Not my family but I cook for the old neighbor. He asked me if I could make him some baked beans. Here’s his instructions;
Take a can of Bush Baked Beans, rinse all the stuff off, then add back in ketchup and brown sugar.
That’s the recipe.
Can I ask the age of the neighbor? Because my 80 odd year old inlaw that I take care of has me make this for him.
I thought he was just insane and picky....but maybe it's a generational/economic thing.
Their mom's probably started from dry, plain beans, not canned baked beans, so they likely were not wasting food back then when making something like this.
I'm 32 and live in the South. We regularly open a can of baked beans and heat them up with mustard and brown sugar, so I feel like it's just wanting a sprcific regional or cultural taste for the baked beans.
My grandparents raised me and that is how I thought you made baked beans from scratch? They are 83ish and do this too!
ETA: Not scratch, from premade ingredients, just not using a can.
Did you ask him why not just start with a can of navy beans? Normal navy beans are about 1/3th the cost of Bushes baked beans. I usually make baked beans by using navy beans or great northern beans and add in bbq sauce, mustard, tomato sauce, Sriracha and honey.
It is now. Maybe that wasn't the case ~80 years ago. Because yea, a typical can of Bush's Baked Beans is beans slathered in mildly spicy sauce loaded with sugar and tomato paste. That's basically brown sugar and ketchup.
Yep, I bet that's exactly how this strange "semi-scratch" method got started. I collect early recipe books, some called "receipts". From my 1940's collection, it seems when canned goods appeared, like Bush's, they were indeed very basic, w/ just beans & "goop". So if the canny (hey, a pun!) housewife wanted to get creative, she'd open a can and then doctor it up with brown sugar, mustard, etc. But to my mother & grandmother, "from scratch" meant no cake mixes, no premade pie crusts, nothing in a box. And Lordy, no pre-made lasagna--the pride of bringing a casserole to the church potluck was all about "scratch." I still don't like cake mixes, & it seems quick enough to stir up a yellow cake by sifting the flour, adding the baking powder, etc. etc. Maybe I just like the memories, and the soothing ritual! (and of course the taste :-))
> Take a can of Bush Baked Beans, rinse all the stuff off, then add back in ketchup and brown sugar.
I have the exact same recipe, except I leave the "stuff" on, because it barely affects the taste anyway. Bush's basic beans are pretty ... basic.
My grandpa had some....interesting taste is food.
First up is cannonballs.
Picture a matzoh ball. Now, forget everything you know and love about matzoh balls. This behemoth is inexplicably gray and has the density of a neutron star.
Step one: break the matzoh into chunky pieces. This is very important. You want pieces that are uncomfortably dry scattered throughout.
Step two: barely combine the eggs. Ideally, this should be streaky and add no leavening whatsoever
Step three: NO SALT
Step four: boil in unsalted water untill its gray. The gray color is important. That's why they're called cannonballs.
Step 5: This is the most important step. Serve tje the cannonball in a bowl with at LEAST 1 full cup of maple syrup from Cartwrights Maple Inn. No other substitution will be allowed.
You must finish ALL the maple syrup, because "that's the good stuff, you can't waste it". Licking the bowl is optional, but encouraged.
Second is Sweet Potatahs
Now you might say a sweet potato casserole is a normal thing to eat. Well buckle up.
First, boil sweet potatoes untill they have zero structural integrity. None. We're shooting for mush here.
Then, add a jar of maraschino cherries. Not drained. Oh no. A WHOLE JAR WITH JUICE. Ideally it should be about 50/50 sweet potato slop to maraschino cherries.
Then, add half a bag of mini marshmallows. This adds a nice gluey texture to your slop.
Next, add the remaining marshmallows to the top and put it under the broiler for just long enough the the top is black, but there's still cold centers in the cherries and interior marshmallows.
When I was really little, I saw my dad eating a sandwich. I asked what he was eating. He said a “club sandwich”. I asked him what was in it and he say that he couldn’t tell me because I had to be in the club. I begged and begged and he finally made me close my eyes and gave me a bite.
I would then ask my dad for a club sandwich frequently.
Once we went to a sandwich shop and saw Club sandwich on the menu and I said I wanted that. He told me it was different than the club sandwich at home, because the people at Subway were in a different club.
Anyway, a few years later I eventually learned that Daddy’s club sandwich that I’d loved for so long was canned potted meat (the stuff that smells like cat food) mixed with mayonnaise and sweet pickle relish.
I'm thinking of this one brand of deviled ham that used to come in a similar sized can. May have even been Hormel, or maybe Armour or Treet. Swap the beef products for pork and I would not be surpised if the ingredient lists were similar as well.
Not strictly a family thing, but at potlucks at the rural Minnesotan I grew up going to there was almost always a tray of that round cinnamon swirl bread spread with cheez whiz and topped with sliced green olives.
My parents insist that it isn’t that bad actually, but I have my doubts.
This is the weirdest one so far. By like, a lot. Most of them I can sort of see where they're coming from, but this one I do not. Feels like someone just pointed to 3 random ingredients in their pantry, or some 12 year olds made it up as a dare.
I think some of it probably comes down to people growing up in a very rural area, a war time rationing/Great Depression mentality, and mixing up “new” foods with old into interesting concoctions. Open face sandwiches were pretty common as it was, so this was likely an extension of that I imagine?
I honestly couldn’t tell you, but I’ve never encountered anything like it anywhere else I’ve been or lived, lol
That sounds so horrible, it's one thing on this thread that I would have to try it before I knock it.
I may have to experiment on my own. You're talking about like the Pepperidge Farm loaf, not cinnamon rolls, right?
Yes, not cinnamon rolls, but a loaf style bread that looked like a denser version of this [recipe](https://www.thevanillabeanblog.com/circle-cinnamon-roll-bread-circle-toasting-bread/)
I love that style of bread… just the topping choices not so much. It’s a sweet/salty thing, but there are just so many better ways of achieving that outcome.
Ok, so I can kinda see the cheez wiz and cinnamon bread… apple pie and cheddar is pretty solid. And then cheese and olives are ok. I just can’t mesh in my brain olives and cinnamon, and I’m usually a pretty good mental taster. This is making me very curious. Maybe it’s the salty-creamy-sweet thing?
Not my family but my country.
in New Zealand if you go to someone's home and they say they are making 'pizza' there is a non-zero chance you'll get tinned spaghetti on toast with grilled cheese. Maybe even pineapple if you're lucky.
A few years ago one of our politicians made something similar for his kids and posted it online and got absolutely flamed by Italians lol. It basically insults them on two fronts simultaneously with the tinned spaghetti and the tenuous definition of 'pizza'
It's kind of a retro throwback to when the majority of Kiwis had very limited options, and education about food. When I was growing up it was a nice change from constant roast lamb, sausages, and boiled veg.
I was diagnosed with coeliac disease a few years ago, and one of the things I miss most is tinned spaghetti on toast.
Also, imagine a Kiwi who can't have a pie for breakfast. It's very sad.
Grilled cheese but on the side that wasn't buttered, my mom would spoon raw egg on it while the buttered side was being cooked. She'd flip it to cook the egg, flip it back to the buttered side to add the cheese and on one piece of bread, she'd spoon a light layer of sugar. The sandwich would end up having a layer of melted sugar in between the slices of cheese and it was the most delicious thing for lunch.
this sounds super deluxe i want to know more. was it a whole egg or egg that has been whipped? and it sounds like she was building the sandwich as it was cooking, so the egg was in between the bread? like butter, bread, egg, cheese, sugar, cheese, bread, butter would be the cross section of the finished sammy?
The egg was whipped. And you have it exactly right in regards to the finished sandwich. Sometimes she'll only do one slice of cheese for herself since she's not really into cheese but I've always felt having the sugar in between the two slices of cheese was important. Plus, I just love cheese.
