pegkerr: (You'll eat it and like it)
pegkerr ([personal profile] pegkerr) wrote2007-03-06 06:01 pm

Your very favorite as-cheap-as-possible recipe

I am starting to compile the grocery list for the week, and since we are retrenching, I am looking for rock-bottom price recipes. Nutritional main dish recipes that you actually like. Kid-friendly and easy a particular plus.

I remember one we ate pretty often when I was a kid, a fondue recipe we called "Blushing Bunny." I think I got it from Camp Fire Girls. Why the weird name? I think it is meant as a sort of sideways joke, a tip of the hat to the better known fondue "Welsh Rarebit," which a child might hear as "Welsh Rabbit."

Take a can of Campbell's tomato soup. Do not dilute it. Stir in one egg, well beaten and shredded cheddar cheese (I think we'd put in somewhere between a half cup to a cup or so). Heat gently until hot and thickened. Serve by pouring over toast and eat immediately. I think this serves 2-3, depending on whether you are serving kids or adults.

Like I said, I remember loving this one as a kid, but when I mentioned this one to Delia, she wrinkled her nose in disgust when I made the mistake of telling her the ingredients list. I know that adding the egg to the soup sounds disgusting, but when it is stirred in and heated up, you really can't tell it's there at all. It just is there to add protein and thicken it, I guess. I might make it anyway and insist that they try it at least. It is certainly dead cheap.

Mom used to serve spam and rice pretty frequently, but I'm not quite tempted to revisit that old memory. Rob remembers dinners of fried boloney when he was growing up, but I don't think he's nostalgic for that one, either.

How about you? My kids are picky, but give me your best shot anyway.

Edited to add: All three hate onions, broccoli and mushrooms. The girls hate potatoes (yes, potatoes!), brown rice, and bell peppers. Delia hates cooked tomatoes, cooked apples and cooked oranges and is very unpredictable about meat. She has tried and rejected a number of meat substitutes--impossible to predict, but she doesn't seem to like tofu-based products very much. She is hit or miss on most other vegetables, but less likely to eat them if they are cooked.

Fiona would eat nothing but carbs (pasta) if I let her. White, of course. I prefer whole wheat pasta, but they are much more reluctant to eat it.

Beans are also unpredictable. Rob will eat lentils, pinto beans and kidney beans (reluctantly); girls will not. The girls adore baked beans, however. Go figure. Rob will eat green beans (even canned!), girls, there is no predicting.

Rob will eat kale reluctantly, girls will not.

Edited to add again: My personal favorite suggestion, among all these comments, is [livejournal.com profile] moony's suggestion that I teach the girls basic photosynthesis: "You're hungry? Go stand in the yard for an hour."

[identity profile] boldpurpletext.livejournal.com 2007-03-07 01:37 am (UTC)(link)
I think this fits most of your requirements, though I'm not sure how nutritional it is. My boyfriend grew up on it while his Mom stayed at home with three kids and his Dad was a grad student.

Take a bag of egg noodles, cook according to directions. Drain, put back in the cooking pot, and add a tablespoon of butter. Stir noodles 'til coated, then add a container of cottage cheese (around 4oz, I think). Stir well again, and salt and pepper to taste. That's it. We still make it sometimes ourselves because we like it, and you can vary it by adding tuna fish, or make it low fat with low fat cottage cheese.

[identity profile] dichroic.livejournal.com 2007-03-07 10:00 am (UTC)(link)
My mom made a very similar "Creamettes casserole", but put bits of butter and cream cheese in with elbow noodles instead of cottage cheese.

[identity profile] fgherman.livejournal.com 2007-03-07 03:21 pm (UTC)(link)
My bubbe and my mother made a similar dish called luchschen piter kasen with cinnamon & sugar instead of salt & pepper. Yum.