TTC

[sassyNoz47]

there is also the famous Jello, coolwhip , dish its really good. There is the lime jello with pears dish, and the strawberry jello with banana's those aren't bad. But still the lime jello/carrots/egg dish is right there with the others I've never ate it ever.

[Bookworm89]

Taste of Homes is lowering its standards to include that as its cover shot, gag. Normally I like their magazine, hoping this was fluke lol.

[celestial]

Celestial - I've encountered the lime jello/spinach/egg monstrosity all around VA and West Va. I have friends in Mississippi who have similar stories, though.

Fascinating! It would appear that this particular monstrosity never made it out west. I really just can't fathom someone bringing that to a party, but to each their own! I have seen the pretzel jello "salad" before, though. Just nothing involving veggies and jello, and certainly not eggs.

I lived in Ukraine for awhile and one of their most popular dishes over there is called "kholodets," which is chicken in gelatin. I've heard people from the Midwest talk about "aspic" before, which I've never seen or tried, but it sounds like the same thing. Is it?

[Austin]

In my mind, jello is something one eats in the hospital or when recovering from a stomach virus. I was not exposed to jello as "salad" until I moved to Ohio. At one of the first holiday dinners I attended with my in-laws, I offered to bring a salad. I brought a green salad with my homemade dressing. They were expecting a jello concoction, apparently. They were disappointed. I was speechless.

Not to say I didn't eat weird things growing up. Like "scrapple". What the eff is scrapple exactly? I don't know and I'm sure it's not good. We ate it with maple syrup and it was disgusting.

[Kitchen Princess]

You ate scrapple with maple syrup? I thought scrapple was something containing pig intestines. :P

To be fair, the old food pictures really have bad printing techniques to their detriment. I have a collection of really old cookbooks and the printing is horrible. That, and the color scheme of most of the '60s and '70s was also horrible.

I think Jello salads come from the old aspic traditional grossness. Aspic is made with fat from meat. With pig trotters added. http://cheateat.typepad.com/blog/2004/1 ... rs_in.html gross.

[LIzzieB]

My tastebuds just crawled out of my mouth and ran away at the thought of jello with mayonnaise. Gack! I consider myself a very adventurous eater, but I have to admit to being incredibly close-minded to this particular idea. Jello salad to go with the main course?! As a dessert, I can understand (and have eaten) jello with fruit suspended in it, but maybe once or twice in my life. Certainly jello (or jelly as we call it here) is not a large part of Australian food culture.

[itsthatonegirl]

I'm a bit curious as to the amount of snark the Duggar's tater tot casserole receives. Is it their specific recipe that disgusts everyone, or would it be anyone's TTC? And if it is their recipe only... what is precisely so bad about it? I have their recipe open on another tab- ground turkey? Why is that gross? The cream soups I understand, kind of... they're processed, etc. I personally don't use cream soups in recipes anymore but instead replace them with a mix of dry milk and spices. Evaporated milk... tater tots... they seem fairly innocent.

Okay don't get me wrong, I enjoy eating healthy and feeding my family healthy. I'm not fanatical about it, but I do try to avoid MSG, HFCS, food coloring, and hydrogenated oils, among other things. I read labels and choose the brand with five ingredients instead of 25. I try to cook from scratch AMAP. In fact, the reason why I haven't been able to get too enthusiastic about couponing, as many people around my area have, is because so many of the coupons are for unhealthy brands. So I get wanting to be healthy. I get, too, that the Duggars might make too many unhealthy choices too much of the time. (I would never have a soda fountain in my house!) But I don't get the seemingly universal dogging on this one individual recipe. These are normal American ingredients that most families probably use.

So my questions are, 1- What, specifically, about TTC turns your stomach? And 2- What types of eaters are you? Do you avoid fast food, chips, sodas, etc.?

*edited just to write a bit better :)

[CanadianHippie]

The whole combination is just nauseating overall, to me. And really, I'm the sort of person who comes up with odd combinations. Plus any "cream of..." type of soup is icky.

[Wolfie]

I'm a bit curious as to the amount of snark the Duggar's tater tot casserole receives. Is it their specific recipe that disgusts everyone, or would it be anyone's TTC? And if it is their recipe only... what is precisely so bad about it? I have their recipe open on another tab- ground turkey? Why is that gross? The cream soups I understand, kind of... they're processed, etc. I personally don't use cream soups in recipes anymore but instead replace them with a mix of dry milk and spices. Evaporated milk... tater tots... they seem fairly innocent.

Okay don't get me wrong, I enjoy eating healthy and feeding my family healthy. I'm not fanatical about it, but I do try to avoid MSG, HFCS, food coloring, and hydrogenated oils, among other things. I read labels and choose the brand with five ingredients instead of 25. I try to cook from scratch AMAP. In fact, the reason why I haven't been able to get too enthusiastic about couponing, as many people around my area have, is because so many of the coupons are for unhealthy brands. So I get wanting to be healthy. I get, too, that the Duggars might make too many unhealthy choices too much of the time. (I would never have a soda fountain in my house!) But I don't get the seemingly universal dogging on this one individual recipe. These are normal American ingredients that most families probably use.

