Sometimes you just feel like using hot dogs to make a circle on the top of your dinner and then filling that circle with shredded cheese.
What? You don’t feel like that?
Well, never mind. Maybe that’s just me.
In any case, this is Frank-A-Roni Dinner!!
AuthorRetroRuth
From Dollar Dinners Made Easy With Dairy Foods
Teste Recipe!
[cooked-sharing]
Cook macaroni according to package directions; drain. In a small skillet melt butter; add onion, salt, and garlic powder. Cook until onion is transparent. Cut 4 Frankfurter into 1-inch pieces, reserving 1 frankfurter for garnish. Combine macaroni, onion mixture, Frankfurter, cottage cheese and sour cream in casserole. Toss lightly until well mixed. Cut extra frankfurter crosswise into thin slices; arrange in a circle on the top casserole. Spread Cheddar cheese inside the ring of frankfurter slices; bake 30 minutes.
Ingredients
Directions
Cook macaroni according to package directions; drain. In a small skillet melt butter; add onion, salt, and garlic powder. Cook until onion is transparent. Cut 4 Frankfurter into 1-inch pieces, reserving 1 frankfurter for garnish. Combine macaroni, onion mixture, Frankfurter, cottage cheese and sour cream in casserole. Toss lightly until well mixed. Cut extra frankfurter crosswise into thin slices; arrange in a circle on the top casserole. Spread Cheddar cheese inside the ring of frankfurter slices; bake 30 minutes.
Notes
This fun ring recipe comes from Dollar Dinners Made Easy With Dairy Foods, which is a cute pamphlet that has a lot of “interesting” casserole recipes in it. I just picked this one straight off the bat because…well…ring of frankfurter slices.
I am sure you understand.
So, I have bronchitis. Again. I’m not sure what exactly the deal is, except that I can’t breathe very well. And I need to rest. But this time I prepared ahead and I had a good selection of easy recipes to pick from that needed only a minimal amount of effort.
But Tom wouldn’t let me do even that.
“Stop. Stop. What are you doing?”
“I’m going to the kitchen. I need to make the recipe test.”
“Is that the hot dog thing that you’ve been muttering about?”
“Maybe.”
He snatched the recipe card out of my hand. “You go sit on the couch. Alex and I have got this. Right, Alex?”
“Yes! I want to cut the hot dogs!”
So, I sat on the couch. And Alex cut hot dogs.
Overall, it was a pretty good deal. And TJ kept wandering into the kitchen because they were feeding him plain elbow mac, which he loves, so that was adorable.
It’s goooo!!! Cottage cheese goo.
They even let me put all the shredded cheese in the center, which was nice.
It was also a large amount of cheese.
Fresh from the oven.
See? Too much of a good thing!!! It wouldn’t scoop.
“You don’t have to eat that bite if you don’t want to.”
“Are you kidding me? It’s all melted cheese. Of course I want to.”
“Having trouble?”
“Mphhff.”
“Tastes like cottage cheese and hot dogs.”
“At least it’s hot.”
“Yeah, but that cheese should have really been stirred in.”
The Verdict: Funny
From The Tasting Notes –
As most of you have realized by now, the whole cup of cheese in the center was very dramatic and fun, but it didn’t really improve the flavor at all. The casserole would have been much better with that cup of cheese stirred in rather than in a big glob on the top. That being said, the casserole was very creamy and bland, pretty much just like if you stirred cottage cheese in with noodles and hot dogs. But the kids loved it, and Tom ate quite a bit, too. I ate half of my portion before I was overcome by dairy. In a side note, there were leftovers to this, so Tom sautéed another onion and added a can of condensed tomato soup and another cup of shredded cheese and stirred that all together with the leftovers and rebaked it. Which was so, so salty. But delicious in a trashy way.
And now, Alex’s taste-test:
“So yummy and cheesy!”
Ha ha! I love the name. This is another one that reminds me of one of my wife’s family’s recipes: Franks Parmesan. You know, like chicken parmesan… but with franks.
i find this meal and the hotdogs on top so cute! I would have loved it as a kid too
No comment on the meal. Alex is absolutely adorable.
I would have loved this as a kid. But I do agree that the cheese would be better stirred in…
You likely still have your original malady, not a new one. It’s probably RSV, one of the two causes of walking pneumonia (the other being micoplasma). It is just running rampant everywhere this year.
Unless you start running a fever over 100 and feeling waaaay worse, don’t bother with antibiotics. It’s a virus. RSV takes forever to go away (says the woman dealing for three months). Drink water like it’s your medicine–on schedule. Pretty much your only course of action is to keep the gunk thin so you can cough it out. Mucinex may or may not help, but WILL give you the illusion of being in control, and there is much to be said for that.
Mostly certain you are not contagious anymore (unless you have a weakened immune system), so no worries around infants and the elderly (those for whom RSV poses a danger).
Fun fact: Having had RSV imparts only partial immunity.
Sending hugs and virtual chicken soup,
Little Mary Sunshine
I hope you’re feeling better soon! Bronchitis is the worst!
I would totally eat that, but would stir in some cubed velveeta. Nom. Your daughter is just the cutest!