I have had it in my head for a while now that I wanted some of the homestyle creamy baked mac n’ cheese. Inspiration hit with the snow coming down today, wanting some comfort food, so I just did it. I had been wondering if you could use a box of Kraft as the start to “good” mac & cheese, too. I had some stuff in the ‘fridge & pantry to make it happen. Posting it here to remember what I did.
I didn’t really measure, but this is close…
Ingredients:
2 boxes Kraft mac & cheese (noodles & powder packets)
ยฝ cup butter & ยผ cup butter (for later)
ยฝ cup flour
1 block sharp cheddar cheese (16 oz.?), grated
4 cubed chunks (approx. 1″ cubes) of Velveeta (I used the Aldi version)
1 cup shredded colby jack cheese
2ยฝ cups 2% milk
ยฝ cup half & half
ยพ cup panko breadcrumbs
ยพ plain breadcrumbs
yellow mustard (a dash)
ground mustard (to taste)
black pepper (to taste)
white pepper (to taste)
salt (to taste)
onion powder (to taste)
garlic powder (to taste)
table blend salt-free seasoning (to taste)
Method:
Preheat the oven to 350ยฐ F.
Boil the pasta in some water with bit of salt, for about 5 minutes… the time on the box overcooks them.
Melt ยฝ cup butter in a cause pan on medium, stir in the flour (season it here), cook 2 or 3 min. until golden.
Slowly stir in milk & half & half. (Season it here too.)
Slowly stir in the grated sharp cheddar & chunks of Velveeta. I put the squirt of mustard in here. (Season it here too.)
Slowly stir in one of the cheese powder packets from the Kraft box. (Season it here too.)
Drain the pasta when it’s done while you’re doing all that, then put it in an 8″x8″ glass baking dish.
Stir in your cheese sauce. (If I understand correctly, that was a roux, then a bรฉchamel, then a mornay… right?) Season it again if you nasty, and you’re reading this, so I know you are.
Melt the ยผ cup of butter in a small bowl with a handle. (Season it here too.)
Stir the breadcrumbs, the other Kraft cheese packet, & the table blend seasoning into the butter bowl.
Sprinkle the shredded colby jack on top of the cheese n’ macaroni.
Spread the buttery cheesy breadcrumbs on that.
Pop it in the oven for like 18 minutes.
Notes:
I popped it in for 20 minutes, and while the breadcrumbs got a little overdone, they weren’t quite burnt. I may cover it in foil for a bit next time, or put the breadcrumbs on after a bit of cooking?
I’ll use a bullion cube in with the macaroni next time. I do that with pasta a lot but was worried the Kraft cheese packets may be salty, they weren’t as bas as I expected.
I needed some grated parmesan shake cheese, but didn’t use any because I couldn’t find it. Ha ha.
What about crushed Cheeze-Its instead of breadcrumbs? What about bacon pieces in there?
Have you done this? Obviously I could just use regular pasta & forgo the Kraft powdered cheese sauce concoction. Got any tips or tricks? If you say nutmeg or cinnamon you can see yourself all the way out.
I was hungry for meatloaf. I typically just wing it. Sometimes it’s the classic ketchup/mustard/BBQ (or A1) glaze. Sometimes there’s cheese. Sometimes it’s breadcrumbs. Sometimes it’s chunks of bread soaked in milk. Sometimes there’s shredded veggies like carrots or zucchini. Sometimes there’s hardboiled eggs inside & it’s wrapped in bacon. One time I made it in a crock pot just because someone said you shouldn’t, and meatloaf on the smoker is absolutely a win.
This was a win with the wife & kids, so I;’ll definitely be making it again!
I guess I like leftover meatloaf sandwiches enough to post about it on Threads not just once, but twice.
Tonight I had the idea to throw a bunch of stuff together, then tie it in to gravy & mashed potatoes. I could have sauteed onions & mushrooms, but this was quick easy weeknight dinner chaos. After the fact, I asked AI language models to help me write the recipe from the ingredients & prompts that I fed it, and this is what I got:
That’s fantastic! Thanks for the extra detailsโthis sounds like a truly unique and delicious meatloaf. I’m especially impressed by the use of bread on the bottom to absorb grease and the beef bouillon in the mashed potatoes. Those are great pro tips!
Based on your ingredients and methods, here is a formatted recipe. Since you eyeballed a lot of the measurements, I’ve provided my best guess for the quantities. Feel free to adjust as you like for your blog post, since you’re the true master of this creation!
My “Crazy Good” Mushroom & Swiss Meatloaf Dinner
This recipe takes classic meatloaf and elevates it with a secret ingredientโa creamy mushroom sauce that’s mixed into the meat and used as a savory glaze. Served with cheesy mashed potatoes and a mushroom-loaded gravy, this is the ultimate comfort food meal.