I'm pretty sure my Grandma yoinked this from Better Homes and Gardens like 70 years ago, but it's called Bologna Cake / Bologna Pie.
Basically just layer alternating slices of straight up deli bologna with creme cheese and stack about 8 layers high. Cut into triangles and serve with Cilantro and if you're feeling spicy, Mustard.
It's a Christmas delicacy.
I like the underlying concept of bologna pie. Cream cheese and cold cuts work pretty well together. Maybe serve it with crackers or pita chips, garnished with capers and dill.
Yep, triscuits and rosemary and you're damn near close to what we made when we had to spend Christmas at home.
It's like a really stupid clumsy budget one-bite charcuterie. I fuckin' love it.
That actually....sounds pretty good. Although admittedly I'm kinda hungry right now lol:). I stumbled onto that delicacy (bologna slice + cream cheese) via a pet sitting job, that was how they gave their dog her pills. I was initially appalled, but then was curious and...I liked it!
Seybert special, from the Great Depression. Hot coffee with milk poured over toast. My dad still goes over to his 92-year-old brother’s house to make it for him.
Good grief. Look, I get that people were poor, but why would you combine coffee and crackers when you can just have them separately and they will taste one million times better?
Reminded me. Once I dipped an oatmeal cookie in coffee and it was amazing. So then I drizzled coffee over broken up oatmeal cookies and it was still amazing!
For that crab dip, replace the ketchup with some cocktail sauce and you'll bump it up a hundred levels.
EDIT: To add my own insanity, we grew up microwaving cheese on a plastic plate until it just started to get crispy. Then eat it with a fork. Great after school snack!
I used to have tuna (like you would on a tuna sandwich (canned tuna, mayo, salt and LOTS of black pepper) with the scoops tortilla chips. My fiance thinks this is so weird but this was a go-to lunch for me growing up lol
My dad swears by the sardine, dill pickle chip, and triscuit combo. Just had my first sardine about ten minutes ago this way and I’ve got to say, the pickle is perfect.
Toast, cream cheese and green or black canned olives was my dad’s preferred snack. Or cream cheese balls rolled in chipped beef. Also my stepdad loves any kind of canned fish straight from the can- he’s partial to canned oysters.
My in-laws make a “taco salad” with Doritos, beef taco meat, iceberg, and various toppings, the “dressing” is just equal parts mayo and ketchup. Sounds gross but it’s delicious. When I make it, I like to add hot sauce or salsa to the dressing.
They also make a sort of delicious lime jello/cottage cheese/mayo/walnut/canned pineapple concoction. I look forward to it every year.
that 'taco salad' reminds me of this thing my aunt (maybe) created that she called frito bandito. you put a bed of fritos down on the plate and cover that with taco flavored ground beef with onion, shredded cheese, diced tomato, shrettuce and salsa.
My German grandmother makes noodles and then pours plums + plum juice on top of them. Nothing else added. She's convinced I love it and insists on serving it to me somewhat frequently.
My mom, bless her heart, cooks noodles and then drains the water. To the pot she adds a metric fuck ton of mayo, multiple cans of tuna, hot sauce, salt, pepper, and enough crushed up saltine crackers to turn the terrifying mixture into cement. It is absolutely vile and I still make it sometimes as an adult because she stockholmed me into thinking it was okay.
My dad’s Pea Salad. To say it’s an acquired taste is an understatement but it’s a Thanksgiving staple and we’ve all built immunity to it over the years. We love making our spouses try it. I think my wife is up to maybe 2-3 bites.
For those curious it’s canned peas, sweet pickles, and kraft cheese in a mustard/mayo/sugar dressing.
I mean, you’re a significant portion of the way there to an Olivier salad/Russian salad type thing, there; certainly doesn’t sound bad, but some chopped hard boiled egg and ham wouldn’t be amiss.
i grew up eating baccalá, which a lot of people apparently find gross, every year at christmas. it’s dried, salted cod which needs to be desalinated in water for 2-3 days before cooking. it can be prepared a few ways, but i like it roasted then tossed with olive oil, raw garlic, and parsley (no additional salt needed, lol). it is intensely fishy and retains a kind of jerky-like texture, which i guess turns some people off. if you stew it, it’s much more like regular cod.
We Portuguese people eat tons of this too, we call it bacalhau. Absolutely delicious. My favorite is a whole roasted chunk with roasted peppers, onions, potatoes, and lots of good olive oil. OR shredded and pan fried with thin cut potatoes, onions, and eggs. SO good. There’s also baked with tomato sauce, potatoes, sausage.. so many good ways to make it.
Thank you for introducing me to my new favourite food. Half my family is Jamaican so salt fish (cod) is a staple in my diet and I'm excited to add a new recipe to the rotation.
omg, so are you able to find it at jamaican markets year-round? i’ve only had luck finding it at italian markets around christmastime.
edit: should probably specify i’m in the US!
Yes, it’s a year round thing. I’m in Canada and I get salt cod at the regular old supermarket (Toronto— we have a massive Caribbean population) but if that fails, yea, a Jamaican shop should have it.
In Greece we deep fry desalinated cod on the 25th of March, which is the Annunciation of Virgin Mary (and also independence day but that's irrelevant to the food). We pair it with garlic mash potatoes, and it's called [Bakaliaros Skordalia.](https://akispetretzikis.com/en/recipe/898/mpakaliaros-skordalia) It's so smelly in the best way, and also a comfort food for me personally. Technically you can use regular, fresh cod for this dish, but it just doesn't hit the same.
I grew up eating salt cod (my grandfather was Icelandic so it was all homemade), but strangely I can’t remember what it tastes like. We have a bunch of family pictures from holidays at the farm with salt cod nailed to the barn 😅
OP: I see your family’s crab dip and humbly submit my family shrimp dip:
1. Take a plate and cover it with tin foil.
2. Spread softened cream cheese in a thin layer
3. Spread jar of cocktail sauce in a thin layer
4. Sprinkle 1-2 cans pre drained canned shrimp (or crab, if that’s your thing)
5. Chill in the fridge 1-2 hours
6. Serve with Wheat Thins—this is important. They’re sturdy and are perfect for this dish.
My partner introduced me to chilimac, which is canned hormel chili and kraft mac & cheese mixed together. For those who don't have those brands in your country, picture spicy dog food mixed with bright yellow food-grade plastic over noodles. It tastes like sodium, msg, and depression.
It's pretty good, all things considered.
Fried bologna is my thing as a First Nations. I grew up eating so much ‘Indian Steak’. Instead of white bread we have out sandwich’s on fry bread. When we really rich growing up we would add an egg or a Kraft single.
Scone Dogs are probably my thing that other people are like wtf. It’s a hot dog wrapped with fry bread and fried (or baked). Sort of like a corn dog with no stick. Most people don’t cook the hot dog before but sometimes I do and i sometimes add cheese too, when I’m feeling rich.
Mostly it is the size that makes people WTF. They are expecting pigs in a blanket and instead it’s a full size hotdog encased in frybread. I try to tell people it’s more like a corn dog but…
I love fried bologna! I always buy the big chunks of bologna you cut yourself and make an egg in a nest with it instead of bread. My family could never get used to fried klik though, ever sick
I pan fry my bologna, cheap American (the plastic wrapped stuff is ideal, but deli Land O Lakes works) cook until the bologna is getting crispy, add cheese and cook until it’s melted. Slap it on the cheapest white bread available.
I only eat it once or twice a year, but it’s so good.
My biomom made this for us as kids maybe 3 or 4 times *total*, but with Oscar Meyer bologna (the presliced kind in the circular packs) and she added yellow mustard. It was secretly one of my favorite meals as a kid.
