Ever crave those ole tv dinners?

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negolien

Master of the Pit
Original poster
Jan 1, 2020
1,987
1,679
Sacramento, Calif.
Hey All,

I have some foods that are just ole favs as a kid. One of them was the elbows and meat sauce tv dinners. I am gonna try and do that with the crock pot. I have some basic ingredients. Ideas? and ingrediants i don't have thoughts? Spices also i got the normal bbq cooking noob spice choices in the cabinet

2 lbs ground beef
I have crushed peeled tomatoes in puree and I have prego spaghetti sauce. Not sure what to use leaning towards the prego traditional.
I have some green bell peppers
I have fresh garlic
I have red and sweet yellow onions
I don't think the pasta matters. I will put over the top of already cooked elbows or egg twists.

Edit

So I went with
2 lbs ground beef
2 28 oz cans of crushed peeled tomatoes in puree.
2.5 green bell peppers
5 cloves of fresh garlic
1 red and 1 sweet yellow onion
2 packs of beefy onion soup 1 during the beef Browing and one in the cooker.
1/4 cup of dirty bird mixed with honey chipotle killer bee
1/4 cup of pace medium picante
I don't think the pasta matters but I made some small elbows (can't find medium anymore) and some rigatoni

I got a bell pepper and grated cheese to so. Who knows one stuffed pepper maybe even a baked beefaroni /gasp lol.

Oh no the grill fired up too lol here we go
beefinoddle on the grill.jpg
bellpepper before.jpg

20220512_055106.jpg

20220512_035756.jpg
20220512_042104.jpg
20220512_042231.jpg
 
Last edited:
Hey All,

I have some foods that are just ole favs as a kid. One of them was the elbows and meat sauce tv dinners. I am gonna try and do that with the crock pot. I have some basic ingredients. Ideas? and ingrediants i don't have thoughts? Spices also i got the normal bbq cooking noob spice choices in the cabinet

2 lbs ground beef
I have crushed peeled tomatoes in puree and I have prego spaghetti sauce. Not sure what to use leaning towards the prego traditional.
I have some green bell peppers
I have fresh garlic
I have red and sweet yellow onions
I don't think the pasta matters. I will put over the top of already cocked elbows or egg twists.
Never had the tv dinner version but that looks just like what we call Goulash at my house. Boil some elbow mac and then add the above ingredients. Can have a tasty meal in about 30 min.
 
Stouffer/freezer entrees are pretty good. We do the lasagna now and then. We ate a TON of salisburry steak meals. Still do.

B BigW. Agree Goulash here too but in Ohio there is a well known spin on goulash. http://ohiothoughtsblog.blogspot.com/2013/03/johnny-marzetti-recipe-and-history.html

You guys might get a kick out of this... I live in a small town and my kids go the same school my parents and my wife and I did. Wife ended up getting a job in the kitchen there and there is indeed a notebook with all the school recipes in it.
 
The Swanson sausage breakfast bowl (square yellow box) is pretty delicious. Walmart's price is now up to a whopping 88 cents each.
 
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Reactions: negolien
Hey All,

I have some foods that are just ole favs as a kid. One of them was the elbows and meat sauce tv dinners. I am gonna try and do that with the crock pot. I have some basic ingredients. Ideas? and ingrediants i don't have thoughts? Spices also i got the normal bbq cooking noob spice choices in the cabinet

2 lbs ground beef
I have crushed peeled tomatoes in puree and I have prego spaghetti sauce. Not sure what to use leaning towards the prego traditional.
I have some green bell peppers
I have fresh garlic
I have red and sweet yellow onions
I don't think the pasta matters. I will put over the top of already cocked elbows or egg twists.

I never had that in a TV dinner, but it looks pretty much what we called "Beef-a-roni".
Here's my rendition of it, but with Venison instead of Beef:

Bear
 
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Reactions: negolien
The Swanson sausage breakfast bowl (square yellow box) is pretty delicious. Walmart's price is now up to a whopping 88 cents each.
Damn bud i' am paying 4 bucks a dinner for Swansons, Devours, marie calendars and 5.50 for Hungermans . The Maries tend to be the best the banquets tend to be the cheapest but worst imho.
I'd forgot about Tv Dinners and for good reason. Not the type of food I'd care to revisit. YMMV...
So you don't like lasagna, fried chicken, turkey, enchiladas and pot pies? LOL just saying... I get why people are not fond of em depending on their history with em. I ate em while they were still cooked in the oven for a majority of people.

Some of the food items like lasgana, the elbows, fried chicken have a thinking back to better times feeling for me. A true comfort food if you will where we sat down as a family and ate. We didn't have much money and I grew up in a single person household where cooking real meals were few and far between so for us these were staples.
 
Last edited:
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Reactions: Nodak21
Hey All,

I have some foods that are just ole favs as a kid. One of them was the elbows and meat sauce tv dinners. I am gonna try and do that with the crock pot. I have some basic ingredients. Ideas? and ingrediants i don't have thoughts? Spices also i got the normal bbq cooking noob spice choices in the cabinet

2 lbs ground beef
I have crushed peeled tomatoes in puree and I have prego spaghetti sauce. Not sure what to use leaning towards the prego traditional.
I have some green bell peppers
I have fresh garlic
I have red and sweet yellow onions
I don't think the pasta matters. I will put over the top of already cooked elbows or egg twists.

Edit

So I went with
2 lbs ground beef
2 28 oz cans of crushed peeled tomatoes in puree.
2.5 green bell peppers
5 cloves of fresh garlic
1 red and 1 sweet yellow onion
2 packs of beefy onion soup 1 during the beef Browing and one in the cooker.
1/4 cup of dirty bird mixed with honey chipotle killer bee
1/4 cup of pace medium picante
I don't think the pasta matters but I made some small elbows (can't find medium anymore) and some rigatoni

I got a bell pepper and grated cheese to so. Who knows one stuffed pepper maybe even a baked beefaroni /gasp lol
View attachment 631691
View attachment 631685View attachment 631686View attachment 631687
We called that American Chop Suey when I was a kid, still make it on occasion.
 
The Freezer Queen Salisbury Steak and gravy was a staple when I was a kid. Had it at least once a week. Ocassionally will get one just to take me back to those days as a carefree kid.
Jim
 
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