Ingredients
For the Meatloaf:
2 lbs. ground beef
1 lb. lean ground beef
ยฝ cup panko bread crumbs
ยฝ cup regular bread crumbs
1 cup crushed French fried onions
1โ3 can (10.5 oz.) condensed cream of mushroom soup
ยฝ can (4 oz.)) mushrooms, stems & pieces, finely diced
ยผ cup shredded Swiss & Gruyรจre cheese blend
3 to 4 glugs of A1 steak sauce
1 tbsp. Mrs. Dash Table Blend seasoning
1 tsp. ground mustard
1 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. seasoned salt
3 slices of white bread (for placing under the loaf)
For the Mushroom Glaze:
The remainder of the can of condensed cream of mushroom soup
3 to 4 glugs of A1 steak sauce
ยฝ cup shredded Swiss & Gruyรจre cheese blend
The remainder of the can of mushrooms, stems & pieces
ยฝ cup whole French fried onions
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 375ยฐF (190ยฐC).
On a sheet pan, arrange the three slices of white bread in a row. These will absorb the grease from the meatloaf.
In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, lean ground beef, panko and regular bread crumbs, crushed French fried onions, cream of mushroom soup, diced mushrooms, shredded cheese, and A1 steak sauce.
Add the Mrs. Dash, ground mustard, black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and seasoned salt. Using your hands, mix all ingredients thoroughly until just combined. Be careful not to overmix.
Form the meat mixture into a loaf shape and place it on top of the three slices of white bread on the sheet pan.
Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until the internal temperature reaches 160ยฐF (71ยฐC) with a meat thermometer.
While the meatloaf is baking, prepare the glaze by mixing the remaining cream of mushroom soup, A1 steak sauce, cheese, and mushrooms in a small bowl.
After 1 hour and 15 minutes, remove the meatloaf from the oven. Spread the prepared glaze evenly over the top, then sprinkle the whole French fried onions on top.
Return the meatloaf to the oven for another 15 minutes, or until the glaze is bubbly and the onions are golden brown. Let rest for a few minutes before slicing and serving.
Suggested Sides
Cheesy Mashed Potatoes
Prepare a box of instant mashed potatoes according to the package directions. For a savory twist, use a beef bouillon cube in place of salt. Add buttermilk along with the milk, and season with black pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder. Stir in shredded cheese until it melts.
Mushroom Gravy
Prepare a packet of brown gravy mix. Once finished, stir in a can of cream of mushroom soup, a can of mushrooms, and a handful of crushed French fried onions.
Sweet Paprika Carrots
Cook canned carrots with a bit of butter, a pinch of brown sugar, and a dash of paprika until heated through.
Your dinner sounds incredible! Would you like me to draft a more detailed blog post introduction or a full recipe card for you, or do you have enough to get started?
That sounds like a seriously comfort-food feast โ meatloaf, cheesy potatoes, mushroom-onion gravy, and sweet carrots. Perfect blog material. I can help you format this into a clean recipe write-up, with estimated amounts for the “eyeballed” parts so itโs easy to follow but still keeps your personal style.
Hereโs a draft you could paste into WordPress and tweak to taste:
Crazy Good Meatloaf Dinner ๐ฝ๏ธ
This is one of those meals where everything came together just right โ a loaded, flavorful meatloaf with a cheesy mushroom glaze, creamy mashed potatoes, savory gravy, and sweet carrots on the side.
Meatloaf
Ingredients
2 lbs ground beef
1 lb lean ground beef
ยพ cup panko bread crumbs
ยฝ cup regular bread crumbs
ยฝ cup crushed French fried onions (plus more for topping)
1 can (10.5 oz) cream of mushroom soup (divided)
1 small can mushrooms, stems & pieces or sliced (divided, finely dice half)
1 cup shredded Swiss & Gruyรจre cheese (divided)
2โ3 Tbsp A1 steak sauce (plus more for glaze)
1 tsp Mrs. Dash Table Blend
ยฝ tsp ground mustard
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp season salt
3 slices white bread (to go under the loaf, absorbs grease)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375ยฐF. Line a sheet pan with foil and place the 3 slices of white bread in the center.
In a large bowl, combine:
Ground beefs
โ of the mushroom soup
ยฝ the can of mushrooms (finely diced)
A couple glugs of A1
About ยฝ cup shredded cheese
Bread crumbs, crushed fried onions, and all seasonings Mix gently until just combined.
Form mixture into a loaf on top of the bread slices.
Bake uncovered for 1 hour 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, make the glaze: Mix remaining mushroom soup, the rest of the mushrooms, a splash more A1, and ยฝ cup shredded cheese.
Spread glaze over meatloaf, top with more French fried onions, and return to oven for 15 minutes.
Check with a thermometer โ internal temp should be 160ยฐF.
Cheesy Mashed Potatoes
Ingredients
1 box instant mashed potatoes
1 beef bouillon cube (use in the water instead of salt)
ยฝ cup shredded cheese
2โ3 Tbsp buttermilk (in addition to milk called for)
Black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder (to taste)
Instructions
Prepare potatoes according to box, replacing salt with beef bouillon.
Stir in cheese, buttermilk, and seasonings.
