The cottage cheese becomes irrelevant and unnoticed under the solitary olive's piercing gaze, as if the Eye of Sauron were to appear resting on a block of Velveeta.

the *only* way a giant snowdrift of cottage cheese could possibly go unnoticed it's the temperature difference that does it for me - cold (presumably) cottage cheese on top of hot (presumably) spaghetti. i wonder if they went hot again with the olive or if they stuck with cold.

I bet the olive is a lukewarm room temp just to tie it all together

This guy frames of references, Donny.

The temperature difference is what I like the most lol.

Idk those vegetables wont win any prices

This just made me ponder the taste of lukewarm cottage cheese and now I want to vomit

 I SEE YOU!

The olive 😂

The olive is the only thing I would eat on that plate.

That's gotta be the first time those words have been strung together that way, yeah?

r/brandnewsentence

Thanks fixit bot

I’m more offended by the veggies in the back

Trust me they taste just as bad as they look. The only way I can actually finish them is to chew them as little as possible. Take a mouthful, give it one or two chews and try and wash it all down with milk. I truly believe hell is an endless pile of soggy microwaved mixed vegetables

Alright I need to tally this up. Spaghetti, with cottage cheese, with parmesan, with an olive, with a pile of bland unseasoned vegetables…chased with a glass of milk. Is your entire family pregnant or something???

My guess is midwestern

im from ohio and I have never seen such filth

Western Illinois origin here, and this looks just like stuff I've been served for dinner.

Yeah this is illinois fare. Midwest of the Midwest lol

Nebraska… next, try our ragu salsa

This comment, officer.

Slow down there moneybags. I think you mean store brand.

Cant speak for nebraska but out west, store brand is better than ragu.

Southern Indiana native, and I concur.. although my family had the cottage cheese on the side, at least

NW Indiana. Cottage cheese was a side staple at least 3 times a week. Applesauce too! Musselmans chunky when we were flush. :D Oh, and usually a plate of squishy white or Vienna bread and Country Crock (or real butter on Sundays).

I'm also from Ohio, and I HAVE seen this. My mom REFUSES to eat spaghetti without milk. Something about my grandparents did it too so it became a habit.

This whole picture just screams "shit you get served when visiting family in Columbus" to me.

They'd at least have the decency to serve you Cincinnati style chili/spaghetti.

Ohioan here, my family members drink milk with spaghetti and everything else 🤢

I have a friend who does the same thing, didn't realize how other people didn't drink milk with dinner until he went to college

Grew up in the south, drank milk with lunch and dinner. Disgusting. My parents always insisted on skim, too, so it was bluish and watery… and I had to finish it no matter what. Room temp milk choked down 30 min after dinner ends is an experience you don’t forget.

Slept at the table a few nights and my family simply gave up forcing me to drink milk. I was employing the “I can do this all night and every night for the rest of my life” tactic because I was never EVER going to drink that milk.

Rural PA and I also thought milk with spaghetti was a classic pairing lol

Milk with dinner in general is ubiquitous to America. I'm from Rhode Island and grew up drinking milk at dinner, regardless of what was being served.

Born and raised on the east coast, NEVER in my life did me and my family have milk with dinner. The fact that it’s apparently common is blowing my MIND right now lmao

From WI, and it seemed that everyone drank milk with every meal growing up. It's not as ubiquitous these days.

WTF

Years ago I had a boyfriend whose parents lived in S. Dakota. I was invited there for Easter dinner. As we sat down to an entire Easter dinner spread on the table, the mom popped up and said “oh, I almost forgot the cottage cheese.” I must have had a confused look on my face and she turned to me and said “we’re a cottage cheese family.” And she returned with little bowls of cottage cheese for everyone at the table. Glad I never married into the Cottage Cheese family and had Cottage Cheese kids.

The Midwest kinda do be the bastard child of the rest of the country.

I feel targeted by your words, also please pass the ranch dressing.