So my questions are, 1- What, specifically, about TTC turns your stomach? And 2- What types of eaters are you? Do you avoid fast food, chips, sodas, etc.?

*edited just to write a bit better :)

I'm not really a big casserole eater- there are a few I'll eat, like lasagna, but not a lot. So it's not so much the ingredients, but that it's a casserole. I don't think I really snark on it much other than the unhealthiness of it. But if it's an occasional thing, who cares, but if it's a staple of a family's diet, it is a problem.

I am a mostly organic and local, healthy eater- but I have my weaknesses. Some are comfort foods that I'll eat occasionally (like mac and cheese made with velveeta), others I eat a little more often, like microwave popcorn (I try to do hot air popped instead, but sometimes I buy a box), and I drink way too much soda.

[DarkAnts]

Its snark worthy because they make it out to be gods gift to man. I have had it and I can tell you that it is not. It tastes bland. Beyond the taste, I dont like the high fat and carb content in it.

My version of tater tot casserole is more of a tater tot bake with homemade chili (I always have some in the freezer), cheese and spiced ground turkey. I also add onion, garlic, and bell peppers. It tastes way better then the duggars version.

My diet consists mostly of soups, salads, sandwiches, meant, veggies and the occasional casserole. I like things that I can freeze like soups and chili. They make a quick and easy meal. I live alone so I try to keep it simple.

[Guest Anonymous]

For me, TTC has become the most snarkable emblem of a really poor overall diet. I adhere to the maxim "There is no bad food, only a bad diet". If TTC turns you on, so be it, but as a staple part of the Duggars diet, along with packet noodles, chikenetti and the like, I find it very snarkable indeed.

As far as TTC is concerned, the problem for me is that it is super high in fat, completely missing vegetables and lacking in colour and texture. I can imagine digging into one for comfort and convenience after a heavy night out, in the same way I might devour a Macdonalds or a kebab - as a monthly treat -but I would not consider it to be suitable as a regular main meal of the day for growing children. I might make a similar kind of thing for a children's supper but without all the slop: I would bulk out the ground beef with grated carrot, onion, pepper and a handful of cooked lentils; I would stir the sauteed meat/veg mix with a spoon of flour to thicken it and then use plain stock as the liquid, rather than adding that nasty tinned soup. Or I might use tinned tomatoes for a different flavour. Then I'd layer the top with sliced potatoes and dot the top of the potatoes with tiny dots of butter, so that it would crisp and turn a nice golden colour in the oven. And I'd serve with some steamed green veg and sweetcorn, to add colour and fibre and crunch. It would take a bit of effort, but when you are using fresh ingredients, you can prepare several ahead of time and freeze them until needed.

[Witsec7]

I love casseroles, but this one is junk. If I want tater tots I'l work and make a batch from scratch and freeze the for later. They are truly not a casserole ingredient IMHO. I like crunchy browned tops and bottoms on my casseroles and never use canned soup for anything. I also prefer a casserole with lots of colors and flavors that hold up next to each other. I enjoy gratins too, but most of the ones I really enjoy are a bit fatty, so I save those for comfort food in the winter.

[Mais Pourquoi]

I made TTC once for Mr. MP and myself on a lazy Sunday because I was curious after hearing about it so much, with the recipe down to just one small Cream of Crap can since it was just the two of us. Honestly it wasn't bad, but I spiced the ground turkey which I think helped. Beyond that it was nothing but salt. Even Mr. MP, who loves his junk food, said that it was too salty/bland for him. We decided that if we were ever going to have it again we'd have to add some vegetables somehow, making it similar to shepherd's pie, or making it "Mexican" by nixing the Cream of Crap and using cheese/salsa/seasoned ground beef instead.

Someone above said it best- it's easy to snark on because it's been presented as the Alpha and Omega of casseroles, when really it's just hangover food.

[donks]

I make a version of TTC with my homemade chili, tots and queso. My husband and son love it-they'd probably fight to the death over it. I can take it or leave it...

The Duggar TTC is just gross sounding. Very bland, just neutral. I wouldn't fix that crap for my ancient, toothless and blind chihuahua.

[itsthatonegirl]

Yeah, I myself make a TTC, but like I said I use a homemade mix for the cream soup, and I also add cheese, green beans, and corn. AnnieC's version sounds super yummy... you had me at "layer the top with sliced potatoes and dot the top of the potatoes with tiny dots of butter, so that it would crisp and turn a nice golden colour in the oven".

[Black Aliss]

In most non-duggarish recipes I've seen for tater tot casserole the vegetables predominate. Frozen, mixed, relatively low-nutrient vegetables, but still vegetables and maybe 9 or 10 cups of vegetables for that amount of meat/soup/tater tots. One of the first "casseroles" I learned to make when I was a kid was called "5-layer dinner" and, probably because we didn't grow cream soup in our garden, it consisted of layers of ground meat, onions, corn, sliced potatoes, and jarred diced tomatoes, baked together. Not something I've ever had the desire to recreate as an adult but way more healthful than TTC.