Mushroom-Onion Gravy
Ingredients
1 packet brown gravy mix (prepared according to directions)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can mushrooms
ยผ cup crushed French fried onions
Instructions
Prepare gravy mix.
Stir in mushroom soup, mushrooms, and fried onions. Simmer until thick and rich.
Brown Sugar Carrots
Ingredients
1 can sliced carrots (drained)
1 Tbsp butter
1 tsp brown sugar
ยฝ tsp paprika
Instructions
Warm carrots in a pan with butter.
Add brown sugar and paprika, stir until glazed.
๐ฅ Plate it up: thick slices of meatloaf with mushroom glaze, a scoop of cheesy mashed potatoes covered in gravy, and sweet carrots on the side.
Do you want me to make the recipe section blog-ready with your voice (like you did with your pretzel blob post โ casual, funny, irreverent), or do you prefer the cleaner, โrecipe cardโ format for this one?
Perfect โ what a feast! Letโs capture your meatloaf dinner in a polished, blog-ready recipe format. Iโll give you a structured version of your meatloaf (with estimated measurements based on typical ratios), plus your mashed potatoes, gravy, and carrots as sides. You can edit the amounts if you think theyโre too light or heavy compared to what you actually eyeballed.
๐ฝ๏ธ Mushroom-Swiss Meatloaf Dinner
This hearty meatloaf dinner is rich with beef, mushrooms, Swiss and Gruyรจre, and topped with a savory mushroom glaze and crispy onions. A full comfort food plate with cheesy mashed potatoes, mushroom gravy, and buttery carrots.
Meatloaf
Ingredients
2 lbs ground beef (80/20 works well)
1 lb lean ground beef
ยพ cup panko breadcrumbs
ยผ cup regular breadcrumbs
ยฝ cup crushed French fried onions
โ can (about 10 oz can) cream of mushroom soup (approx. โ cup)
1 teaspoon Mrs. Dash Table Blend (or more to taste)
1 teaspoon ground mustard
ยฝ teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon seasoned salt
3 slices white bread (to set loaf on while baking; absorbs grease)
Mushroom Glaze
Remaining cream of mushroom soup (~โ cup)
Remaining ยฝ can mushrooms (~ยฝ cup, sliced)
ยผโยฝ cup shredded Swiss & Gruyรจre cheese
1โ2 tablespoons A1 sauce
Handful of French fried onions (for topping)
Instructions
Preheat ovenย to 375ยฐF. Line a baking sheet with foil and place the 3 slices of bread in the center (to act as a base for the meatloaf).
Mix the meatloaf: In a large bowl, combine ground beefs, breadcrumbs, crushed onions, mushroom soup (โ can), mushrooms (ยฝ can, diced), shredded cheese (ยฝ cup), A1, and seasonings. Mix until just combined โ donโt overwork.
Form the loafย on top of the bread slices.
Bakeย for 1 hour 15 minutes, until nearly cooked through. Internal temp should be around 150ยฐF.
Make the glaze: Stir together mushroom soup (remaining โ can), mushrooms (remaining ยฝ can), cheese, and A1. Spread evenly over meatloaf, then top with French fried onions.
Return to ovenย for 15 minutes more, until internal temp reaches 160ยฐF and glaze is bubbling.
Rest 10 minutesย before slicing.
Cheesy Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes
Ingredients
1 box instant mashed potatoes (prepared according to package)
1 beef bouillon cube (used in place of salt in boiling water)
ยฝ cup shredded cheese (cheddar, Swiss, or blend)
ยฝ cup milk + splash of buttermilk
ยฝ teaspoon black pepper
ยฝ teaspoon onion powder
ยฝ teaspoon garlic powder
Instructions
Prepare boxed mashed potatoes, dissolving beef bouillon in water before adding potato flakes.
Stir in cheese, milk, and buttermilk.
Season with pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder to taste.
Mushroom-Onion Brown Gravy
Ingredients
1 packet brown gravy mix (prepared according to package)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can mushroom stems & pieces, drained
ยฝ cup French fried onions, crumbled
Instructions
Cook gravy mix as directed.
Stir in mushroom soup, mushrooms, and fried onions. Simmer until hot and thickened.
Candied Butter Carrots
Ingredients
1 can carrots, drained
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon brown sugar
ยฝ teaspoon paprika
Instructions
Heat carrots in a skillet with butter.
Stir in brown sugar and paprika.
Cook until glazed and heated through.
โ Serving suggestion: Plate a hearty slice of meatloaf with a scoop of mashed potatoes topped with mushroom gravy, and a helping of sweet carrots on the side. Donโt forget extra crispy onions on top for crunch!
Would you like me to keep the recipe in a conversational, cozy “blogger” style (like a story around the dinner), or a sleek cookbook style (straight to the recipe)?
Absolutely, Ericโthis meatloaf sounds like a punk rock symphony in casserole form. Letโs immortalize it with a blog-ready recipe that captures the chaos, comfort, and culinary swagger. Iโll format it with clear sections, estimated measurements, and your signature storytelling flair.
A meatloaf so good it deserves its own zine spread.
