Still warm home-made apple pie with vanilla ice cream.

Does chocolate count?

Baked potato with cheese, bacon and spring onions.

1. Bake a potato for an hour and 15 mins at 400°F
2. Scoop out inside and mash up with cheese, cooked and crumbled bacon and spring onions (scallions for the US). You can add butter too if you want. Can obviously substitute turkey bacon for bacon.
3. Bake again for 20 mins.

Luvverly!

Haluski butter fried sauerkraut, noodles, onion.

Takes forever. Totally bad for you and I eat it very rarely. It reminds me of my childhood.

It depends on my mood, really. I made a really trashy clean-out-the-fridge style tamale pie the other day, and I'm still thinking about it. I made my own tortillas; I made them thicker and more moist than normal. The filling was canned black beans, minced red onions, some cherry tomatoes diced, a bit of tomato paste, and spices. In a casserole I layered the tortillas, the filling, some cheese, and don't hate me, but I also diced and added some leftover chicken tendies and thick cut chips* as well, then another layer of tortillas, and a little bit of juice from a jar of pickled jalapenos to keep it from drying out. There were two layers of filling between 3 layers of tortillas, with a bit more cheese on top. It came out of the oven nice and cheesey and gooey and spicy as heck. We ate it for two nights and it was gorgeous.

*by chips, I meant thick cut fries for youse Americans.

Mac and cheese, for sure.

My dad always made mac & cheese and baked beans when we were kids. My own children hate it, but man. There’s something about the mix of the boxed cheese powder sauce and the baked bean sauce, with some extra brown sugar, that just makes me happy. Also, noodles and beans make a complete protein!

The thing my mom made that I loved was chip beef gravy, also known as shit on a shingle. When I moved away, whenever we visited my mom would ask what I wanted as a treat meal and it was chip beef gravy (white sauce with dried, cut up beef over Pillsbury flaky biscuits) and LeSeur peas. Another thing my family hates. My husband does make really terrific sausage gravy and homemade biscuits, so there’s that.

A Midwest classic meal is chicken noodles. It’s generally best at the local church annual supper. Handmade noodles, cooked in a savory sauce with pieces of chicken. I make a crockpot/InstantPot version with cream of chicken soup thinned out with some stock and I add some frozen peas and carrots to make it seem a little healthy and a bag of thick Reames frozen noodles. This is ALWAYS served over mashed potatoes because double carbs are love.

My family does like this, although my husband resists eating it over mashed potatoes. I will sometimes make a quick and easy version for myself by using those packages mashed potato pouches and a Knorr package of chicken flavored noodles. Just no actual chicken in it. I’ll eat that for a couple of lunches for myself.

Cheese on toast!

With optional extras on the bread and under the cheese: pâté, apple sauce, sliced tomatoes, pasta sauce, tomato purée, pizza sauce, pesto, ham.

Optional extras on top of the cheese: garlic granules, onion granules, Henderson’s’ Relish/Worcestershire Sauce, chargrill seasoning, mixed herbs, finely chopped spring onions, paprika, chilli flakes.

It’s quick to make, sloppy and kinda messy to eat (especially with lots of extras) and just hits the spot perfectly when you need a hot pick-me-up.

Homemade Scalloped Potatoes or Potatoes au Gratin. Made with heavy cream like the French do it.

Scalloped Potatoes

8-9 Medium Potatoes Sliced into 1/4 inch rounds. Yukon Gold or Red Potatoes both work nicely, though Yukons give a slightly waxy texture and reds are more mealy.

1 Medium to Large Onion Chopped. 3/4 to 1 Cup of Flour in a Sifter (110 grams roughly) 32 ounces Heavy Cream (1 L plus) 1/2 and 1/2 or whole milk as needed, usually about 3 cups (a little less than a Liter) Salt and Pepper to taste Dried Thyme leaves

9x13 Baking Dish Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 180 C

1. Slice the potatoes and chop the onions and have all ingredients to hand. Spray baking dish with cooking spray.

2. Layer one layer of potatoes in bottom of dish and sprinkle onions over it. Lightly salt and pepper the layer and sprinkle some thyme.

3. Sift a light layer of flour over everything.

4. Repeat these layers until the dish is full ending with a layer of potatoes. DONT put flour on the top layer.

5. Put baking dish on foil lined baking sheet.

6. Alternate pouring the heavy cream and half and half over the potatoes until dish is full and potatoes are covered.

7. Bake in a 350/180 degree for 60 to 80 minutes until potatoes are soft when pierced. Let rest five minutes after removing from oven and serve.

For au gratin potatoes substitute a classic bechamel cheese sauce for the cream and half and half. I use extra sharp cheddar, Gruyère/Swiss and Parmesan cheeses and of course the cream and half and half. Pour cheese sauce over layered potatoes, onions, salt pepper and thyme and bake as above.

I generally make this at holiday time because it’s so bad for you. But oh my so good. Xo.

Macaroni and cheese. No fancy stuff added in for me. Just plenty of pasta and cheese. Nothing else needed.

Cheese and pickle or cheese and onion sandwiches.

Tuna mayo sandwich, ideally with a soup of some kind (tomato hits best).

Lentil soup with plenty of veg and meatballs of some kind (beef, pork, sausage, chicken, I don't care).

Beef stew with herb dumplings.