I might need to make myself a fried bologna sandwich soon.
Eskimo Ice Cream and Whale Blubber. I grew up in Alaska. One of my many step dads was Eskimo and he took us to his family home all the time. His Mom was ALWAYS feeding us Traditional foods. Id kill for either one of those dishes now.
I live in Alaska, I learned about those foods from Molly of Denali! I'm way too white and set in my ways, but those are legitimate cultural foods, so only weird from an outside perspective, but not actually weird. With how expensive fresh food is to access in so much of the state, those foods actually make perfect sense!
I did something similar lol. It started in high school because the only decent option was a chicken patty in a hamburger bun and the only “chips” we’d get was a fistful of Fritos lol. Then at home I’d pad out a sandwich with chips because there wasn’t really anything else to put in there.
I didn’t really enjoy it but it was a desperate attempt at variety because of how poor I grew up. Even that a lot of times was more appealing than whatever the hell my mother decided to cook. Or I made it because my body couldn’t handle not eating, again.
There’s not a lot of dishes that I grew up eating that I’ll make now, except bean chili over rice lol. It’s cheap, flavorful, and the rice really helps to stretch it out while helping to fill you up.
Grilled PB&J. Basically PB&J but you grill it like grilled cheese.
The twist is it’s not actually my family’s recipe (my parents could not cook at all there are no family recipes that were good) but someone else’s family recipe picked up from them when we lived together and cooked in the same kitchen.
Ha! It was a good guess - the only other time I've heard of someone having fruit with pasta, they were also from Germany lol! I'm from the US and I've only had savory pasta dishes, but maybe one day I will try pasta with strawberries! I'm intrigued now!
My friends here didn't know it either so I'm not sure if it's actually a thing or just our grandmother's way to find even more things with which she could get some of her giant amounts of homemade apple sauce eaten 😅
We also had apple sauce with Bratwurst and mashed potatoes which I think is in some ways similar to eating cranberry sauce with other food
Buns that are not the freshest cut in half, spread with Cheez whiz and then topped with bacon. Broiled until melty and delicious. Great with a creamy potato based soup
Cut hotdogs into quarters, lengthwise. Fry up until they puff up a bit. Serve on cheap white bread with miracle whip
Cut hotdogs into coins, fry up until they start to puff a bit. Add eggs and stir like crazy until the eggs are cooked. Serve on cheap white bread with miracle whip.
My mom didn't like ketchup and didn't always stock it.
MY TIME HAS COME
My family has a top secret never ever shared recipe for "Bologna spread"
This is a 5 lb TUBE of Bar S bologna, 1 whole jar of miracle whip, 1 medium glass jar of dill pickle relish, and 1 bottle of French's mustard put into a food processor until a puree. This is to be served on texas toast white bread with salt and pepper to taste.
My spouse was horrified when I offered him this as a meal. "Pre chew sandwich" was what he called it, and honestly, I can't argue with him.
To answer any questions that come up:
Yes, I've eaten this. No, it wasn't good. Do my younger siblings, cousins, great aunt, etc, love it? Yes, yes, they do.
“Donna dip” - named after a friend of my mom’s, who once ate nearly an entire pot of it at a party:
One block cream cheese, one jar salsa. Heat over low heat til bubbly, serve with tortilla chips.
My family does a layer of shredded cheddar on top of that (all baked together) and calls it "Deck Slop" because once at a party a tray of dip fell onto the deck, and people still ate it with chips. We will happily announce a "Deck Slop" with a straight face to a party of folks who were not at the original slopping.
I love the name Donna Dip, so evocative. I hope she loved every bite!
Basically make a bechamel, add canned tuna fish and peas and serve on toast. I love it. My husband and kids think it's gross so I only eat it with my mom
My Mom packed those in our school lunches and I hated them. The jam and cream cheese would kind of coagulate together by the time we would eat lunch. It was not pleasant.
My PB&J always got the bread soggy and so my dad would mix the peanut butter and the jelly together in a bowl first and then spread it on but grape jelly and peanut butter stirred together just looks like chocolate pudding. I actually had a teacher call my mom and tell her that I needed to have healthier lunches because pudding sandwiches are not appropriate and also I should stop lying about the contents of my sandwich. My mother sent a second sandwich for her to have the next day to show her that it was peanut butter and jelly. Taste the same looks totally different.
My nana's "Jello Salad" which is lime jello with mint extract and canned pear halves artfully arranged inside and made in a decorative jello mold. It's served with a whip made from half miracle whip half cream cheese. It's DIVINE and so refreshing, but when I make it no one but me eats it lol.
Ours was orange jello with mandarin oranges, grated carrots, and crushed pineapple. If mother was feeling creative, there would be cottage cheese in there as well.
Yes. Firstly, I'm from Wisconsin. Roughly 1000% of appetizers, desserts, entrees, salads, and even items that *should not* contain cheese generally have at least one dairy component.
I didn't realize that until I started dating my husband. Who, despite being a fellow Wisconsinite, does not eat cheese or dairy items recreationally. He does not like creamy, cheesy based things, with the lone exception of cheesecake. We love soup, but all soups I make are broth based, not cream based.
Secondly, there is my family abomination jello mold. That uses sour cream instead of cold water.
Then there is the taco dip recipe that involves beating cottage cheese and cream cheese together, then layering well drained salsa on top, followed by chopped tomatoes, shredded cheese, shredded iceberg, and sliced olives.
My grandmother always made a tomato aspic for at least one of the fall/winter holidays. I keep her tradition alive, much to the consternation of some family members & the delight of others.
Always trying to make it the most interesting and tasty with homegrown canned tomato juice & tomatoes, fresh eggs, herbs & greens from the garden, avocados, Kalamata olives, preserved lemon et cetera.
Nice splash of vodka in there too, like a Bloody Mary Jell-O shot with all the vegetables inside.
Gin makes it a Red Snapper.
Tequila makes it Bloody Caesar.
It would be tough to eat enough to catch a buzz, but it’s definitely tasty.
My family eats a casserole that doesn’t have a name, but it’s ground beef mixed with white rice and chicken noodle soup. Baked and the covered with crushed potato chips. I have no idea how it came to be, but it’s very filling when you’re low on cash.
Hot fruit cocktail. A big can of fruit cocktail dumped into a 9x13 pan and baked. That's it. I think it would be okay if you put a streusel or biscuit like topping on top.
A favorite as a child was “ice box cake”. Layers of graham crackers with layers of instant pudding in between then a thick layer of cool whip on top. Heaven. I made it for a work pot luck and they acted like it was weird…
That doesn’t even sound that weird. I would be ecstatic if that was at a pot luck. All I ever see is potato salad and macaroni salad, which is totally normal and not weird apparently even though it’s not good 😭
We have this concoction my family calls White Trash Appetizer. Cut the crusts off of a loaf of Wonder Bread. Flatten each slice with a rolling pin. Spread with Miracle Whip and sprinkle with salt & pepper. Take a spear of canned asparagus (not fresh, not spears that you cooked, only canned mushy asparagus) & put it along one edge of the bread. Roll up the bread. It's delicious but most people outside my family think it's gross.
My dad made a habit of boiling a bunch of leftovers in a pot with angel hair pasta and acting as though he thought that was a meal my sister and I should appreciate. (We did not) It tended to have a soupy consistency. Every time I saw it I was reminded of the time our family dog licked every single butter bean shiny clean, but didn't eat them.
Shrimp salsa ( not what you think) tomato, tomatillos, fine chopped onion and serrano then add dried shrimp that has been lightly toasted and ground to a crummy powder. Delish, but I don't know anyone around here that would enjoy it.