๐ Meatloaf Ingredients
2 lbs ground beef
1 lb lean ground beef
ยฝ cup panko breadcrumbs
ยฝ cup regular breadcrumbs
ยฝ cup crushed french fried onions
โ can (about 4โ5 tbsp) cream of mushroom soup
ยฝ can mushroom stems & pieces, finely diced
1โ2 glugs A1 steak sauce (about 2 tbsp)
ยฝ cup shredded Swiss & Gruyรจre cheese
3 slices white bread (for under the loaf)
๐ง Seasonings (eyeballed, but hereโs a guess)
1 tsp Mrs. Dash Table Blend
ยฝ tsp ground mustard
ยฝ tsp black pepper
ยฝ tsp onion powder
ยฝ tsp garlic powder
ยฝ tsp seasoned salt
๐งช Glaze Ingredients
Remaining cream of mushroom soup (~โ can)
Remaining mushrooms (~ยฝ can), roughly chopped
1โ2 more glugs A1 steak sauce
ยผ cup shredded Swiss & Gruyรจre
Handful of whole french fried onions (for topping)
๐ฅ Instructions
Preheat oven to 375ยฐF.
Form the loaf: Mix all meatloaf ingredients (except the white bread) in a large bowl. Shape into a loaf and place it directly on top of the 3 slices of white bread on a sheet pan. The bread will soak up grease and prevent burning.
Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
Make the glaze: Combine remaining mushroom soup, mushrooms, A1, and cheese.
Top and finish: Spread glaze over the meatloaf, sprinkle with whole french fried onions, and return to oven for another 15 minutes.
Check internal temp: Use a meat thermometer to ensure it hits 160ยฐF.
๐ฅ Sides That Slap
๐ง Beefed-Up Instant Mashed Potatoes
1 box instant mashed potatoes
1 beef bouillon cube (in water instead of salt)
ยฝ cup shredded cheese
ยผ cup buttermilk
ยฝ tsp each: black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder
Mix per box instructions, swapping salt for bouillon cube. Add cheese, buttermilk, and seasonings. Stir until creamy and punk-approved.
๐ Mushroom Gravy Hack
1 packet brown gravy mix
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can mushrooms
ยผ cup crumbled french fried onions
Prepare gravy mix as directed. Stir in soup, mushrooms, and onions. Simmer until thick and glorious.
๐ฅ Sweet & Smoky Carrots
1 can sliced carrots
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp brown sugar
ยผ tsp paprika
Heat carrots with butter, sugar, and paprika until glossy and tender. Serve with attitude.
Want to add a zine-style intro or a playlist pairing for the blog post? Iโm ready to riff.
๐๐ง๐๐ฅ๐ฅ
Somewhere in there, there’s a tight recipe. Again, I didn’t measure anything, I just dumped. I tried to use common ingredients. Maybe I’ll make it different next time. This was really good though, so I may stick to it.
Do you use any AI language models for anything? Do you ever ask them for assistance combining recipes or for cooking? I wonder if one of them would be better at combining all these than the others? I can’t decide which model did the best job.
On to the meatloaf… What tips & tricks do you have? I always to the bread one. Hit me up in the comments or on social media.
Like everyone who has a vegetable garden, or even just one potted plant, we have an abundance of zucchini. I was asking AI language models for casserole cooking times & temperatures based on what I had around & could easily grab from the store, and I sort of picked a hybrid of all of them. I used ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, & CoPilot. Originally I had been asking about zucchini bread recipes, then asked about the casserole. It is interesting to bounce ideas off of them.
“Zucchini!” (But, say it like a Jawa yelling “Utini!” in Star Wars.)
I had the idea for the lil’ zucchini things last time I made breaded zucchini & ran out of breadcrumbs before zucchini.
Zucchini Ditalini Chickpea Chikini
I hesitate to call this a casserole, because the kids are on a brainrot social media kick where they have been informed somehow that CrockโฌฉPot meals & casseroles are bad. The best part is they both ate & loved it… one even went back for more. It was a hit with the wife too, and I’d eat it again.
Zucchini Ditalini Chickpea Chikini
I felt like making a casserole, but not making a mess by pre-cooking/par-cooking or measuring anything. So… I ended up making two 9″x13″ casseroles. Here it is to the best of my memory.
2 (8 oz.) blocks of cream cheese, softened (Leave it out for a bit, nuke it, or cradle it in your armpits.)
1 (2 cup)bag of shredded white cheddar cheese
1 (2 cup) bag of Havarti cheese
1 (1ยฝ cup) bag of Gouda cheese (Same damn size bag – thanks, shrinkflation!)
1 (32 oz./4 cups) box of chicken stock
1 stick (4 oz./ยฝ cup) butter.
Breadcrumbs – Maybe 3 cups?
2 Tbsp. minced garlic from a jar because elicits unwarranted hate.
Seasonings to taste – I used Rotisserie Chicken seasoning, Mrs. Dash’s Table Blend, Black Pepper, White Pepper, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, Paprika, & dried parsley. Ain’t nobody measuring all that.