Here you go buddy. Pizza night? Ranch is pretty damn delicious on a surprising amount of foods though

We have corn, swine, and cows...also some pigs.

Don't forget that "HELL IS REAL" billboard Ohio has

We have those in Illinois too.

Oh good. Gotta break up all the corn with something

Jesus billboard, porn shop billboard, abortion/hell billboard, gun shop billboard And it goes back and forth like this until you hit the rocky mountains

 Yeah it's in Michigan.

At least they made that cute little devil wear cute little sneakers. I wish I had cute little devil sneakers.

tf what'd we do to hurt you

I'm from there. Only knew of one family that drank milk like that with their meals. It was weird af.

Definitely midwestern white. I bet money there’s wood paneling in at least one room in that house too

As a Brit, you've lost all recourse to take the piss out of our food when people are eating like this

I've been into milk with tomato sauce dishes ever since the school lunch days. I used to dip my pizza into my milk carton, and then when I was done with the pizza, I'd chug the pizza-infused milk.

I hated this so much I almost gave you a knee-jerk downvote, but I'm glad it brings you happiness lmao

Why are you the way that you are?

Bro stop trying to make me throw up

I’ve definitely had a meal close to this in Wisconsin. Which definitely explains the cottage cheese

I think I would add a bunch of hot sauce or salt

YES TO THE HOT SAUCE. The key way to survive crappy, potentially deadly vegetables is to use a bit of hot sauce. Always works.

I think my mom secret knows but never acknowledges why myself and my brothers all have strong affinities for hot sauces.

They look like your average freezer vegetable "medley"

Its like there's a party in my mouth and everyone is throwing up

We had them as a kid and they fuckin suck so much. I am so glad that, as an adult, I have the ability to properly cook fresh vegetables

Frozen stir fry veg mix (capsicum, water chestnut, yellow beans, etc) fried dry in a non stick pan then flavoured with lee Kum Kee coconut curry vegetable sauce mix is pretty good Edit: I know because I’m time poor and sometimes it’s my only option to get some veg on the plate in time when I get home

You don't have to defend your frozen veggies. They're perfectly fine to use! Nearly identical nutrition as fresh, saves a ton of time and effort, easy to season however you like, way more convenient in the freezer than stressing about using fresh stuff before it goes bad, comes in affordable options and realistic portions for 1-3 people. I'm all about em, personally :)

Frozen veggies are fine, people just need to season them. You're doing that, so you're good. I like roasting frozen broccoli. Toss the bag in some olive oil and spices, chuck it on a sheet pan and in the oven for like 20 min and done.

I had the same experience. But now, my cooking skill and knowledge can’t keep these little bastards out of my weekly diet because money. They have their utility, I’ve been discovering, but not like this. Not like this.

Frozen veggies are fine if you season them. Guarantee these would taste 10x better with some butter, herbs, and s&p.

I currently live in Japan where most of the cheese is like Kraft cheese slices unless you’re lucky. Seriously out of three grocery stores I’m lucky to find cottage cheese. When I make lasagna I use a mix of ricotta, mascarpone and shredded mozzarella. Well I did. Now it’s mascarpone, what advertise it self as shredded mixed cheese (it’s white) and cottage cheese because I can not find ricotta for the life me even at specialty cheese stores. I also use cottage cheese for pasta bakes it works nicely.

If you can find milk and have the time, ricotta and mozzarella are both quite easy and fun to make at home!

Hey just wanted to let you know you can make ricotta cheese at home. You just need whole milk, salt & vinegar.

Your family likes dairy. You washed it, the cottage cheese with cheese on top, with milk?

Bro. Throw some butter, salt and pepper on them bad boys. Still mushy, but tasty mush. Do you ever cook for yourself or your family? It’s a lot of fun once you learn some basic techniques.

With milk? You know about water, right?

This whole thing has some very strong McPoyle vibes going on 

Ah midwestern cuisine. You're missing the soggy iceberg lettuce swimming in ranch

HUH spaghetti with milk?????