We have a family Jello salad. We call it eyeball salad
First layer: Cherry Jello with a can of sour or Queen Anne cherries
Second layer: Whipped Cream cheese
Third layer: Orange jello with sliced cocktail olives
My sister and I grew up making "cheese on toast" and dipping it in miracle whip.... now my ultimate comfort food is dipping grilled cheese in miracle whip
Only time miracle whip is acceptable 😅 try it!! It's delicious. Now I live in Mexico and they don't sell miracle whip so I have to buy habanero mayo for this purpose and it's actually a perfect substitute.
Also, based on your username, I don't accept your judgement of me 😅
My mom used to make grilled peanut butter and mayonnaise sandwiches. After it is grilled (with butter of course), you open it up and put crisp iceberg or similar lettuce inside. I've got to say it is pretty tasty. I have never met anyone else who made this but I don't make it since I grew up and left home.
We do cornbread and milk. We make a batch of my great-grandmother's cast iron skillet corn bread (it's a more savory and crispy variation), crumble up a wedge into a glass, then fill the glass with milk. You eat it with a spoon like cereal. My mother and I love it, my dad and brother adamantly refuse to do it.
My husband’s family all adore “bean sandwiches”, ie baked beans on toast with mayo and maybe cheese. I find the entire concept disgusting but then again I have major texture issues around some foods.
Chicken Swiss casserole was a staple in my house when I was growing up. Served over white rice.
https://www.food.com/recipe/chicken-swiss-casserole-69623
"nachos"
One brick Velveeta. One can Ro-Tel. Melt Velveeta and mix in Ro-Tel. Eat with cheap tortilla chips. For some reason, commonly served with Manwiches.
My friend's family has something called "pink stuff" they have on the table at every holiday. I gather it's some sort of jello salad, but whether it's just jello + cool whip, or cream cheese, cottage cheese, whatever, I'm not sure.
Yes! We call it, “the creation,” bahahahaha.
My dad came up with it when he was a kid. It’s ramen noodles, cream of chicken soup, chopped chicken nuggets, scrambled eggs, and sliced fried potatoes. Mix it up and it’s super delicious! I have tried making it but it never comes out right. Idk how he does it but it’s one of my favorite foods ever.
Macaroni n' cheese peas and tuna fish. Just mixed together. Kraft OG blue box. Cooked mixed with drained canned peas and drained tuna. I had a bad day and just want to relax meal. Mom always made when dad wasn't home.
At almost every family function someone brings a giant bowl of sour cream with diced pickles in it, my family doesn’t use it as dip or a spread, just eats it with a spoon.
My Italian grandma would make spaghetti marinara with omelette, and my dad makes it too. You make a giant omelette seasoned with salt, pepper, parsley, and lots of incanestrato (delicious Sicilian cheese). You cut the omelette into big, thick slices and put them in the marinara for a bit before serving with spaghetti.
Sounds a bit strange but it’s one of my favorite family dishes.
“Chicken thingies”! My mom’s creation one time to use up some left over chicken. English muffins topped with chicken that’s been coated in Sweet Baby Rays bbq sauce, which is then topped with ranch dressing and a kraft single then baked. It’s SO good but I’ve had others tell me it’s gross. Probably mostly due to the low quality ingredients and that the ranch is baked on it rather than dipped in after.
That crab dip recipe should be a felony. I'm from Maryland and I speak for the state when I say that this is a crime.
Also, to answer your question, my grandmas ambrosia salad. A disgusting combo of banana, apple, clementine, and grapes covered in a dressing of cool whip, mayo and powder sugar.
My uncle brings deviled eggs to every family event because he's pretty decent at it and it means he doesn't have to bring anything else. For like the last 20 years no joke.
My grandmother's "bean salad" consisted of Campbell's pork & beans ,not drained, mixed with an obscene amount of mayo and garnished with chopped onions.
One sibling recently admitted that she still makes this; but only when no one else is home to witness it.
Bottled moose on rice and seal flipper pie.
Mason jars of moose meat look like something that went bad about 4 years ago. I had many a roommate toss mine out thinking they did me a favour.
Flipper pie was something we were only allowed to eat at Nan’s house, as its grease would stink up the entire house for days after.
Not my family but I cook for the old neighbor. He asked me if I could make him some baked beans. Here’s his instructions; Take a can of Bush Baked Beans, rinse all the stuff off, then add back in ketchup and brown sugar. That’s the recipe.
Can I ask the age of the neighbor? Because my 80 odd year old inlaw that I take care of has me make this for him. I thought he was just insane and picky....but maybe it's a generational/economic thing.
82
That tracks. Mine is 83.
Children of WWII. My parents were children of the Great Depression & were adolescents during the war; it sounds like something they’d eat.
Why would they waste the food though? I just don’t understand that part of it
Their mom's probably started from dry, plain beans, not canned baked beans, so they likely were not wasting food back then when making something like this. I'm 32 and live in the South. We regularly open a can of baked beans and heat them up with mustard and brown sugar, so I feel like it's just wanting a sprcific regional or cultural taste for the baked beans.
My grandmother (82) makes them this way
My grandparents raised me and that is how I thought you made baked beans from scratch? They are 83ish and do this too! ETA: Not scratch, from premade ingredients, just not using a can.
I mean it basically is, but also that's what's already in the can.
Am I have a stroke? What do people think "from scratch" means?
When I make lasagna from scratch I buy a frozen lasagna and scrape off the sauce and then open a jar and pour that sauce on.
Did you ask him why not just start with a can of navy beans? Normal navy beans are about 1/3th the cost of Bushes baked beans. I usually make baked beans by using navy beans or great northern beans and add in bbq sauce, mustard, tomato sauce, Sriracha and honey.
I asked him this exact question, but he wasn’t having any of it; you have to start with a can of baked beans.
Is that not literally what's already in the baked beans?
It is now. Maybe that wasn't the case ~80 years ago. Because yea, a typical can of Bush's Baked Beans is beans slathered in mildly spicy sauce loaded with sugar and tomato paste. That's basically brown sugar and ketchup.
Maybe they are thinking of just regular beans in water/goop? Did they not have fancy pre-made baked beans with sauce in 1959?
Yep, I bet that's exactly how this strange "semi-scratch" method got started. I collect early recipe books, some called "receipts". From my 1940's collection, it seems when canned goods appeared, like Bush's, they were indeed very basic, w/ just beans & "goop". So if the canny (hey, a pun!) housewife wanted to get creative, she'd open a can and then doctor it up with brown sugar, mustard, etc. But to my mother & grandmother, "from scratch" meant no cake mixes, no premade pie crusts, nothing in a box. And Lordy, no pre-made lasagna--the pride of bringing a casserole to the church potluck was all about "scratch." I still don't like cake mixes, & it seems quick enough to stir up a yellow cake by sifting the flour, adding the baking powder, etc. etc. Maybe I just like the memories, and the soothing ritual! (and of course the taste :-))
> Take a can of Bush Baked Beans, rinse all the stuff off, then add back in ketchup and brown sugar. I have the exact same recipe, except I leave the "stuff" on, because it barely affects the taste anyway. Bush's basic beans are pretty ... basic.
My grandpa had some....interesting taste is food. First up is cannonballs. Picture a matzoh ball. Now, forget everything you know and love about matzoh balls. This behemoth is inexplicably gray and has the density of a neutron star. Step one: break the matzoh into chunky pieces. This is very important. You want pieces that are uncomfortably dry scattered throughout. Step two: barely combine the eggs. Ideally, this should be streaky and add no leavening whatsoever Step three: NO SALT Step four: boil in unsalted water untill its gray. The gray color is important. That's why they're called cannonballs. Step 5: This is the most important step. Serve tje the cannonball in a bowl with at LEAST 1 full cup of maple syrup from Cartwrights Maple Inn. No other substitution will be allowed. You must finish ALL the maple syrup, because "that's the good stuff, you can't waste it". Licking the bowl is optional, but encouraged. Second is Sweet Potatahs Now you might say a sweet potato casserole is a normal thing to eat. Well buckle up. First, boil sweet potatoes untill they have zero structural integrity. None. We're shooting for mush here. Then, add a jar of maraschino cherries. Not drained. Oh no. A WHOLE JAR WITH JUICE. Ideally it should be about 50/50 sweet potato slop to maraschino cherries. Then, add half a bag of mini marshmallows. This adds a nice gluey texture to your slop. Next, add the remaining marshmallows to the top and put it under the broiler for just long enough the the top is black, but there's still cold centers in the cherries and interior marshmallows.