I was going to include some “bacon pieces,” but I must have left them in the store, or they fell out in the car, or I put them in a weird place or threw them out, because they absolutely are in what may as well be a pocket dimension.
The Method:
Pre-heat the oven to 375ยฐ
Grease apparently two 9″x13″ glass baking dishes with a stick of butter.
Get two mixing bowls. In one, whisk the egg, then fold in the cream cheese, the chicken stock, the garlic, the (drained) chickpeas, about half of each of the shredded cheeses, the dry Ditalini, and spices in one mixing bowl.
Slice up the bell pepper, onion, zucchini, & chicken in consistently sized cubes. (If you left the zucchini in the garden too long like I did, cut out the spongy center.) Put all that in the other mixing bowl, toss it with some more of all the spices.
Mix the contents of the two bowls together as you string together new swear words and wish you have an even more ridiculously larger mixing bowl.
Put those into the baking dishes. Or one big one, or a casserole dish, or whatever you’ve got. Cover with foil, place in oven, & bake for 45 min.
Melt the remainder of the stick of butter in a microwave safe bowl. Or a microwave unsafe bowl if you’re an agent of chaos. Dump in some breadcrumbs and toss them in the butter, so the breadcrumbs are coated but not all gross. I used a mix of panko & regular. I did not measure.
Pull from the oven, but leave it on, remove foil.
Spread the remaining shredded cheese on the top of the casseroles, then the buttery breadcrumbs… and put it back in the oven. I swapped it to 350ยฐ on a convection setting at this point for 15 minutes… but you do you.
Notes:
YOU DO NOT NEED TO PRE-COOK THE CHICKEN, PASTA, OR VEGETABLES. You certainly can, and it may deepen the flavors and reduce baking time, but I wanted to do this all in one go. I checked the chicken in a few sports with an instant-read and it was a bit over the USDA recommended 165ยฐ.
I was going to mix the cheeses together at the end, but why dirty another bowl? I dumped them on almost somewhat evenly.
Obviously, cut out what you don’t like, add what you do, skip stuff, or add stuff.
I may try this again with bacon or ham… but there was a good bit of salt in all the cheeses already, and probably the chickpeas.
I may try this with shredded zucchini and maybe leaving the chicken breast cutlets whole on top. Maybe.
Ricotta instead of cream cheese may be good too.
Use chicken broth, bone broth, vegetable broth, milk, water, or whatever… just give the pasta enough liquid to absorb.
Pizzucchini Teeny Mini
Again, this was a quick idea I had last tame I made air-fried breaded zucchini and ran out of bread crumbs because the zucchini multiplies as I sliced it. I did it in the oven quick after I yanked out the “let’s not call this casserole a casserole.”
Pizzuchini Teeny Mini
Ingredients:
1 normal-sized zucchini.
1 (2 cup) bag of “pizza cheese”
1 (15 oz.) squeeze bottle of pizza sauce
a bit of EVOO
Maybe ยฝ cup of breadcrumbs
The Method:
Do you really need instructions here? I put the oven on 400ยฐ on the air-fryer setting. I didn’t pre-heat it because it was already running.
I sliced the zucchini about ยผ-inch thick, and put it on the baking sheet over a bit of EVOO.
I dropped on some sauce, some cheese, and a tiny bit of breadcrumbs.
I put it the oven for 15 minutes.
Notes:
What the hell is “pizza cheese?” It said that on the bag. I guess mozzarella & provolone? Please tell me in the comments that it is all plastic & slowly killing me. Maybe I should have read the bag.
I will probably skip the EVOO or get a cooking rack for the air fryer setting.
~๐ง~
OK, so that’s it. Hit me up with suggestions, questions, love, or hate in the comments! Share your zucchini recipes, too!
So, recently I was hungry for stuffed cabbage. I had never made it before, so after Googling a few recipes and soliciting advice from a Facebook food group and Nextdoor, I came up with my own. You can put this URL into Just The Recipe or do the Cooked Wiki “hack” to skip all my bullshit up here.
I’m not a huge fan of rice in meatballs like you typically see with stuffed peppers or stuffed cabbage, so I was googling recipes without it and kept finding stuffed tagged as “keto,” or with other grains substituted in. I think it’s a texture thing for me, so I opted to go my own route. Also, get out of here with your sweet/hot sausage, I’ll add my own spices. Keep your veal/beef/pork mixes. Maybe ground turkey would be cool. Keep the lamb away.
It seems that many are tied to their family’s traditional way of making it, and that’s pretty cool. I always thought of it as an Eastern European type dish, but lots of cultures have their own spin & own words for it according to Wikipedia. The thought of omitting rice, or using condensed tomato soup instead of a tomato sauce or V8 sent some people into a tizzy. I even learned that lots of people include sauerkraut, and some people like it served with sour cream. Some people make it like a casserole. We always had the tomato soup version growing up, so that’s what I like/expected. Who knew? I’ll probably make it different next time… but both kids & the wife liked it, so I won’t experiment too much.
