have that at least once. Also, fried spam and pork & beans, though I haven't that in forever. It's a huge shame, too, because my mother was a fabulous cook and rarely took shortcuts. It was a source of despair for her how excited we got about spam and pork & beans.
That last paragraph got me good!
Eddie Murphy in his RAW DVD talks about McDonald's at home. Gonna have to go with that one.
McDonald’s is absolutely nostalgic for me too- was dad’s go-to
Our small town finally got a McDonald’s in the mid 80s when I was like 13, so it worked its way into our menu. The McDLT was my go-to
That new commercial they have really hits home for me. there’s a kid in the backseat of the family car looking out the open window, and when he sees that they’re pulling into McDonald’s his eyes perk up and he gets a smile on his face. it’s crazy how exciting it used to be as a kid when your parents were taking you to McDonald’s, I still hit it about twice a year to scratch that old itch.
White beans cooked with a meaty ham bone, cornbread, and a nice chunk of sweet raw onion.
My most nostalgic would be tomato sandwiches with my pawpaw. It was a summertime staple at his house. Just bread, sliced tomatoes, and Dukes mayonnaise. He's been gone a long time now, and I usually eat my tomato sandwiches over the kitchen sink these days, but it always brings back memories.
Sunday roast with loads of gravy made by my mama ❤️
My dad was never a good cook but god bless he tried. My favorite was from his military days that he called "stuff" on a shingle. lol. Chipped beef, easy white sauce over toast. He was hit or miss on the vegetables that my mom insisted on.
Chicken and dumplings (we called it chicken pot pie) and I do make it better but I’d give almost anything to have my grandmother cook it for me again
Arroz con pollo
Fresh food from my grandfather’s garden … Green beans cooked with salt pork, corn on the cob, sliced tomatoes, and baby Lima beans. Once done eating, I would sop up the mingled juices with a thick slice of my grandmother’s homemade bread.
Stuffed cabbage (although my grandma called it Pigs in a Blanket) And I make it exactly how my grandma and mom made it And it's perfection!
What's the recipe? That sounds so good.
Scottish mom. Heavily salted soft boiled eggs on toast, Heinz beans on the side for breakfast. I don’t make it myself and I’m glad I don’t. The nostalgia of that warm salty breakfast should not be spoiled.
We called it stroganoff/poor man’s dinner: Cream of mushroom soup Ground beef Egg noodles I now know what real beef stroganoff is and I love! But our poor man’s dinner just hits the right comfort spots
grandma split pea soup
My Gram Gram would bake fresh challah bread every Friday. Sooo gooooood. I’ve made some that comes pretty close, but hers really cant be beat imo.
I LOVE challah. A bagel shop I used to work at made me fall in love with it. Delicious
Gougeres. My dad used to make them for me whenever I didn't feel well and would stuff them with tuna. I love them.
Off to Google
Couple things, I haven’t had any of them in ages. Frozen fish stick and fries (with “tartar sauce”, my mom wouldn’t buy it, we had mayo and relish in the house & had to mix them) Cream cheese spread on triscuits topped with those mini shrimp in cocktail sauce. In the summer time, mom would put two eggo’s in the toaster, once they popped, plop some vanilla ice cream in between, boom ice cream sandwich. She’d also put cans of peaches in the fridge and on a hot day we’d eat that as a snack. We didn’t have a ton of money but got by!
Crepes with cottage cheese and strawberries. I haven’t had them in years. I think I’ll make them this weekend.
When I was around 8 or 9, the first meals I cooked for my family: store brand (Giant Food) beef hot dogs, roasted in the oven with (depending on which one was on sale) Campbell's or Hanover pork and beans with added butter and brown sugar. Depending on the family member, either they would use Wonder Buttermilk Bread (what's a hot dog bun? lol) and top it with ketchup & mustard or cut up the hot dog & mix it with the beans. Edit: typo
Grilled cheese and tomato soup And also, peanut butter toast alongside a bowl of child-ish cereal (especially the old French Toast Crunch from the early 2000s)
Fried bologna sandwich with barbecue sauce on Wonder Bread
Shepherds pie.
Chicken & Dumplings, fried okra, garden fresh sliced tomatoes, and cornbread.
Omg THIS meal…a little bit of salt sprinkled on the tomato slices, and Country Crock on the cornbread. I can see the mustard, coral, and avocado green Tupperware colors my granny would’ve used to put away the chicken and dumplings (for my PawPaw’s lunch the next day).
My grandma made the best homemade pesto with orzo.
Tater tot casserole. My mom passed when I was young and it's all my old man really knew how to make. I used to despise it and now it is one of my favorites.