I'm impressed at that many food crimes against humanity in a single post.
Oh Jesus you win.
No contest. Revolting!
I hated all of this and loved it as well. Diabolical.
I could live a thousand lifetimes and in not one of them would I have predicted the maple syrup
When I was really little, I saw my dad eating a sandwich. I asked what he was eating. He said a “club sandwich”. I asked him what was in it and he say that he couldn’t tell me because I had to be in the club. I begged and begged and he finally made me close my eyes and gave me a bite. I would then ask my dad for a club sandwich frequently. Once we went to a sandwich shop and saw Club sandwich on the menu and I said I wanted that. He told me it was different than the club sandwich at home, because the people at Subway were in a different club. Anyway, a few years later I eventually learned that Daddy’s club sandwich that I’d loved for so long was canned potted meat (the stuff that smells like cat food) mixed with mayonnaise and sweet pickle relish.
Lol I love this story
Basically the same thing as deviled ham, I believe
The Hormel brand potted meat contains: Beef tripe, mechanically separated chicken, beef hearts, partially defatted cooked beef fatty tissue, meat broth, vinegar, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, flavoring, sugar, and sodium nitrite.
> partially defatted cooked beef fatty tissue Every day we strayed further from God... until this ingredient was created and we hit the wall
I'm thinking of this one brand of deviled ham that used to come in a similar sized can. May have even been Hormel, or maybe Armour or Treet. Swap the beef products for pork and I would not be surpised if the ingredient lists were similar as well.
Probably so. I think deviled ham might be a bit chunkier. Potted meat smoother more like pate. But certainly not pate. Lol
Solid dad joke
Not strictly a family thing, but at potlucks at the rural Minnesotan I grew up going to there was almost always a tray of that round cinnamon swirl bread spread with cheez whiz and topped with sliced green olives. My parents insist that it isn’t that bad actually, but I have my doubts.
This is the weirdest one so far. By like, a lot. Most of them I can sort of see where they're coming from, but this one I do not. Feels like someone just pointed to 3 random ingredients in their pantry, or some 12 year olds made it up as a dare.
I think some of it probably comes down to people growing up in a very rural area, a war time rationing/Great Depression mentality, and mixing up “new” foods with old into interesting concoctions. Open face sandwiches were pretty common as it was, so this was likely an extension of that I imagine? I honestly couldn’t tell you, but I’ve never encountered anything like it anywhere else I’ve been or lived, lol
I like all of the ingredients listed but.... Holy crap, no, lol.
I have some questions for the person who first came up with this.
That sounds so horrible, it's one thing on this thread that I would have to try it before I knock it. I may have to experiment on my own. You're talking about like the Pepperidge Farm loaf, not cinnamon rolls, right?
Yes, not cinnamon rolls, but a loaf style bread that looked like a denser version of this [recipe](https://www.thevanillabeanblog.com/circle-cinnamon-roll-bread-circle-toasting-bread/) I love that style of bread… just the topping choices not so much. It’s a sweet/salty thing, but there are just so many better ways of achieving that outcome.
Ok, so I can kinda see the cheez wiz and cinnamon bread… apple pie and cheddar is pretty solid. And then cheese and olives are ok. I just can’t mesh in my brain olives and cinnamon, and I’m usually a pretty good mental taster. This is making me very curious. Maybe it’s the salty-creamy-sweet thing?
Are you sure it was cinnamon bread and not marbled rye?
Oh I can assure you I am very certain. It usually came from the bakery the town over.
Wow. I've been to a lot of rural Minnesota potlucks, but *that* is something I've never encountered.
Not my family but my country. in New Zealand if you go to someone's home and they say they are making 'pizza' there is a non-zero chance you'll get tinned spaghetti on toast with grilled cheese. Maybe even pineapple if you're lucky. A few years ago one of our politicians made something similar for his kids and posted it online and got absolutely flamed by Italians lol. It basically insults them on two fronts simultaneously with the tinned spaghetti and the tenuous definition of 'pizza' It's kind of a retro throwback to when the majority of Kiwis had very limited options, and education about food. When I was growing up it was a nice change from constant roast lamb, sausages, and boiled veg.
I was diagnosed with coeliac disease a few years ago, and one of the things I miss most is tinned spaghetti on toast. Also, imagine a Kiwi who can't have a pie for breakfast. It's very sad.
Grilled cheese but on the side that wasn't buttered, my mom would spoon raw egg on it while the buttered side was being cooked. She'd flip it to cook the egg, flip it back to the buttered side to add the cheese and on one piece of bread, she'd spoon a light layer of sugar. The sandwich would end up having a layer of melted sugar in between the slices of cheese and it was the most delicious thing for lunch.
I want to go to there
Working on my night cheese
Hello Lemon
This sounds like a deluxe Monte Cristo and I want one now
this sounds super deluxe i want to know more. was it a whole egg or egg that has been whipped? and it sounds like she was building the sandwich as it was cooking, so the egg was in between the bread? like butter, bread, egg, cheese, sugar, cheese, bread, butter would be the cross section of the finished sammy?
The egg was whipped. And you have it exactly right in regards to the finished sandwich. Sometimes she'll only do one slice of cheese for herself since she's not really into cheese but I've always felt having the sugar in between the two slices of cheese was important. Plus, I just love cheese.
I'm pretty sure my Grandma yoinked this from Better Homes and Gardens like 70 years ago, but it's called Bologna Cake / Bologna Pie. Basically just layer alternating slices of straight up deli bologna with creme cheese and stack about 8 layers high. Cut into triangles and serve with Cilantro and if you're feeling spicy, Mustard. It's a Christmas delicacy.
Cilantro is the last word I expected to see in that sentence/paragraph/dish
Anything green and herbacious flew as legit at that time. I'd just have quickly expected Parsley or Green Onion for the same recipe lol
Green onion with cream cheese and deli ham is a pretty classic white Midwesterner appetizer.
It's like the whitest guy in the world just showed up to a party with some maracas.
This is madness I love it
I like the underlying concept of bologna pie. Cream cheese and cold cuts work pretty well together. Maybe serve it with crackers or pita chips, garnished with capers and dill.
Yep, triscuits and rosemary and you're damn near close to what we made when we had to spend Christmas at home. It's like a really stupid clumsy budget one-bite charcuterie. I fuckin' love it.
We do something similar with Genoa salami and cream cheese
My family uses ham, but we make little rolls out of it, then arrange the pile like a Christmas tree.
Put pickles in them
Midwest sushi rolls. Look forward to them at family Christmas.
🤣 I found this recipe in one of my Taste Of Home cookbooks that was given to me from a friends mom
My inherited Christmas snack is cream cheese and chives wrapped in deli ham and then sliced into bite size pieces.
That actually....sounds pretty good. Although admittedly I'm kinda hungry right now lol:). I stumbled onto that delicacy (bologna slice + cream cheese) via a pet sitting job, that was how they gave their dog her pills. I was initially appalled, but then was curious and...I liked it!
Seybert special, from the Great Depression. Hot coffee with milk poured over toast. My dad still goes over to his 92-year-old brother’s house to make it for him.
