My Grandma found ‘Hamburger Helper’ a revelation :-)
(Of course, she was doing her best in her ‘sixties to largely raise a couple of kids on a shoestring.
(For ‘fancy’ occasions, the little frozen puffed-pastry patty shells filled with creamed chicken were her go-to; and I still love that.)
My husband just remembered that one of his grandmothers really liked ‘boxed prepared foods’, and when they went to her house, the kids really enjoyed Rice-a-Roni.
When his mom noticed how much they liked it, she recreated it at home, from scratch - she was also raising a bunch of kids on her husband’s school-teacher salary, and figured out how to stretch a dollar!
My Grandma made everything (including her noodles and sausage) from scratch.
Spent hundreds of hours helping her and learning from her. She’s the reason I love cooking.
My favorite cake was from her.
Grandma’s Buttermilk Cake
Preheat oven to 350°.
Cream together:
1 cp. butter
2 cps. sugar
Add:
4 eggs yolk
1/2 tsp vanilla
Sift:
3 cps. cake flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cream of tatar
Add alternately:
1 cp. buttermilk
Then:
Fold in 4 stiffly beaten egg whites.
Pour into 9” tube pan or 2 7” springform pans.
Bake 50 to 40 minutes.
Topping
3 Tbl butter
1/2 cp. brown sugar
1 cp. chopped pecans
3 Tbl cream
Place under boiler for 1-2 minutes.
Since the pan/scamdemic I’ve been make this into cupcakes.
My neighbor and his kids been helping me with my lawn and snow shoveling and pay him back with these. They love em.