Thursday, December 8, 2011

Holiday Crunch

I can't believe I am actually sharing this recipe with the blogging world. My Mom made this dish for us growing up so often that there came a point in time that I hated it. At the mere mention of it I would cringe and then would quickly start begging and pleading that she make something else instead.
There is nothing special about this dish. There are no fancy ingredients or cooking techniques and why my family loves it so much is beyond me. They love it so much that there were many Christmas Eve dinners where my Mom wanted to serve it as the main course. It was on those Christmas Eve's where because of my hatred for it, that I offered to make the entire Christmas Eve dinner just so that we wouldn't have to endure Holiday Crunch.
I have no clue where my Mom got the recipe, nor do I know why it's called Holiday Crunch. I get where the crunch comes from but not the holiday part. What I also don't get is why after all of these years my hatred for it has turned into love. My love for it has grown so much that for the first time ever, I actually made it for dinner the other night. Never in a million years did I see myself eating this stuff again, let alone make it and serve it to my little family. I just know my Mom was secretly laughing inside the night I made this for us. All of those years that I did nothing but moan and groan when she would make it and here I am craving the stuff. It's horrible I tell you, absolutely horrible. Mom-1, Katie-0...lol.
Holiday Crunch
~Source: My Mother
Ingredients:
1 lb. elbow macaroni, cooked and drained
1 lb. ground beef, browned and drained
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1 bag shredded sharp cheddar cheese, add an extra half a bag if you like it cheesy.
1 lg. container French's Fried Onions
Directions:
1.) Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2.) In a large mixing bowl, combine the cooked elbow macaroni, browned ground beef, cream of mushroom soups, and shredded cheese.
3.) Transfer to a greased, deep baking dish. Top with fried onions.
4.) Bake for 30 minutes or until heated through and onions are lightly browned.
I hope your family enjoys it as much as mine.
*I apologize for the way my posts are appearing. I promise that I put in the proper spaces and what have you but for whatever reason when I publish the post using our lap top, everything scrunches together. When I do it on our desktop everything looks fine. Unfortunately, my Mom has gotten virus' on both of our desk top computers...as in ours won't even turn on. This means I'm stuck using the lap top until the desktops are repaired.