I used glass baking dishes covered with foil, but got advice that a roasting pan, an electric roaster, the crock pot, a Dutch oven, a soup pot on the stove, or a pressure cooker all work well, too.
Although, I would like to wrap a piece of bacon around the rolls and throw them on the smoker…
At any rate, check out the recipe, and give me your recipes. tips, tricks, advice, and heavily guarded family recipe secrets in the comments.
Also – What do you call them?
Here’s what I did. ๐คท
Get It:
1 head of cabbage.
4-ish lbs. of ground beef. (I used 3 lbs of 8/20 & 1 lb. of 90/10)
2 eggs
ยฝ Yellow Bell Pepper
ยฝ Spanish Onion
1 cup shredded carrots (I bought a bag and I’ll use it for other stuff too.)
1 beef bullion cube
1 stick of butter
3 23.2 oz. cans condensed Tomato Soup
Bread crumbs (Do I look like I measure stuff? Probably a cup and a half?)
Shredded Parmesan Cheese (in the ‘lil fancy container by the expensive cheese)
Minced Garlic (just have the jar ready I’m lazy and don’t crush/mince my own)
Spices. I used salt, black pepper, white pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, Season All, & Table Blend. (I just throw it on at every step indiscriminately with complete abandon and total anarchy.)
Do it:
Preheat Your oven to 400ยฐ.
Get a stock pot, fill it enough to cover your cabbage. Drop in the bullion cube, and salt, minced garlic, and whatever seasoning your heart desires, and crank it to high with the lid on.
Chop your onion in half. Toss half in the boiling water, but take the lid off first & then put it back on.
Mince the rest of the onion.
Cut up the yellow pepper. Feed half to your kids, the dog, or your significant other. Or just eat it. That’s the perk of being the cook. Mince the other half.
Pull out a handful of the minced carrots, a big knife, and what them up until they are tiny pieces of shredded carrots. Our dog loves carrots, so I sprinkled some on her food bowl.
I greased 3 glass baking dishes with the stick of butter. I used a 9″x13″, an 8″x9″, & a 9″x9″ because that’s what I had. I swear we broke like 3 glass dishes last summer.
Melt what can surely be described as an obscene amount of butter in a skillet and sautรฉ the onion, then the pepper & carrots on medium heat. I was sure to hit them with onion powder, garlic powder, salt, & pepper. I like to cook onions slow & low.
Drop the head of cabbage in your now boiling water while you’re doing all that. Yes, remove but do not replace the lid.
Put the sautรฉed veggies aside and let them cool a bit while you get the meat mixture ready.
Set up a colander or strainer over a large bowl, & get your tongs ready.
Beat your eggs, & add spices.
Mix the meat, eggs, breadcrumbs, some cheese, sautรฉed veggies, some minced garlic, and lots of spices. I do it by hand. I wash my hands very well before & after, so you probably should too. But hey, you do you.
By this time, hopefully your cabbage has been boiling 10-ish minutes. Use tongs to gently peel one leaf at a time and place it lovingly in your colander. Don’t go too quick with it and splash/burn yourself, because I would definitely never ever do that.
Open the cans of tomato soup and cover the bottom of your baking dishes.
Get the leaf, cut out the bottom tough part of the leaf rib if so inclined, slap in your meat mixture, and wrap it like a burrito – folding in the ends part way through. I didn’t measure, I eyeballed the meat to leaf ratio.
Fill the baking dish(es), pour on & season the rest of the condensed tomato soup, sprinkle on some more parmesan cheese, cover in foil, and bake for an hour.
Tips/Lessons Learned/Parting Thoughts:
I was going to bake it at 375ยฐ and I probably should have, taking the foil off for the last 15 min. They were well over the recommended 160ยฐ internal temp for ground beef. Maybe some browning/caramelizing would not be a bad thing?
I saw a lot of tips for freezing the cabbage instead of boiling it, but I also read just as many responses saying that it can drastically affect the texture and not in a good way.
I may put in back next time. Maybe inside? Maybe wrapped outside?
Hear me out… Reuben cabbage rolls. Corned beef? Sauerkraut? Thousand Island or Russian dressing? Rye breadcrumbs? (We make non-traditional stuffed peppers sometimes, too.)
If you like rice, by all means include it. Or barley, or any other grain. I considered those tiny lil’ pasta balls… but maybe I just like to say Acini de Pepe way too much. Some people recommended cauliflower rice, also.
Are you still reading? Check out the recipe, and give me your recipes. tips, tricks, advice, and heavily guarded family recipe secrets in the comments.
I have been in the mood for stuffed cabbage, and I finally had the time to make it. I've never made it before, but I think it turned out good! Both kids said they'd eat it again. My 9yo food critic son said it was a 10/10.#stuffedcabbage#cabbagerollspic.twitter.com/o4AXtqXXsI
— แกส๊ โ ษXiA ฦiะฏฦ ๐ธ (@AiXeLsyD13) April 12, 2024
So, I have always wanted to make wedding soup, but have never tried it. ย Until now. ย Skip to the end if you just want the recipe and none of my shenanigans.