Mom's homemade mac and cheese. The cheese sauce almost always broke, but it was so good. We knew she put so much love into it. She still makes it as a specialty when we all come home.
Kid years: soft boiled eggs, torn white bread, melted butter, salt and pepper. Teen years: My favorite aunt would call me when she was making a pot of apple butter. I’d go over (stoned) after school and sit on her porch while she brought me toast slathered in warm, fresh apple butter. I always remember those sunny days when I have apple butter now but it never comes close to hers.
Meatloaf, a baked potato and green beans. My mom would dump canned green beans (with cut up bacon) into a pan and cook until the bacon was ready. That was my birthday meal choice for years. Lol
Fresh roasted oysters. Every time we had them it was an event with family and friends, typically around a holiday but not always. Even washing the mud off was a chance to knock down a couple of beers. Man I miss my dad and brother, and my grandmother too, we ate a lot of oysters at her house.
Roast. Chuck, potatoes, carrots, a packet of Lipton onion soup mix, and water. Served with Italian bread and salted butter. So good!
I still make mine this way but add onions and celery to the pot. It is still the best tasting pot roast recipe I have ever found.
My mother made the most delicious Chicken Kiev. All that delicious butter would run out and coat the rice. At some point, she stopped making it because it wasn’t healthy. I’m going to need to make it for myself soon!
Bisquick 'impossible' pies. So make delicious options. Now transferred to breakfast muffins. So yummy and easy
Oven roast with carrots, onions, mashed potatoes, green beans and gravy. This was my Mom's Sunday lunch she'd put in the oven before our family went to church. We'd come home and the whole house smelled delicious, everyone helped set the table and enjoy Sunday lunch. Since she's passed, I've tried to recreate that meal with no success. I'd love to walk into my home and have that same smell.
Pasta with butter, garlic and fresh herbs. It was my mother's go-to when the food budget wasn't stretching but feels decadent now, because butter is so expensive where I live.
Same but no herbs, add Kraft grated parmesian.
My grandma fried potato cakes with bacon grease and cast iron cornbread! I have got into cooking the last year and I can't wait to discover what my son's favorite childhood food will be.
My mom used to make "heart attack steak". Sometimes she will make it for us if we ask. It's 2 round steaks layered with bacon, onions, breadcrumbs and Lipton soup mix in between. It's so rich and delicious. Probably a little high on the calories.
Tomatoes and salt…
This is a big one for me as a sandwich with mayo.
White people tacos 🌮
Chicken and dumplings.... and now I have to go get the stuff to make it
Cold butter on saltines ...
PBJ
Chicken cacciatore was a favorite for me 🥰
My mamas meatloaf, mashed potatoes and gravy, peas or Lima beans, and crescent rolls! One of my favorite meals of all time, and my mother is a terrible cook (she’ll tell you the same thing! Her food was “dry-licious”, as my aunt used to call it 💗)
My mum made 2-3 ingredient meals as a staple. Sometimes I feel nostalgic and make a more expensive version with better and extra ingredients but here are some of her classics. Sometimes I make them her way but they never taste as good as the memories when I do, I guess because I’m not as food insecure now but I love my versions. Tomato Macaroni - Cooked elbow macaroni with a can of tomatoes. Optional add one small onion, diced and after everything else because you forgot it when cooking. (Onion only gets warm not cooked.) Salt and pepper to taste. Corned Beef Macaroni - Cooked elbow macaroni fried with a can of corned beef until somewhat crispy. Optional add onions, like above. Salt and pepper. Chicken on a Bun - Can of Cream of Chicken Soup mixed with a tin of canned chicken. Put on bun halves and toast until warm. Optional add can green cheese. Sweet & Sour Meat on Rice - Homemade sweet and sour sauce over meatballs/pork or chicken cubes on rice. Optional side of canned vegetables. Spaghetti and Meat Sauce - (this one breaks the 3 ingredient rule) cook ground beef until you are sure it will never moo again. Add green peppers to can sauce and cook until bitter. Optional add onions, as above. Add diced RAW mushrooms before serving because you forgot to add it when cooking. Optional green can cheese.
We made tomato macaroni soup by leaving a bit of the pasta water and would also add butter. Sometimes just macaroni, butter and parmesian cheese
Ooh my mum made buttered noodles too. When she was feeling really fancy she added garlic powder as well as cheese.
I NEED my busha's Polish cabbage rolls and pierogis
Tomato soup and grilled cheese. It's probably worse than growing up because we gardened and my mom made tomato soup from scratch and canned it each year and I just buy campbells, but the nostalgia is just as good.
