My favorite is a recipe my best friend has dubbed “White Trash Lasagna.” The rest of you hoity toity folks might call it a casserole, but here in Minnesota, it’s called hot dish.
Pizza Hot Dish
1 bag extra-wide egg noodles
1 can pizza sauce
1 can cheddar cheese soup
Pizza toppings to your liking
Mozzarella cheese
Cook and drain the egg noodles. Stir in pizza sauce, cheddar cheese soup (do not add water), and pizza toppings. If using pepperoni, I’ve found it works best to layer it. Otherwise they stick together and you end up with a big pepperoni ball. Pour into a 9x13 and bake for half an hour or so at 350 degrees. Then sprinkle the mozzarella over top and put back in the oven until it’s nice and melty. Best served with garlic bread or something of that nature.
The best part about this recipe is that it reheats really well. It makes a huge batch so we not only have enough for dinner that night, it keeps my husband and I in lunches for the next couple of days.
Remember good ol Chef Boyardee? He’s back with some new creations that I can’t leave well enough alone, especially when the store puts them on sale for $1 a can. Behold the wonderfulness that is Chef Boyardee Pepperoni Pizzazarolis. I will keep on the bowl until I’ve gotten all the sauce off. Also equally wonderful are his Chili Cheese Dog Twisteronis. You’ve got to love Italian food…
I’m always ashamed when I go grocery shopping, fill my cart with fresh fruit, veggies, organic/no-trans-fats/no-high-fructose-corn-syrup…and then slam in the giant 6-pack bottles of Diet Mountain Dew. Don’t ask me how many of those I drink; there are honestly times I’m surprised my heart hasn’t overloaded from chugging them.
Oh, and I’m not a big cheese person, but I will keep 2% cheeze food on hand.
Brown a pound hamburger, and mix in a can of pizza sauce and your favorite pizza fixings. Put that in the bottom of an 9x13 inch casserole. Spread a bag of pre-shredded cheese on top.
Prepare the crust in a separate bowl by combining 1 cup of milk, 2 eggs, 2 cups of flour, a tablespoon of oil, and a 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Pour it over the casserole.
Bake until the crust is golden brown.
The even lower-rent version uses those crescent-rolls-in-a-tube for the crust, but I hate the taste of those things. And the way the cheese intermingles with the pour-on crust is my favorite part. It’s really quite enchanting.
My version of Rice a Roni: chicken flavor with slices of kielbasa (or some similar smoked sausage) and a bag of frozen mixed veggies all cooked together. Yum!
I must also confess an adoration for Home Depot hotdogs.
He used to make a fabulous meat tortellini that I adored but I can’t find it anywhere anymore. Once in a while I can find the inferior cheese tortellini but it’s just not the same. :mad:
Dracona, I used to love, love, love pork rinds when I was a kid until I realized they were actually the skin off a pig. I cried when I found that out, and haven’t eaten them since. Love the taste, but can’t get over the idea of eating fried skin off a pig.
Mine guilty trash pleasure are cheese curls. I don’t eat them that often, but I love the neon orange cheese flavored powder on my fingers. I believe it’s technically illegal in 15 states to wash that off one’s fingers, that is simply must be sucked off.
Ohhh! Safeway burritos are the bomb! I also like getting their Asian deli food on occasion. I’ll eat their sweet and sour chicken even when it becomes obvious it’s been sitting under the warming lamps far too long and the chicken has become hard and tough.
No one’s mentioned corn dogs yet. The kind you get from the grocery store freezer. Ball Park brand is the best. I can go through a six pack of them in no time! Alas, I am long overdue for a Ball Park corn dog fix because I haven’t been able to find any in quite a while. All I see are Foster Farms corn dogs. Hot dogs made from chicken? I think not! They’re too pseudo-healthy and high-tone for the likes of me!
Y’all are making me crave my husband’s home-made version of Hamburger Helper. He browns a pound of ground beef with a little onion and cooks up a box of mac’n’cheese (must be Kraft!). To cut down on the dishes, he throws 1/2 pound of frozen peas in with the macaroni noodles while they cook. The noodles and peas go in with the hamburger and then he does the cheese/butter/milk step. Mmmmmmmmmmmm … that sounds like dinner tonight!
Now, trashy food favorites show up around here occasionally-
Pizza Rolls (the kids love them)
Kraft’s Green Box spaghetti dinner (and easy, fast way to feed 5 -add salad)
3)Our four year old loves Vienna sausages.
…and as far as trashy casseroles, my family has a traditional favorite served only at holiday potlucks. The Hashbrown Potato Casserole. It involves frozen hashbrowns, cream of mushroom soup, velveeta cheese, sour cream, and is topped with crushed cornflakes and melted butter. Mind numbingly Nummy. So bad for us, but we only have it twice a year.
I miss Taco Cabana! We lived in Austin for five years, and it was a favorite.
I think most of my other guilty pleasures have been covered–mac & cheese, sloppy joes, tater tots… Did anyone mention Cheetos? Cheetos rock. Oh, and chocolate Pop Tarts (toasted), closely followed by strawberry Pop Tarts (raw).
Remembered another favorite – macaroni (preferably Creamettes) with milk, butter, and lots of salt and pepper. It’s what I eat when the cupboard is bare.