Wedding Soup ร la AiXeLsyD13
Wedding soup recipesย abound on the internet.ย Some people are vehement that theirs is the “right” way.ย Apparently the inclusion of pasta is a beans-in-chili-like debate.ย I would guess that it depends on your region, heritage, and family traditions.ย I have none of these ties.ย I’m just a yinzer that likes food. ย I did reach out via Facebook to see how others do it. ย I wanted to try to make the soup because of the tiny pasta, I think.ย I may have also made some other “controversial” decisions.
Pasta. ย Even though real Italians apparently don’t include pasta in their soup, I am not Italian. ย Not remotely, even. ย Seriously. ย My wife got me the DNA thing for my birthday a few years back and I’m apparently super English,ย Scottish, Welsh, & Irish with a bit of Scandinaviaย and the Iberian Peninsula thrown in. ย I had to Google the Iberian Peninsula. So, as a Yinzer I am making a stand with pasta in the wedding soup because that’s how I have seen it. ย Orzo looked too much like rice,and rice in soup is gross. ย (I know, it is an entirely different consistency. ย Just accept the fact that rice in soup is gross, you’re wrong if you disagree, and read on.) ย I did most of my shopping at Aldi, but they had no tiny pasta… so I went to Giant Eagle and got Acini De Pepe. ย I could have also easily gone with what Barilla calls Pastinaย (neat tiny stars!) and apparently is not even a thing or it’s a generic thing.
If I would sub out cheese tortellini/farfalle for pastini/acini de pepe in the wedding soup, I could get all my ingredients at @AldiUSA. #fb
— แกส๊ โ ษXiA ฦiะฏฦ ๐ธ (@AiXeLsyD13) April 22, 2017
I chose to make the meatballs myself, because I like making meatballs.ย They’re big-ass meatballs because I have poor portion control and couldn’t use the mellon-baller to effectively help reel it in, and who wants a little tiny meatball anyway?ย I used beef, because cows are tasty.ย ย ย I typically don’t do the lamb/veal/pork mix in any meatballs or meatloaf, so why start now?ย I also opted for ground beef in lieu of chicken or turkey, because beef.ย Sheep are for making blankets, not eating… unless you like eating meat that tastes like wool blankets.
In my meatballs, I use Kraft Roasted Red Pepper Italian dressing & crushed seasoned croutons.ย I also tossed in some extra spices (onion & garlic powder, salt, pepper, and whatever “Italian Seasoning” is), two eggs, and parmesan/romano “shake cheese.” ย (Does anyone else call it that?) ย I generally crush the croutons with my hands, but since I was apathetically trying to make smaller meatballs and my 3yo was my helper, I put someย in a sandwich baggie and smashed to crap out of them with the shake-cheese bottle. ย Why use bread crumbs when you can smash stuff? ย I could totally skip the dressing & toss in whatever spices… but I tried this one time with meatballs to go with spaghetti or lasagna and we liked it, so it stuck. ย We cooked them in 2 frying pans, because it seemed quick. ย I like to bake meatballs sometimes too. ย This really could be a 7-day damn project of soup.
A lot of wedding soup recipes call for shredded chicken. ย I never really noticed it in the wedding soups I had eaten until at a recent wedding where they left the chicken in sizable chunks. ย Maybe it was an accident? ย I have no idea, but I liked it. ย I felt like I was taking a bite of something instead of creepy little chicken strings being used as a garnish. ย Also, I decided to cheat and not make stock… or I probably would have roasted then boiled the shit out of a chicken carcass and produced some shredded chicken as well as tasty stock. ย I grilled the chicken in the manliest way possible outdoors over an open flame like our cavemen ancestors. ย OK, I cooked it on a counter-top paniniย grill and attempted to give it some nice criss-crossed grill lines before letting it cool and cutting it into “cubes” with less knife skills than Stevie Wonder. ย I wanted to know I was eating chicken. ย I probably put some seasonย salt on it.
I made a mirepoix, I think. ย I put some butter in the bottom of the soup pot, and heated up some finely chopped carrots, celery (stalks and some of the leafy top), onion, & a bit of parsley and the lazy-people chopped-up-already in a jar garlic. ย Did those last two mess up the mirepoix? ย Salt and pepper went in there too, because the Food Network says to season every step or something like that.
Then I added some random boxes of stock & broth from Aldi. ย Really. ย I couldn’t decide. ย So, I got lowfat (that’s all they had) chicken stock, chicken broth, and low sodium chicken broth. ย They were all those creepy giant juice-boxish containers that no doubt every chicken aspires to reside in someday. ย I almost bought a vegetable stock, but didn’t. ย How do you get vegetable stock anyway? ย Isn’t that just broth? ย Isn’t the difference between stock & broth the inclusion of bones?
After that, I added the meatballs and chicken and let it boil for a bit. ย Maybe on like 7 or 8? ย I hate when recipes say “medium-high” heat. ย Give me a number, damnit. ย There are numbers on my oven. ย Are they there for no reason? ย How long? ย I don’t know. ย Long enough to chop up the “fresh” spinach.