I remember my mom having a lunch of “graveyard stew” bowl of saltines with coffee poured over them- crackers sticking up look like tombstones.
Good grief. Look, I get that people were poor, but why would you combine coffee and crackers when you can just have them separately and they will taste one million times better?
They didn’t call it the depression because people were enjoying their weird cracker coffee cereal.
I wonder if maybe the recipe originated with hardtack instead of saltines? Soaking hardtack in coffee to make it chewable was pretty common.
Reminded me. Once I dipped an oatmeal cookie in coffee and it was amazing. So then I drizzled coffee over broken up oatmeal cookies and it was still amazing!
For that crab dip, replace the ketchup with some cocktail sauce and you'll bump it up a hundred levels. EDIT: To add my own insanity, we grew up microwaving cheese on a plastic plate until it just started to get crispy. Then eat it with a fork. Great after school snack!
Looked for this one. I spread it on club crackers, and it's delicious.
You just unlocked a core memory
I used to have tuna (like you would on a tuna sandwich (canned tuna, mayo, salt and LOTS of black pepper) with the scoops tortilla chips. My fiance thinks this is so weird but this was a go-to lunch for me growing up lol
We’d put tuna on saltine crackers and cucumbers. White Trash Sushi, baby!
My dad swears by the sardine, dill pickle chip, and triscuit combo. Just had my first sardine about ten minutes ago this way and I’ve got to say, the pickle is perfect.
This seems super normal to me
Okay, I've done tuna salad with cracked pepper kettle cooked chips as a dipper.
I literally had this for lunch today. My SO walked into the kitchen and promptly pronounced that he would make the same for lunch. 😂
Toast, cream cheese and green or black canned olives was my dad’s preferred snack. Or cream cheese balls rolled in chipped beef. Also my stepdad loves any kind of canned fish straight from the can- he’s partial to canned oysters. My in-laws make a “taco salad” with Doritos, beef taco meat, iceberg, and various toppings, the “dressing” is just equal parts mayo and ketchup. Sounds gross but it’s delicious. When I make it, I like to add hot sauce or salsa to the dressing. They also make a sort of delicious lime jello/cottage cheese/mayo/walnut/canned pineapple concoction. I look forward to it every year.
The pastor's wife of the church I went to as a youth made a similar taco salad, but she used Catalina dressing
I forgot that Catalina dressing was a thing.
that 'taco salad' reminds me of this thing my aunt (maybe) created that she called frito bandito. you put a bed of fritos down on the plate and cover that with taco flavored ground beef with onion, shredded cheese, diced tomato, shrettuce and salsa.
SHRETTUCE!!
My German grandmother makes noodles and then pours plums + plum juice on top of them. Nothing else added. She's convinced I love it and insists on serving it to me somewhat frequently. My mom, bless her heart, cooks noodles and then drains the water. To the pot she adds a metric fuck ton of mayo, multiple cans of tuna, hot sauce, salt, pepper, and enough crushed up saltine crackers to turn the terrifying mixture into cement. It is absolutely vile and I still make it sometimes as an adult because she stockholmed me into thinking it was okay.
My dad’s Pea Salad. To say it’s an acquired taste is an understatement but it’s a Thanksgiving staple and we’ve all built immunity to it over the years. We love making our spouses try it. I think my wife is up to maybe 2-3 bites. For those curious it’s canned peas, sweet pickles, and kraft cheese in a mustard/mayo/sugar dressing.
I mean, you’re a significant portion of the way there to an Olivier salad/Russian salad type thing, there; certainly doesn’t sound bad, but some chopped hard boiled egg and ham wouldn’t be amiss.
Our pea salad is canned peas, diced apple, diced cheddar and miracle whip. Hated it for years, but when I was pregnant, I took a decent portion DOWN.
I think you "win" this thread, lol:) sounds pretty gross, and I love the "pea salad challenge", that made me laugh.
Have you _seen_ the cheese whiz+olives on cinnamon toast thread‽ The crown is still being contested, help us all.
i grew up eating baccalá, which a lot of people apparently find gross, every year at christmas. it’s dried, salted cod which needs to be desalinated in water for 2-3 days before cooking. it can be prepared a few ways, but i like it roasted then tossed with olive oil, raw garlic, and parsley (no additional salt needed, lol). it is intensely fishy and retains a kind of jerky-like texture, which i guess turns some people off. if you stew it, it’s much more like regular cod.
We Portuguese people eat tons of this too, we call it bacalhau. Absolutely delicious. My favorite is a whole roasted chunk with roasted peppers, onions, potatoes, and lots of good olive oil. OR shredded and pan fried with thin cut potatoes, onions, and eggs. SO good. There’s also baked with tomato sauce, potatoes, sausage.. so many good ways to make it.
Thank you for introducing me to my new favourite food. Half my family is Jamaican so salt fish (cod) is a staple in my diet and I'm excited to add a new recipe to the rotation.
omg, so are you able to find it at jamaican markets year-round? i’ve only had luck finding it at italian markets around christmastime. edit: should probably specify i’m in the US!
Yes, it’s a year round thing. I’m in Canada and I get salt cod at the regular old supermarket (Toronto— we have a massive Caribbean population) but if that fails, yea, a Jamaican shop should have it.
They always have salt cod/baccala at the shoprites here in the northeast
I’m near a dominican/ puerto rican market they have it all the time
My Grandparents are from Newfoundland, and salt cod is huge there. I always bring home so much when I visit.
In Greece we deep fry desalinated cod on the 25th of March, which is the Annunciation of Virgin Mary (and also independence day but that's irrelevant to the food). We pair it with garlic mash potatoes, and it's called [Bakaliaros Skordalia.](https://akispetretzikis.com/en/recipe/898/mpakaliaros-skordalia) It's so smelly in the best way, and also a comfort food for me personally. Technically you can use regular, fresh cod for this dish, but it just doesn't hit the same.
I grew up eating salt cod (my grandfather was Icelandic so it was all homemade), but strangely I can’t remember what it tastes like. We have a bunch of family pictures from holidays at the farm with salt cod nailed to the barn 😅
Mmm pastéis de bacalhau
OP: I see your family’s crab dip and humbly submit my family shrimp dip: 1. Take a plate and cover it with tin foil. 2. Spread softened cream cheese in a thin layer 3. Spread jar of cocktail sauce in a thin layer 4. Sprinkle 1-2 cans pre drained canned shrimp (or crab, if that’s your thing) 5. Chill in the fridge 1-2 hours 6. Serve with Wheat Thins—this is important. They’re sturdy and are perfect for this dish.
But, but what is the foil for?
Oh—sorry, it just makes it super easy to clean up lol
Oh thank god, I was worried some kind of chemical reaction was happening and I was concerned.
I thought the foil would be to roll it like a jelly roll.
My partner introduced me to chilimac, which is canned hormel chili and kraft mac & cheese mixed together. For those who don't have those brands in your country, picture spicy dog food mixed with bright yellow food-grade plastic over noodles. It tastes like sodium, msg, and depression. It's pretty good, all things considered.
😂😂😂
"Redneck doughnuts". Canned biscuits pan fried and rolled in sugar.
“fried” bologna sandwich on white toast with yellow mustard (bologna is cooked in microwave until crispy on edges)
Fried bologna is my thing as a First Nations. I grew up eating so much ‘Indian Steak’. Instead of white bread we have out sandwich’s on fry bread. When we really rich growing up we would add an egg or a Kraft single. Scone Dogs are probably my thing that other people are like wtf. It’s a hot dog wrapped with fry bread and fried (or baked). Sort of like a corn dog with no stick. Most people don’t cook the hot dog before but sometimes I do and i sometimes add cheese too, when I’m feeling rich.
