well when my family makes it it has eggs and pickle relish and mayo/whip and you just keep adding some of each until your satisfied with the taste ….pretty much like tuna
but do your self a favor if you ever do use bologna … get the less sodium version cause I don’t know If it was the bologna I used but it was salty as hell
I think in all the cases listed above that I tried, I prefer the original to the imitation. But I suspect that I prefer modern “marshmallow” to The Real Thing, even though I’ve never tried The Real Thing.
Real marshmallow is shredded marshmallow root, boiled and strained and mixed with sugar or other sweetener, then poured into a pan and allowed to set. The stuff we toast over campfires and make S’Mores out of is gelatin mixed with sugar syrup (and maybe a touch of vanilla), whipped into a froth, and allowed to set.
I once bought some marshmallow root to make Real marshmallow out of, but I chickened out and never tried it.
My daughter is a vegetarian. The last time I made dinner for her I used my favorite beef stroganoff recipe, but used portobello mushrooms in place of the beef. It was awesome and I will be making it again.
To others saying surimi: Maybe I was just ruined by a bad batch of it, but back when I was a kid, Mom was on a diet that required a certain amount of fish, and to add variety we bought some fake lobster tails and fake crab legs. Those things were so vile that even the cats wouldn’t eat them.
I’ve never had the fake lobster, only the “crab” that gets into sushi rolls. It’s not crab, but I like it.
It’s usually described among my family and friends as “Crab, with a K” i.e. “Krab” to indicate it’s bootleg-ness.
I prefer canned chil to chili made from scratch, mainly because “from scratch” usually involves kidney beans.
While I prefer real food to fake food, I only drink diet soda and put saccharine in my coffee and tea. Real sugar in drinks tastes too sweet to me.
frozen pizza is the closest I can come. I love Red Baron special deluxe as well as some other frozen pizzas and don’t like Pizzeria pizza at all.
I just pissed my pants laughing! 
I prefer ranch when made by mixing sour cream and a packet of seasoning to the “real” ranch dressings. To me, the real ranch has too much of a tangy taste to it.
I have a few that have already been mentioned here (I prefer veggie burgers to real burgers, processed cheese in my macaroni and cheese to the real thing, and I like fake crab about as much as real crab meat).
My unique contribution: pepperoni-flavored sausage. When I was a kid, I’d sometimes microwave Celeste frozen pizzas. That brand had the best pepperoni pizza around, and I wondered why nobody else could figure out how to make their pepperoni taste as good. Then one day I shared my musings with my family, and they pointed out to me that it wasn’t actually pepperoni I was eating, but pepperoni-flavored sausage.
If your mashed potatoes are lumpy then they’re not being properly mashed. Use an electric mixer and add a little milk and they’ll be just as smooth as the ones made from flakes.
Pepperoni is a kind of sausage, so calling it “pepperoni flavored sausage” is redundant.
Huh. I never even knew there was such a thing as real marshmallow until today!
Milk makes me gag too. :o
Related to that:
Kraft changed its mac & cheese recipe. It removed artificial preservatives, flavors and dyes and nobody noticed years ago.
Still though:
Use a ricer or a food mill on you potatoes after boiling…then incorporate butter and cream or milk…smooth and delicious.
Lasagna casserole probably was actually the name of the dish/recipe she used. I may not have been paying close enough attention but when I sat down to “lasagna” without layered pasta, topped with a biscuit top, and had sour cream in it I was not too happy. The “kids” (all in their 20’s) though will still ask for her to make it if they are home.
that sounds like it should be on www.midcenturymeals.com they try all sorts of horrors there
Aside from one or two local pizza restaurants, I’ll take Red Baron thin crust bacon lover’s over just about any take out pizza chain.
Though I don’t love it like I did as a kid, I’ll take good ol’ Chef Boyardee ravioli thanks, and you can keep your cheese fill abomination to yourself, Carrabaroni Garden.