Preferably something non-nutritious that other people are likely to make a face at, ridicule, and not want any of. What you crave after a bad day, a bad breakup, a bad life.
For example, I’m fond of canned ravioli. Gooey, bland, does not require chewing. Doesn’t offer much but also puts up no resistance.
My father used to pile hunks of bread in a bowl and pour buttermilk over. Although that prolly has some nutritional value.
There’s a great chapter on this kind of food in the wonderful Square Meals cookbook by Jane and Michael Stern.
May be some overlap with the Hamburger Helper thread, which suggested this topic to me.
There, I’ve admitted it. I don’t eat much at all, especially as it doesn’t live up to my memories, but it’s the first thing I want when things go bad. I usually make some pasta and sauce and that does the trick, but my brain says Spaghetti Os.
toasted cheese sandwich with tomato soup. Must be kraft slices on white bread, real butter, and campbells cream of tomato soup.
In the winter my go to non-childhood comfort food is to have a proper cassoulet d’isigney burbling away in the oven, bonus points if it is in my woodstove oven so I get the double whammy of the smell of woodsmoke around the house so it comes in when someone comes in from outside, combined with a pot of coffee and a loaf of bread that is freshly made that morning.
Grilled cheese and Campbell’s tomato soup: absolutely. (I’d like a sweet gherkin on the side, please.)
Tuna casserole, yes. Can it be topped with crushed potato chips AND also have deep-fried tater tots along with it?
Hmm, think your logic is wrong there. Real dried pasta = wheat & water. Egg noodles = wheat & egg & water. The egg noodles are probably more nutritious, more protein and such.
In order to remedy this, I suggest making the tuna casserole with potato chips on top and full-fat Cream of Mushroom soup.
Mac & cheese and grilled cheese are both great for me. I also sometimes go for the garlic noodles:
-Boil spaghetti in heavily salted water.
-Drain.
-Fry up a dozen crushed cloves of garlic in olive oil in the spaghetti pot.
-Mix noodles back into garlic oil.
-Top with scads of parmesan, salt, and pepper.
Many of mine have already been mentioned (Chef Boyardee, especially Beefaroni; grilled cheese sandwiches; mac and cheese), but some that have not been mentioned are: spaghetti and meat sauce (the sauce being Ragu or Prego) with thick buttered garlic Texas toast on the side, BLT sangwiches with a freaking mound of bacon and luscious tomatoes from my garden, all slathered with Hellman’s (begone, evil Miracle Whip!), brown sugar toast (sliced white bread, copious amounts of butter, and even more copious amounts of dark brown sugar, baked in the oven until a buttery, sugary crust is formed), and Velveeta sausage dip (Velveeta, browned breakfast sausage, Ro-Tel, and about a half cup of good sour cream, all melted together).
With tater tots on the side - deep fried, of course.