I went for the fresh spinach in a plastic box at Aldi. ย I didn’t see any with the produce, didn’t catch it in frozen, and bought a can as backup just in case. ย They didn’t have any endive or escarole that I noticed. ย I wasn’t sure about Kale but may try that next time. ย I probably could have added the canned spinach too… it could have used a bit more maybe? ย Although, my meatball helper who crushed about 4 or 5 meatballs after we cooked them wasn’t a big fan of the soup itself because “big kids don’t like spinach sometimes.” ย She will eat pasta, grilled chicken, carrots, and meatballs all day every day. ย But the spinach was a no-go I guess. ย I think I added about 4 cups of water and 2 chicken bullion cubes in there somewhere.
I added the spinach and the box of acini de pepe at the same time. ย I let it go for the recommended 9 minutes. ย I know I had been advised to not do it that way. ย Cooking the pasta separately first then adding the rest of the soup over it in a bowl would be the level-headed thing to do. ย I was ready to eat by that point though, so in it went.
It was delicious on the first run if I do say so myself. ย Upon having leftovers, the acini de pepe swelled to ridiculous proportions. ย Ha ha. ย Next time I will cook the pasta first or only use half of a box. ย Or, I will do it the same way and have wedding pasta. ย Your soup means nothing to me! ย My total meat and carb domination can not be culled.
Well, on to the recipe if you even made it this far:
Non-Italian Wedding Soup Recipe:
This is not your ordinary recipe. ย I don’t measure much. ย I just throw stuff into a pot, especially with meatballs and soup. ย Obviously, use whatever you have on hand. ย Make substitutions. ย This is a recipe in the loosest sense of the word. ย This is how I did it this time. ย I may do it different next time. ย There probably are some good details above that I neglected to mention down here.
The Meatballs:
3 lb. Ground beef (I think it was 80/20?)
Seasoned Croutons (grab your favorite)
Kraft Roasted Red Pepper Italian dressing
Seasonings
2 eggs, beaten.
Parmesan/Romano “shake cheese”
One day when making meatballs, I grabbed the dressing & croutons because they were on the counter. ย We were probably having salad with our spaghetti or lasagna. ย It’s just breadcrumbs & oil with some seasonings in it. ย I usually smash the croutons by hand, but crushed some of these with a plastic sandwich bag & the Parmesan cheese container since I was trying to make smaller(ish) meatballs. ย I added some more ย spices (see below) with the beaten egg, and mixed the meatballs by hand. ย I used a fancy mellon-baller with an ice-cream-scoop like trigger mechanism that my mom had given me for a few of them, to measure… but they got out of hand easily and I had my 3yo helping. ย So, they were probably bigger than they needed to be. ย How much dressing and croutons? ย Eye it. ย I do. ย I like meatballs that are mostly meat, not bread.
The Soup:
A few handsful of Carrots (I started with the baby-cut ones because the kids snack on them.)
Maybe โ of a bunchย Celery? (I chopped up the stalks & some leaves.)
An Onion
Fresh Parsley
Spinach – I got a box of the “fresh” stuff from Aldi.
Grilled & poorly diced Chicken Breasts (I did mine on the panini grill)
Home-Made Meatballs (…or use frozen ones from the store.)
3ย creepy juice-box-like broth/stock containers. I literally got 3 different kinds of chicken broth.
4-sh cups water
2 chicken bullion cubes
Minced garlic in Olive Oil (because I’m lazy & don’t want to mince my own.)
Butter (enough to cover the bottom of your soup pot when it melts)
Parmesan/Romano “shake cheese”
Shredded Parmesan (Aldi had a fancy little container.)
De Cecco Acini De Pepe
I started out with the butter melting on the bottom of the soup pot, then added the carrots, celery, onion, & some parsley. ย I sauteed that for a bit, then dumped in the 3 weird juice boxes of chicken broth/stock over top of that and brought it to a boil. ย I reduced the heat a bit, and added the chicken and meatballs. ย I let it getย back to a boil and added some of the shredded Parmesan & Parmesan/Romano shake cheese to the broth. ย I let that simmer for a bit and eventually added -ish more cups of water and 2 chicken bullion cubes. ย (Maybe beef bullion would have been cool here?) ย Once that boiled again, I added the pasta & spinach & boiledย for another 9 minutes. ย It was tasty. ย I burned my tongue. ย Let it cool. ย Be patient.
Spices…
Season All
Paprika
Onion Powder
Garlic Powder
Crushed Black Pepper
Sea salt
White Pepper
Crushed Red Pepper
Italian Seasoning
Parsley Flakes
When I refer to seasonings or spices, it could have been any combination of these. ย I just grab & shake whenever.
Please, let me know if you tried your own inspired by this one. ย Let me know if you do your own a totally different way. ย Let me know what I did right, or let me know what I did “wrong.” ย Thanks for reading!
World (and Lunar) Domination 