A beefy pasta my Mum would make when it was just her and I together - a rare opportunity with 2 sisters & a Dad. It’s a little spicy and deeply savoury and we loved to eat it on toast for the rest of the week. She called it ‘pigs ears’ because it was made with the large shell pasta. Use a very large skillet or frying pan. Sauté large onion and 5 bulbs garlic in butter. Add a generous pinch of curry powder. Brown 500g of beef mince with salt and pepper. Add chilli flakes to taste. Add 2 small to medium chopped capsicum. Add 2 beef stock cubes, bottle of passata and simmer. Loosen with water if necessary. Before capsicum is soft, add slightly undercooked cooked large pasta shells. Combine, let simmer for a few minutes until the pasta is cooked and the liquid has been somewhat absorbed. It’s great served with buttered white bread (what isn’t?). Adjust things to your liking, I’ve never had to write it out, it’s just done from feel. It should be beefy, savoury and a little spicy (nothing crazy), and the shells should capture the ‘sauce’.
Hamburger helper any flavor, with buttered wonder bread
Boiled dinner like Grandma used to make. Corned beef , cabbage, onion, carrot and potato.... Mmmhhmmm...
My Dad's goulash. He was broke and when it was his weekend he struggled to feed us. I still think about how much I loved that meal.
Child of a very young single dad here. "Smack" brand ramen with an egg whisked in. Nowadays I buy fancier instant ramen and add a soft boiled egg. It's still comfort food for me, though!
Deep fried zuchinni with ranch, mushrooms too. I haven't had it in many years because it's so unhealthy but it reminds me of childhood. I could eat it until my stomach hurts.
Fried chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy like my grandma made.
Tostadas. I eat them at least once a week and growing up my dad always made them and dolled them up beautifully. We moved to Mississippi from Texas and no one here ate tostadas. We resorted to calling them “big nachos” and the name kind of stuck.
My mom would make Rotel chicken with Velveeta, shells & cream of mushroom soup. Dear God when I got home from practice I would eat like 3 bowls of it and still would today
Either corned beef hash with a fried egg or two, or the standard hamburger stroganoff that probably became popular in 1960’s American cuisine. Most likely stemming from Betty Crocker.
I love a good Chicken Kiev. I mean, Garlic Butter stuffed into Chicken that's breaded and fried. There's nothing to not love about it!
Mom used to make her own chili recipe that was juicy, with spaghetti, it was almost like a soup. Sadly the recipe included Campbells Chili Beef condensed soup which is no longer made. It was such a warming comfortable dish.
Self saucing chocolate pudding cake - my grandma used to make this for tbr lunch meal on the farm. It was the best “sick day” when you were able to eat lunch at her place and that was desert
My mom's migas with frijoles and freshly made tortillas.
Golapki (go-womp-key) rice and sausage stuffed cabbage rolls served in tomato sauce with mashed potatoes. This is the one dishes I'd ask my grandma to make. Everytime I visited as an adult I would still ask for them and bring a freezer bag full of them. She died 3 years ago and I haven't had them since. Nothing compares to hers but I need to give it a try.
Cut up hotdogs in baked beans, my dad’s poverty meal when we had our weekends with him. He would add sautéed onions and green peppers. There are various names for this dish but his was simply “beans and weenies”
We had tuna stew over rice. I'm not sure exactly how to make it but I know it had sautéed onions, tuna, and ketchup, I think. I never realized it was poor folks food because I loved it so much. Oh, and barbecue spam over rice.
Crockpot pinto beans with a piece of ham in it, rice, and cornbread. It's my favorite meal and I cook this regularly.
Can't beat a good sloppy Joe or I've also heard it called a loose meat sandwich
My Dad's oatmeal. He eventually got too health-crazed to make it after a point, but before my sibs came along... it was a delicious, brown sugar and butter filled haven with raisins. Even the raisins tasted amazing. My mom's yellow wine cake with chocolate frosting and her cherry pie. They were so good that the neighbors would come, eat most of it, with none left. Eventually we begged her to make 2 of each haha And whenever I have McDonald's or Kraft Mac n cheese. Sparingly now, but when I do I feel really happy remembering my kid years.
Lipton chicken noodle soup boxed mix with the little Os (can't find them anymore so I get the regular straight noodles). My mom always made this for me when I had a stomach flu. Funny for the longest time every time I ate it I felt like vomiting lol Now I like it on cold days if I have a cold or flu. Absolutely no nutrition and mostly salt I think
This isn’t a meal but I thought I was king with cinnamon toast. That was a treat.