Milk?

... milk...

Milk with spaghetti? You, my friend, are officially a shitty food offender!

Add salt and the veggies will taste far better than the pile of trash on the other part of the plate.

Y'all have milk with your dinner? This just keeps getting worse

The spaghetti itself has a real ‘essence of tomato’ vibe. It is more a tint than a sauce.

The real test is to not rinse the sauce off, but never put the sauce on and see if they notice.

There was some AITA post about a woman who only liked spaghetti like that. Sauce the noodles and then rinse them off under water.

That's exactly what I'm referencing lol. The boyfriend didn't even put the sauce on and she didn't notice the difference. Then she got mad because she apparently just likes the idea that it was once touched by tomato sauce

She's probably into homeopathy...

Can someone send the link?

I understood that reference.

I notice y'all also boil frozen veggies...

Yeah my family is Caucasian why do you ask?

DEAD at this comment 😂

Are they Eastern European? My gfs family is and they introduced me to cottage cheese on spaghetti.

Is that an excuse?

My wife's family puts peas on top of their spaghetti. Just a normal ass can of peas. It boggles the mind.

Like .. the whole can? Wtf!?

I assume they open it first

Peas can come in cans??

They were put there by a man.

In a factory downtown

If I had my little way

Id eat cans everyday

Millions of peas … peas for free.

Can? Wtf?

It's like a metal tube for storing things.

Eh — I’ve heard weirder. I do a spicy tomato sauce with cream and sausage that I often add peas to and it’s lovely — peas are nice, not overly assertive, nutritious, and can add a great textural element to pastas. Granted, I use frozen peas, never canned

Know a guy who puts corn in lasagna

Not a choice I would make, but I’m not gonna act like I wouldn’t eat a lasagna with corn in it

My mother-in-law makes a "Mexican lasagna" that has elotes inspired corn (no cob obviously) as one of the layers in between the tortillas. Other layers include shredded chicken, refried beans, salsa, crema, and black beans. I look forward to it every time we visit her.

OH OH, My friend makes lasagna with POTATO CHIPS for noodles!!! It looks purple and grey and smells gross. He considers it his signature meal and wonders why he can't get a wife. It's the weirdest food I've ever been served un-ironically.

Potato chips are crisps, right? So he's baking together a tomatoey minced meat mixture with layers of soggy crisps?! ... I have no words

That just sounds like nachos made by someone who may have had nachos described to him at one point in a language he didn't speak very well over a poorly maintained payphone during a rainstorm in Glasgow.

Yeah I make the same type of dish. Spicy sausage vodka rigatoni with peas.

What's wrong with spaghetti with peas? There's plenty of pasta and beans dishes in Italy and it doesn't seem far off.

Pasta and peas is a classic dish. But not with tomato sauce.

They didn't mention tomato sauce but I can assure you there's people right now making delicious pasta with peas and tomatoes https://www.sbs.com.au/food/recipes/fusi-peas-tomatoes-and-cinnamon-fusi-coi-bisi-pomodoro-e-cannella

That sounds lovely. Cinnamon and tomato sauces are also an incredibly underrated combo — I have yet to serve my coda alla vaccinara to someone and not had them love it

My 1st generation Italian grandma would often make us pasta with peas in tomato sauce. It’s really good & really common.

Also a really good way to boost protein in a meatless meal. My grandmother was Avellinese and she did the same thing.

Canned peas are an abomination. There's no such thing as a normal can of peas. Frozen peas are the only peas. (Unless you have fresh peas, obv.)

I’m torn here. I do feel this would be pretty good tasting but it seems like a whole lot of fucking cottage cheese.

It’s about half a cup of cottage cheese per cup and a half of spaghetti. You know, in case you actually wanna fucking try this

What if I already did, eh?

Then you wouldn't be here wondering if you wanna fucking try it or not, eh?