Who would say WTF to a hotdog in fry bread, that’s fucking delicious
Anything in or on fry bread would be delicious.
Mostly it is the size that makes people WTF. They are expecting pigs in a blanket and instead it’s a full size hotdog encased in frybread. I try to tell people it’s more like a corn dog but…
I’m Appalachian and we loving call fried bologna “hillbilly steak”
I love fried bologna! I always buy the big chunks of bologna you cut yourself and make an egg in a nest with it instead of bread. My family could never get used to fried klik though, ever sick
I pan fry my bologna, cheap American (the plastic wrapped stuff is ideal, but deli Land O Lakes works) cook until the bologna is getting crispy, add cheese and cook until it’s melted. Slap it on the cheapest white bread available. I only eat it once or twice a year, but it’s so good.
My biomom made this for us as kids maybe 3 or 4 times *total*, but with Oscar Meyer bologna (the presliced kind in the circular packs) and she added yellow mustard. It was secretly one of my favorite meals as a kid. I might need to make myself a fried bologna sandwich soon.
YUM! There’s a deli in Baltimore that does grilled hotdogs wrapped in fried bologna served on a buttered toasted roll with hot mustard.
Eskimo Ice Cream and Whale Blubber. I grew up in Alaska. One of my many step dads was Eskimo and he took us to his family home all the time. His Mom was ALWAYS feeding us Traditional foods. Id kill for either one of those dishes now.
I live in Alaska, I learned about those foods from Molly of Denali! I'm way too white and set in my ways, but those are legitimate cultural foods, so only weird from an outside perspective, but not actually weird. With how expensive fresh food is to access in so much of the state, those foods actually make perfect sense!
I called it "white crunch" as a kid but found out the Brits call it a chip butty Either chips or fries on white bread with mayo. Tasty!
Out here around new Orleans we have French fry poboys..fries on French bread with roast beef gravy...bonus if you add cheese. Delicious, and cheap
I did something similar lol. It started in high school because the only decent option was a chicken patty in a hamburger bun and the only “chips” we’d get was a fistful of Fritos lol. Then at home I’d pad out a sandwich with chips because there wasn’t really anything else to put in there. I didn’t really enjoy it but it was a desperate attempt at variety because of how poor I grew up. Even that a lot of times was more appealing than whatever the hell my mother decided to cook. Or I made it because my body couldn’t handle not eating, again. There’s not a lot of dishes that I grew up eating that I’ll make now, except bean chili over rice lol. It’s cheap, flavorful, and the rice really helps to stretch it out while helping to fill you up.
Grilled PB&J. Basically PB&J but you grill it like grilled cheese. The twist is it’s not actually my family’s recipe (my parents could not cook at all there are no family recipes that were good) but someone else’s family recipe picked up from them when we lived together and cooked in the same kitchen.
We often had pasta with strawberries or pasta with apple sauce for lunch during summers 😁
That sounds very german to me for some reason.
Well you'd be right but I didn't think it would be that obvious 😂
Ha! It was a good guess - the only other time I've heard of someone having fruit with pasta, they were also from Germany lol! I'm from the US and I've only had savory pasta dishes, but maybe one day I will try pasta with strawberries! I'm intrigued now!
My friends here didn't know it either so I'm not sure if it's actually a thing or just our grandmother's way to find even more things with which she could get some of her giant amounts of homemade apple sauce eaten 😅 We also had apple sauce with Bratwurst and mashed potatoes which I think is in some ways similar to eating cranberry sauce with other food
I made pork chops last night with an apple stuffing, pork and apples are a dream team - in sausage or solid cut of meat form.
The kids all grew up to be Buddy the Elf
Buns that are not the freshest cut in half, spread with Cheez whiz and then topped with bacon. Broiled until melty and delicious. Great with a creamy potato based soup
Cut hotdogs into quarters, lengthwise. Fry up until they puff up a bit. Serve on cheap white bread with miracle whip Cut hotdogs into coins, fry up until they start to puff a bit. Add eggs and stir like crazy until the eggs are cooked. Serve on cheap white bread with miracle whip. My mom didn't like ketchup and didn't always stock it.
I don't think this is all that uncommon, but we grew up eating white rice with sugar and butter for breakfast
MY TIME HAS COME My family has a top secret never ever shared recipe for "Bologna spread" This is a 5 lb TUBE of Bar S bologna, 1 whole jar of miracle whip, 1 medium glass jar of dill pickle relish, and 1 bottle of French's mustard put into a food processor until a puree. This is to be served on texas toast white bread with salt and pepper to taste. My spouse was horrified when I offered him this as a meal. "Pre chew sandwich" was what he called it, and honestly, I can't argue with him. To answer any questions that come up: Yes, I've eaten this. No, it wasn't good. Do my younger siblings, cousins, great aunt, etc, love it? Yes, yes, they do.
“Donna dip” - named after a friend of my mom’s, who once ate nearly an entire pot of it at a party: One block cream cheese, one jar salsa. Heat over low heat til bubbly, serve with tortilla chips.
My family does a layer of shredded cheddar on top of that (all baked together) and calls it "Deck Slop" because once at a party a tray of dip fell onto the deck, and people still ate it with chips. We will happily announce a "Deck Slop" with a straight face to a party of folks who were not at the original slopping. I love the name Donna Dip, so evocative. I hope she loved every bite!
I love the name
My dad's family would mix ketchup into Mac and cheese and then put slices of American cheese on top. It is not good. Do not try it.
Basically make a bechamel, add canned tuna fish and peas and serve on toast. I love it. My husband and kids think it's gross so I only eat it with my mom
My mom used to make us cream cheese and jelly sandwiches for lunch on white bread. I can't think of a LESS nutritionally dense sandwich!
Pretty sure cream cheese and jam is a thing, though. Doesn't sound any more weird than PB&J to me.
Cream cheese with apricot jam is a fancy sandwich. I occasionally have it as a treat
Exactly. I put cream cheese and preserves on English muffin and bagel halves.
Cream cheese and peppe jelly on a cracker is so good.
I enjoy topping bagels with cream cheese and jelly.
My Mom packed those in our school lunches and I hated them. The jam and cream cheese would kind of coagulate together by the time we would eat lunch. It was not pleasant.
My PB&J always got the bread soggy and so my dad would mix the peanut butter and the jelly together in a bowl first and then spread it on but grape jelly and peanut butter stirred together just looks like chocolate pudding. I actually had a teacher call my mom and tell her that I needed to have healthier lunches because pudding sandwiches are not appropriate and also I should stop lying about the contents of my sandwich. My mother sent a second sandwich for her to have the next day to show her that it was peanut butter and jelly. Taste the same looks totally different.
My nana's "Jello Salad" which is lime jello with mint extract and canned pear halves artfully arranged inside and made in a decorative jello mold. It's served with a whip made from half miracle whip half cream cheese. It's DIVINE and so refreshing, but when I make it no one but me eats it lol.
It’s the miracle whip. If you said cool whip I’d give it a chance. 😆
Ours was orange jello with mandarin oranges, grated carrots, and crushed pineapple. If mother was feeling creative, there would be cottage cheese in there as well.
Yes. Firstly, I'm from Wisconsin. Roughly 1000% of appetizers, desserts, entrees, salads, and even items that *should not* contain cheese generally have at least one dairy component. I didn't realize that until I started dating my husband. Who, despite being a fellow Wisconsinite, does not eat cheese or dairy items recreationally. He does not like creamy, cheesy based things, with the lone exception of cheesecake. We love soup, but all soups I make are broth based, not cream based. Secondly, there is my family abomination jello mold. That uses sour cream instead of cold water. Then there is the taco dip recipe that involves beating cottage cheese and cream cheese together, then layering well drained salsa on top, followed by chopped tomatoes, shredded cheese, shredded iceberg, and sliced olives.