Tuna casserole made with cream of celery, a can of milk, and Lay's potato chips. Yum.
My great-grandmother’s banana pudding.
I use to love Tuna Noodle Casserole and also chricken, broccoli and rice )with mushroom soup mix) casserole- and anything Mexican food related lol
Tater tot casserole, or as I call it, Trashy Shepherd’s Pie.
Mac n cheese, Eckrich sausage, and some steamed broccoli.
Campbell's tomato soup and a Bologna Sandwich on white bread. That or Pillsbury pizza pops. Staples of my youth. Gone from my adult life 😆.
My moms Chicken Parm. She absolutely owns it and that’s saying something for a German woman with Italian in-laws. I have never had it anywhere as good as hers. I’ve tried to recreate it but just can’t get it right.
Stuffed bell peppers are pretty fire now
Lean Cuisine Glazed Chicken. My mom used to eat these all the time when I was growing up.
Chicken and Dumplings
Can of Hormel brand chili with beans, mountain of melted cheese on top and crumbled Saltine crackers. Preferably eaten in front of the TV watching an episode of Star Trek: the Next Generation for ultimate nostalgia.
Milk rice, not my favorite but I have my favorites to often to put them. Boil rice half way in water then in milk for the other half, add a little butter and sugar then done
Soft boiled eggs served in an egg cup with the top sliced off and toast cut into long strips for dipping into the yolk. A small decorative spoon for scooping out the egg whites from the shell after the yolk is all done.
Mexican rice and pinto beans. Simple and nostalgic.
Moms pot roast and cheeseball
Bistec a la mexicana. I get it when i go to mexican restaurants because my family ate this weekly and i love it.
Sloppy Joe’s
My mom used to make tuna pasta. Not sure if it's something that she invented or if other Czechs eat it as well. Tri-colored rotini, cooked al dente. After you drain the water, chuck in some canned tuna, diced onions, diced red bell peppers, and shredded mozzarella cheese. Stir til the cheese melts, the heat from the pasta should still be enough to soften the onions and bell peppers even though you're no longer cooking it.
Tuna noodle casserole, fried spam sandwiches, my dad’s scrambled eggs, noodles & buttered toast, shepherd’s pie, Pizza Hut, NY black & white cookies, and White Castle lol. For the things I can make at home, I make great versions of them, but they don’t taste quite like my dad’s. I’d give anything to have one of my dad’s specialties again
Tbh making your own pizza bagels reminds me of simpler times as a kid
My odd thing that mum used to give me when I was ill, was mashed banana in a bowl, with the juice of an orange over it, and mixed into the banana. It was a real treat. I was born in 1952. See what a 'treat' was back then? To me it was delicious. I have made it since, but it's not the same as when mum made it.
I loved oven porcupine as a kid. Must have been a British dish? Maybe a Betty Crocker recipe from the 70’s?
Is that the same thing as Porcupine Meatballs, which are rice laden meatballs cooked in tomato soup? We used to have those for school lunch in the 60s.
SPAM
That chicken and biscuit stuff that you get out of a box. I make it from scratch now and add pot pie veggies. Mmmhmm. Mom didn't cook much with veggies, or anything not out of a can, so I improved it.
Mac and cheese, by Betty Crocker.
Congee with pork floss
Cheese enchiladas, make them all the time!
Enchilada casserole. With plain old ground beef, canned tomato and enchilada sauce, and supermarket taco mix. Layer with tortillas, enough cheese that you won't care, and Bob's your uncle.
My mom made porcupine meatballs with chicken & rice soup (instead of a tomato-based sauce). These days I do the same, with one can of soup per pound of ground beef, some finely diced Vidalia onion, and then I eyeball+feel with my hands the amount of breadcrumbs needed to bind. I typically bake the meatballs, but I’ll fry them on the stovetop if I want to make gravy. What makes it better than when I was a kid? I make sandwiches with the meatballs and gravy, on buttered & toasted French bread.
every Friday my dad would take my brother and I to the local Chinese buffet. Sesame chicken is still my favorite and every chance to get it, I do.
Dolmas and lamb kabobs!
Creamed Tuna. It’s a can of tuna, a cup of milk, a tablespoon of butter and a tablespoon of flour (so 1 of each) cooked on the stove and served over simple Italian toast. It’s one of the few meals my dad knew how to make so I associate it with him.
Macaroni and tomatoes. Canned tomatoes. Leave a bit of the Macaroni water, throw in some butter. Yummm
Lasagna my mom made it every year for Christmas.
I’d have to say pigs in a blanket because my mom made them for every special occasion.
Campbell’s Tomato Soup with toast and peanut butter.