Casseroles

By Sally Franz

When I was a child in a household with five kids, casseroles were the main dinner item. The only break in that pattern was Sunday dinner where whole servings of some meat per person appeared; fried chicken, Sloppy Joes, pot roast, and my mother’s sawdust dry meatloaf. And on occasion my mother served liver, which was the best way to get the place to herself because everyone found someone else’s house to go to that day. But the rest of the week was casserole central. All were baked at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Monday: One can of tuna fish, one can of cream of mushroom soup, a slightly browned chopped onion and cooked Swedish flat noodles. That was mixed into a baking dish and topped with…What, children of the 60s? Crushed potato chips.

Tuesday: Next was Chicken Divan. Frozen broccoli cooked and drained, boiled chicken cut into small pieces, 1 can of cream of mushroom soup and ½ cup ofmayo. Mix and pour into baking dish. Top with parmesan cheese.

Wednesday: Lasagna. Cook noodles, drain. Mix 1 container cottage cheese, 4 eggs, garlic salt. In a frying pan, brown 1 onion, add 1 pound ground beef. Brown. Add 1 jar of spaghetti sauce. Add a spoonful of red sauce on pan bottom. Add a layer of noodles (usually 3 will fill pan across). Add ½ white filling. Top with noodles. Then add ½ red sauce filling. Repeat. Bake.

Thursday: Chung King canned chicken chopped-suey into a dish, add sliced water chestnuts. Heat. Top with dried noodles.

Friday: Mac-n-Cheese. Cook macaroni, drain. Add Velveeta and/or Cheese Whiz. Top with more cheese. If you were Catholic or a vegetarian you had this as is. The Protestants and other meat eaters usually added pan fried sliced hotdog “coins” mixed in.

Saturday: Spanish Rice. Brown in a skillet 1 pound of hamburger, 1 onion, 1 green pepper and 1 cup uncooked instant rice. Add 1 can tomato sauce and ¾ C hot water. Cover and cook about 20 minutes.
Mix into dish, top with Funyuns onion rings and serve.

Here is what is scary. I know these recipes by heart. And I have not cooked any of these for over 35 years. The closest I have come to even eating any of these dishes is a gourmet mac-n-cheese at a Smoke House and the topping was homemade seasoned bread crumbs and folded in were huge pieces of smokehouse bacon. It was white cheddar, not processed cheese.

I really don’t eat things from casserole dishes anymore I make things from scratch, which includes a lot of stir fry and broiled foods. I “get it” that with five kids the goal was to feed everyone enough calories and parts of the basic food groups to keep people alive and still be able to pay for it. But just reading the above recipes gives me angina. I guess it helps we were young and hyper. We burned off the empty calories. But now the thought of processed foods, canned soups, and overcooked vegetables gives me the willies. But in hindsight, kudos to my mother who was the queen of stretching food to include any extra friends who popped in when it was liver night at their houses.

Sally Franz and her third husband live on the Olympic Peninsula. She has two daughters, a stepson, and three grandchildren. Sally is the author of several humor books including Scrambled Leggs: A Snarky Tale of Hospital Hooey and The Baby Boomer’s Guide to Menopause. She hosts a local radio humor segment, “Baby Boomer Humor with Sassy Sally”.