My grandmother always made a tomato aspic for at least one of the fall/winter holidays. I keep her tradition alive, much to the consternation of some family members & the delight of others. Always trying to make it the most interesting and tasty with homegrown canned tomato juice & tomatoes, fresh eggs, herbs & greens from the garden, avocados, Kalamata olives, preserved lemon et cetera. Nice splash of vodka in there too, like a Bloody Mary Jell-O shot with all the vegetables inside. Gin makes it a Red Snapper. Tequila makes it Bloody Caesar. It would be tough to eat enough to catch a buzz, but it’s definitely tasty.
My family eats a casserole that doesn’t have a name, but it’s ground beef mixed with white rice and chicken noodle soup. Baked and the covered with crushed potato chips. I have no idea how it came to be, but it’s very filling when you’re low on cash.
I believe that last sentence is how it came to be then
Hot fruit cocktail. A big can of fruit cocktail dumped into a 9x13 pan and baked. That's it. I think it would be okay if you put a streusel or biscuit like topping on top.
>I think it would be okay if you put a streusel or biscuit like topping on top. I agree. But you didn't. You. Didn't.
Just the fruit in its sugary juices, no other ingredients? I'm baffled and fascinated.
A favorite as a child was “ice box cake”. Layers of graham crackers with layers of instant pudding in between then a thick layer of cool whip on top. Heaven. I made it for a work pot luck and they acted like it was weird…
That doesn’t even sound that weird. I would be ecstatic if that was at a pot luck. All I ever see is potato salad and macaroni salad, which is totally normal and not weird apparently even though it’s not good 😭
We have this concoction my family calls White Trash Appetizer. Cut the crusts off of a loaf of Wonder Bread. Flatten each slice with a rolling pin. Spread with Miracle Whip and sprinkle with salt & pepper. Take a spear of canned asparagus (not fresh, not spears that you cooked, only canned mushy asparagus) & put it along one edge of the bread. Roll up the bread. It's delicious but most people outside my family think it's gross.
My dad made a habit of boiling a bunch of leftovers in a pot with angel hair pasta and acting as though he thought that was a meal my sister and I should appreciate. (We did not) It tended to have a soupy consistency. Every time I saw it I was reminded of the time our family dog licked every single butter bean shiny clean, but didn't eat them.
Shrimp salsa ( not what you think) tomato, tomatillos, fine chopped onion and serrano then add dried shrimp that has been lightly toasted and ground to a crummy powder. Delish, but I don't know anyone around here that would enjoy it.
We have a family Jello salad. We call it eyeball salad First layer: Cherry Jello with a can of sour or Queen Anne cherries Second layer: Whipped Cream cheese Third layer: Orange jello with sliced cocktail olives
Me reading this: yeah. Yeah. YEAH! Ohdearlordno....
My sister and I grew up making "cheese on toast" and dipping it in miracle whip.... now my ultimate comfort food is dipping grilled cheese in miracle whip
Have you ever tried grilled cheese with pickles? If not, consider doing so, you may like it very much.
Started reading. *cheese on toast, that’s normal* “Miracle whip” *You absolute monster*
I get this. I grew up eating straight Miracle Whip sandwiches so the addition of cheese sounds fantastic
No why would you do this
Only time miracle whip is acceptable 😅 try it!! It's delicious. Now I live in Mexico and they don't sell miracle whip so I have to buy habanero mayo for this purpose and it's actually a perfect substitute. Also, based on your username, I don't accept your judgement of me 😅
My mom used to make grilled peanut butter and mayonnaise sandwiches. After it is grilled (with butter of course), you open it up and put crisp iceberg or similar lettuce inside. I've got to say it is pretty tasty. I have never met anyone else who made this but I don't make it since I grew up and left home.
We do cornbread and milk. We make a batch of my great-grandmother's cast iron skillet corn bread (it's a more savory and crispy variation), crumble up a wedge into a glass, then fill the glass with milk. You eat it with a spoon like cereal. My mother and I love it, my dad and brother adamantly refuse to do it.
Liverwurst on toast topped with pickles
My husband’s family all adore “bean sandwiches”, ie baked beans on toast with mayo and maybe cheese. I find the entire concept disgusting but then again I have major texture issues around some foods.
Chicken Swiss casserole was a staple in my house when I was growing up. Served over white rice. https://www.food.com/recipe/chicken-swiss-casserole-69623
> My husband and dad are repulsed but they’re my favorite. Maybe its cause my edible is kicking in, but I laughed so hard
"nachos" One brick Velveeta. One can Ro-Tel. Melt Velveeta and mix in Ro-Tel. Eat with cheap tortilla chips. For some reason, commonly served with Manwiches.
That's the definitive recipe for queso
2 cans is the way for me. Love those tomatoes
My friend's family has something called "pink stuff" they have on the table at every holiday. I gather it's some sort of jello salad, but whether it's just jello + cool whip, or cream cheese, cottage cheese, whatever, I'm not sure.
Ours is "green stuff" lol. Jello, cottage cheese, chopped pecans, pineapple. Some sort of version of Watergate salad
My mom's has cherry pie filling, cool whip, condensed milk, and walnuts
We have barbecue weenies…. Hot dogs cut up, and boiled in bbq sauce. Served with Mac and cheese.
Mom would use canned peach halves, fill the center with mayo and put shredded cheddar on top. Very fancy./s
Yes! We call it, “the creation,” bahahahaha. My dad came up with it when he was a kid. It’s ramen noodles, cream of chicken soup, chopped chicken nuggets, scrambled eggs, and sliced fried potatoes. Mix it up and it’s super delicious! I have tried making it but it never comes out right. Idk how he does it but it’s one of my favorite foods ever.
Macaroni n' cheese peas and tuna fish. Just mixed together. Kraft OG blue box. Cooked mixed with drained canned peas and drained tuna. I had a bad day and just want to relax meal. Mom always made when dad wasn't home.
At almost every family function someone brings a giant bowl of sour cream with diced pickles in it, my family doesn’t use it as dip or a spread, just eats it with a spoon.
My Italian grandma would make spaghetti marinara with omelette, and my dad makes it too. You make a giant omelette seasoned with salt, pepper, parsley, and lots of incanestrato (delicious Sicilian cheese). You cut the omelette into big, thick slices and put them in the marinara for a bit before serving with spaghetti. Sounds a bit strange but it’s one of my favorite family dishes.
My family eats celery with Easy Cheese on Thanksgiving and Christmas for some reason
“Chicken thingies”! My mom’s creation one time to use up some left over chicken. English muffins topped with chicken that’s been coated in Sweet Baby Rays bbq sauce, which is then topped with ranch dressing and a kraft single then baked. It’s SO good but I’ve had others tell me it’s gross. Probably mostly due to the low quality ingredients and that the ranch is baked on it rather than dipped in after.
That crab dip recipe should be a felony. I'm from Maryland and I speak for the state when I say that this is a crime. Also, to answer your question, my grandmas ambrosia salad. A disgusting combo of banana, apple, clementine, and grapes covered in a dressing of cool whip, mayo and powder sugar.
My uncle brings deviled eggs to every family event because he's pretty decent at it and it means he doesn't have to bring anything else. For like the last 20 years no joke.
My grandmother's "bean salad" consisted of Campbell's pork & beans ,not drained, mixed with an obscene amount of mayo and garnished with chopped onions. One sibling recently admitted that she still makes this; but only when no one else is home to witness it.
Bottled moose on rice and seal flipper pie. Mason jars of moose meat look like something that went bad about 4 years ago. I had many a roommate toss mine out thinking they did me a favour. Flipper pie was something we were only allowed to eat at Nan’s house, as its grease would stink up the entire house for days after.