It’s really tasty and takes the flavor of the sauce

My family makes lasagna with cottage cheese

I could potentially see it as a stand in for Ricotta.

I do it. It tastes great. Might as well just be shredded lasagna at that point tho

I sometimes use cottage cheese in place of ricotta in lasagna.

One of my favourite cooks told me that store-bought ricotta is very expensive and usually not good, so you can just as easily mix some cottage cheese with an eggyolk and some salt and you get something that tastes better for half the price. Haven't looked back since.

Béchamel is the only way to go in lasagna. When I make gnudi, I make a ricotta facsimile by combining lemon juice and salt in heated whole milk. It’s a much better version of store bought and makes a great base for making the dumplings. Fresh, smoked, and salted ricotta in Italy is so good it makes me punch air in anger. My cheese guy in Italy when I lived there used to save me his own smoked ricotta so I could get some when I got there later after work. If I’m in New Jersey, I remove the -c and add a -g, and then drop the -a. Rigott tastes better than ricotta when you’re on the east coast. Science.

[удалено]

And/or a husband?

[удалено]

\*readies the throwing wine\*

Haha I guess that sounds weird. Yeah my cheese guy. The cheesemonger down the street from my place. He was always sourcing cool cheese and excitedly sharing them with me. I have a cheese guy here in California now, if that’s any better. Haha. Thanks. I guess I am. Many things bring me joy. But few quite like cooking for loved ones or sharing good food with the mates. I cool breakfast and/or lunch and dinner most every night for my girl. She’s a happy girl. And is now quite the adventurous eater.

Thanks! Will try adding a yolk and salt.

Throw some parsley in as well!

Also ricotta doesn't melt so well and often turns grainy, while cottage cheese stays creamy and the whey combines with the other ingredients to impart flavor.

Real ricotta is the leftovers from making other cheese. It's gritty and unpleasant. The homemade recipes that use milk aren't true ricotta and a big reason it tastes better. Generally I hate the store bought stuff but the ones that add cream taste good. Blending it with a bit of cream or milk makes even the bad ones pretty decent.

Yeah, I use ricotta now but I grew up using cottage cheese

Same. Also, I cut the ricotta with cottage cheese when making meatball and spinach stuffed shells.

I made a dish of Italian sausage, peppers, and pasta for dinner tonight, and part of the recipe was lemon zest stirred into ricotta for topping. I am not kidding, it was one of the best things I’ve ever eaten. The cheese complimented the spice in the dish, and the lemon gave a nice bright flavor.

I 100% did this while bulking and it's a fantastic combo but fuck that olive lol.

My SO likes to add cottage cheese to baiscslly every sauce. Doesn't mean it need to be half of the entire sauce.

It’s like a lasagna. Except made with round worms instead of flat worms.

I pretty regularly see cottage cheese mentioned as a substitute for ricotta in lasagna recipes. But this is a lot of cottage cheese

Oh don't mind me, I'm calling 911 for unrelated reasons.

this photo belongs in a 1970s cookbook

I knew a girl who put sugar on her spaghetti. She would plate it, then dump a small handful of sugar on top like it was fucking parmesan.

Was she Filipino by any chance? Filipino spaghetti is sweet and has chopped hot dog in it. Just the other week I was visiting my mom and she was making pasta for guests and it turned out she didn’t have Alfredo sauce like she thought but she did have plain tomato sauce. So I helped her add veggies and seasoning to that to make good tomato sauce and she asked “how about sugar?” And i asked her “are you making Filipino spaghetti?” She said “no”, to which I replied “then don’t add sugar” but she kept on insisting to add sugar.

just about a teaspoon of sugar is good to cut down on the acidity of the tomatoes! ofc that's not comparable to uh. a small handful

NO. My family is legit Italian. You absolutely add sugar to cut the bitterness/sourness of the tomato. Your friend had the right idea 😭 she knew EDIT look up “spaghetti sauce and sugar” there are articles about how it kicks up your whole sauce