[Guest Anonymous]

My family was poor when I was growing up. My dad was the sole wage-earner in a blue-collar job and my mum stayed at home to raise the 4 kids - not out of religious convictions but because where we lived, and with the low level of education mum had, there would have been no work that would have covered child care costs. So we ate cheap home-made food all the time and there were no meals out or takeaways, except maybe the occasional fish and chips supper on days out to the seaside. We ate a lot of plain meat and potatoes type dinners, and a lot of casseroles (the UK gravy-based versions) and pies and all. I distinctly remember that my elder sister's ambition was to grow up and get a good job so she could afford to eat microwave dinners every night, because she thought that would be such a luxury. :lol:

Having said that, although we were poor and probably ate pastry and chips more often than is healthy, we never had huge portion sizes so we were not overweight, and we regularly ate fresh veggies from the garden, freshly baked bread, and home made stews and soups. Every meal we had was padded out with carrots, swede, onions, tomatoes etc, because it was the cheap way to get a healthy diet. My mother was not a good cook, but would not have dreamed of using pounds of cheese or tins of condensed soup in a recipe, because they were so expensive.

I just don't know where the idea of serving up TTC could have come from, or how anyone could have thought it frugal?I get that it is easy to throw together, but with a family that size.... well my family was just six people, but if my mum wanted to split up a squabble, or keep us busy, we were handed a potato peeler, or told to put on an apron and make a nice apple crumble for dessert. Cooking was a fun extra-curricular activity in a house with little money for spendy after-school clubs. Thode Duggar kids have a palace of a kitchen, they could be kept really busy in there, free from all worldly influences! ;)

[Deleted07]

for me it just combines the cheapest and usually poorest of quality genres of food...

Tater Tots, overly processed and fried potatoe...

Ground Turkey, not so bad, But guessing the cheap stuff they would probably buy would be all fat and lord know what part of the turkey, and how much percentage is actually MEAT...

Cream Soups I just personally cannot stand, too salty etc

I personally just cannot imagine all that together... I've never tried it and look if someone happened to be making it I would TRY it, but no one I know has yet...

I just don't see why they can't make say a nice chicken casserole with celery, carrots, butter beans and onion, actual potatoes and REAL herbs and spices, with REAL chunks of chicken meat!

I like to make my stuff from scratch from real ingredients and really isn't hard, most of the time I just throw these into a crock pot with some stock and let it go for a few hours and it comes out beautifully!!!

[doggie]

I have to admit when my mom and worthless stepdad were poor (well when were they not? ) we ate worse than the duggers. my mom ran a catering truck and they would take the left over hamburger patties that had been kept hot with onions and pickles on them (god I can still remember the taste) and my worthless stepdad would make hamburger gravy and potatoes with it. I can remember eating in twice a day sometimes. I don't remember much else of what we ate. I was skinny as a rail till they started running a restaurant and we ate there a lot and ballooned up.

[icecreamycakeycake]

Is it just me or do others find casseroles to be very time consuming? Cooking meat, chopping, mixing, assembling, clean-up? I find it so much easier to cook some meat, steam some vegs in the microwave, and open a bag of salad. granted, I cook for 3 people, and while I do like a good cheesy casserole, I find them to be a pita.

[itsthatonegirl]

Hehe Icecreamycake... was "find them to be a pita" an autocorrect fail? :lol:

AnnieC, I agree with you about cooking being an extracurricular activity. It's fun and useful at the same time. I am surprised, with all the focus on training the girls to be homemakers, that they don't seem to be taught better cooking skills... what if their future husbands prefer meals a bit more gourmet?

Do you guys find, in your blog reading, that most fundies cook like the Duggars? Or do some/many/most of them seem to cook more skillfully?

[celestial]

1. They act like it's some super thing, which it's not. It's been featured on the show and it's "one of Daddy's favorites!"

2. Bland, bland, bland.

3. Holy sodium content, batman! If I'm going to eat something that bad for me, I at least want it to taste good.

4. It could easily be made much more tasty, nutritious, and cheap using real potatoes (not fried), a simple homemade white sauce, and a few spices.

I'm fine with casseroles but this one's not pretty. Maybe it's a regional difference or something. And by all means, if you love TTC, embrace it! God knows I've been known to like some weird things.

[celestial]

Do you guys find, in your blog reading, that most fundies cook like the Duggars? Or do some/many/most of them seem to cook more skillfully?

I see some variation in this. There are many who serve a lot of processed crap, but then there are others (the In a Shoe family comes to mind) that seem to love cooking nutritious whole foods and go out of their way to find them at prices they can afford.

[Guest Anonymous]

I see some variation in this. There are many who serve a lot of processed crap, but then there are others (the In a Shoe family comes to mind) that seem to love cooking nutritious whole foods and go out of their way to find them at prices they can afford.

And some families get ham from God - God gives big hams!!!11eleventy!! :dance:

[demgirl]

Hehe Icecreamycake... was "find them to be a pita" an autocorrect fail? :lol:

I was also confused by this, but then I realized PITA = Pain In The Ass.