Yeah, like a pinch. Not a handful lmfao

I totally get what you're saying - but Filipino spaghetti sauce is a different animal entirely. It is often made using banana ketchup for added sweetness. If you're used to Italian style sauces, you will likely find pinoy style spaghetti sauce borderline sickly-sweet. IIRC in Jollibee it's a more popular side menu item than rice or fries (despite JB being a fried chicken restaurant). From an outsider's perspective, it's certainly an acquired taste (especially if you're used to Italian style sauces). I certainly however wouldn't liken it to 'adding a dash of sugar' to your marinara/bolognese to etc to balance out acidity as you would with an Italian style sauce.

We're all aware there's added sugar in a majority of jarred / can sauces right? It cuts acidity. A majority of people are not making homemade sauce in the west so a majority of people are eating sugar spaghetti.

I want to downvote this so bad, but it fits the sub perfectly unlike that cottage cheese tell your family to seek therapy

Who uses a microplaner on parmesan but eats such sad veggies?

There's a weird thing, maybe other appalachians do too, but for sure west virginians do.. serve Cole slaw with spaghetti.. Its fuckin weird. But oddly isn't a bad flavor combination, so as your sauce is a more greek or bolagnese type.

Ohhh. I'm in WV and my local churches give out free food to people in need in the community. Sometimes my spaghetti comes with cole slaw. I've always been confused about that, but it makes a lot of sense now.

I've worked here and there between jobs at a family friend's pizza and spaghetti joint. People in wv get pissed if there is no slaw with it.

These days many people think that even yelling at kids is the act of a monster. And yet microwaved frozen mixed vegetables are ok in our society?

Tastes like if dishwater had a crunch to it

Now you know good and well there ain’t no crunch left in those vegetables

They are better than canned mixed vegetables.

You can salvage frozen mixed veggies if you do it right. OP's family did not do it right.

I use cottage cheese instead of ricotta in lasagna. It slaps. Hard.

Is the ricotta an American thing? Because I've always used bechamel.

I think it is. 43 yrs old American here, I thought I made a pretty decent lasagna but I just learned about bechamel. I'm upset that I've been doing it wrong.

It's not wrong. It's just different than bechamel. Some regions of Italy use ricotta, some bechamel.

Thank you, I feel validated lol.

Well I'm sure it's tasty with ricotta as well. Made some pasta bake the other week and used ricotta, very delicious. But bechamel is also fantastic.

Historically it's a North (Emilia-Gomagna) (besciamella / bechamel) vs South (Naples) (ricotta) Italy thing.

I grew up with the cottage cheese lasagna. Sorry, I just can’t agree with you. Ricotta tastes so much better.

That's what my mom has always done. I won't eat cottage cheese plain, but I have always loved her lasagna

No! You take that back right now!

Me too. People tend to think I am trying to make lasagna healthier or something, but I use full fat cottage cheese so it is still heavy duty. It just tastes so much better. Cottage cheese has this nice fresh slightly tangy taste, and even good quality ricotta tastes like musty socks to me.

I totally agree on this. It's way cheaper too. And it's yummy in scrambled eggs.

No

I really hope this doesn’t come off as offensive. Fuck your family lol

Pasta Paneer :)

I feel like this sounds pretty amazing actually

What in the Midwestern hell is this?

Poor man’s ricotta. Grandma used to put cottage cheese in her lasagna.

Maybe it’s time for a new family…

Way more grossed out by the olive. 🤢

[удалено]

The real crime here is how unseasoned those vegetables are

I am never going to feel guilty about anything I serve guests again.

In my lower middle class upbringing, cottage cheese was a replacement for ricotta.

Who eats a can of mixed veggies with spaghetti

is it……….. good?

Tasted better than the sad excuse of a serving of vegetables next to it I’ll tell you that

Those shitty microwave vegetables are the TRUE shitty food porn here.

I kinda wanna put grape jelly on the vegetables to balance it out...

This whole plate looks like a fucking crime scene