I was thinking about trying to invent some new recipes based on things I like… I know my kids like macaroni and cheese (the real kind that’s made with sharp cheddar and milk and baked in the oven) and that reminded me that I wanted to make a recipe for chicken croquettes (they have them for $2.10 per piece at the local farmers market… they’re very tasty but that is crazy).

This reminded me that they used to be a frozen dinner I got sometimes, which reminded me of a frozen dinner that I absolutely loved, I think it was a Swanson frozen dinner, a mostly blue box with a foil pan, “Chicken Au Gratin”.
It was chicken chunks and cheese sauce and noodles that were like linguini.  It could be baked or transferred to another container and microwaved.  I ate a LOT of these in the early to mid-80s.
Google it and absolutely nothing comes up.

I want redevelop this recipe!

One interesting thing I found in the search is this thread about discontinued foods…
I had completely forgotten about the Nabisco “Tid-bits” cheese crackers… the long ones, thick like sticks but flatter than a pretzel rod.  Yum!  I used to eat those.  Those and Cheez Its are good with peanut butter too.

Somehow I ended up reading a long thread about discontinued foods on Amazon.

Someone mentioned “Oscar Mayer Smokie Links (are they really gone?)”
Yes, they are.  I loved those, and called the company, as I often do, to find out where I could buy them and they confirmed they have been removed from the market.

Zingos cinnamon candies!  They are so tasty.  Found 5 boxes of them in a Korean grocery about 5 years after they were discontinued!

It’s amazing reading through this thread and having it confirmed by anecdote that so many snacks and specialty foods originated or are still available in and around south-central Pennsylvania where I live.  I am so lucky to have lived here and had access to all these great brands, all the tasty snacks!  This is the Silicon Valley of snack food!

Another thing I really liked was the Ice Cream Cake Roll.

In the Amazon thread’s comments, I also wrote:

Here are the things that I remember but which weren’t mentioned by anyone:

Ice Cream Cake Roll – a frozen dessert.  I don’t remember who made this.  circa late 70s.
It was a sheet of chocolate cake about a half-inch thick, with a similar sized adjacent layer of vanilla ice cream, and they were rolled up together into a spiral cylinder.  You would slice it.

Chicken Au Gratin frozen dinner, Swanson I think.  It came in a mostly light blue box, heavy foil tray, about a pound.  This was chunks of chicken with noodles (like linguini) in a cheese sauce.  They suggested it be baked, but if you put in a glass dish, it microwaved just fine with regular stirring.  I had these all the time in the early to late-80s.  So tasty!  I haven’t even been able to find an ad for this one.

Zingos cinnamon candies by Brown & Haley!  They were so tasty.  Found 5 tins of them in a Korean grocery about 5 years after they were discontinued early-2000s-ish!

In reply to other comments… I read *all* of them… these ideas come to mind:

If you are looking for a product, you should call the company and ask about it and its availability.  For example, I like Good Seasons “Mild Italian” salad dressing mix (in a packet, so much better tasting than the Italian) and could never find it, but they do make it, and now I know where to get it because I called and asked.  Similarly, Oscar Meyer confirmed they discontinued Smoky Links when I called to ask why I can’t find them anymore.  Go to the source!

Krunchers chips were served in little bags at Panera Bread in 2004.  I remember looking up the manufacturer… it was a company Jay’s in Chicago (they ignored my correspondence) but I later read they were bought by Snyders (in PA) and their products are readily available now, at least here in PA and are just as good.
Charles Chips (yum!) are back in business again, but they cost so much ($11 to $25/pound, eeek!) they probably won’t be for long.  But they were so great in the 70s and even into the early 90s when the trucks would come to my workplace.  They made great chips and pretzel sticks and cheese pretzels too.  Tom Sturgis Pretzels makes a comparable, affordable product.  Snack lovers are lucky to live in PA!

Many classic candies are available in the bulk foods section (look for the bins and scoops) in grocery stores… Wegmans, Giant, etc.  So much cheaper than mail orders.

Some products (like the General Mills monster-themed cereals) are only available seasonally.  All five will be out for this Halloween.  Google is your friend, and call the manufacturers!  They’ll give you the info, take note that you want the product, and sometimes even send coupons.

Is it just me or has the world become noisier?
It seems that as soon as I go out my door, I am bombarded with useless, incessant noise.  It even comes out of the sky.
Earlier, I went to get the mail and a big noisy rattling pickup truck pulled out from a nearby side road and roared by.  No matter where I go, there are loud cars and trucks and motorcycles.. everywhere.
I always remember hearing that sort of thing occasionally, but I don’t remember it being constant.
Are the vehicles falling into disrepair, or are there so many more people around that even a small percentage of the ones who want to intrude on others’ right to quiet enjoyment now amounts to so many people that you can’t get away from them, even in the middle of the night?  wtf?

[Later]

Sometimes I get curious about the weirdest things.  Earlier, I was wondering if I’m the only one who cooks with a blowtorch.  I don’t really *cook* with it, but when I make chicken wings, I always burn off those little hairs with a blowtorch.  I hate those.

After I put the wings to soak in hot sauce, I started wondering if any of the wings in that big pack were from the same chicken.  Or are they all from random chickens?

Someone told me today that I “have an uncluttered soul.”  I’ve never heard anyone say something like that and it made me happy.

These are good stuffed grape leaves: Aris Dolma Yalandji.

They sell them for $2/lb. at the Shillington Farmers Market.  The people who sell them to me see me coming and ask if I need any “cigars”!

Do you love home-made mashed potatoes when they’re first made but hate how the soft, creamy texture that drove you to make them from scratch in the first place, is replaced by a dry, lumpy, unappealing texture when you reheat them?  I’ve solved this problem…

The cause of it is not the storage or refrigeration; it is inadequate *preparation* for storage and refrigeration.

What you need to do is this:
While you’re serving the mashed potatoes, try to keep them as warm as you can.  It’s okay if they’re not hot, they just should not be left to get cold yet.  Then when you’re done eating, make some more hot milk and butter mixture like you would use to make more mashed potatoes (or, just reheat it if you had excess left over from when you made them originally).  Now, using your mixer that’s still out, re-make your leftover mashed potatoes, adding the hot milk and butter mixture to again achieve the creamy texture that they originally had when you first served them.  Mix in just a bit more milk and butter (1T to 3T depending on how much leftovers you have) to make them just a slight bit softer than you want them to be for eating.  NOW store them in the refrigerator.

When you reheat them in the microwave and mix thoroughly, they will have that creamy, almost identical texture as if you had just now made them.  I kid you not.

I like the 22nd of months. Maybe I’ll explain sometime.

Completely unrelated:
Today I was thinking that I know very few people nearby (there are a few proportionately speaking) who I think are genuinely good people (all you have to do is drive anywhere to know what I mean), but realize that I know so many genuinely good people if I look at everyone I know online and include those who aren’t nearby geographically. I don’t know that I could count them all. This got me to thinking: do people who are genuinely good to others have more of an impact on the world (more accurately: on the people living in the world) than those others who are “average” or not genuinely good. I think this is true. I don’t quite know how to express this idea, but here’s an example:

Five years ago, I ordered a really tasty Hungarian Goulash (Gulaschsuppe) at a local German restaurant, and being a cook, wanted to develop my own recipe. My process is to do a lot of internet research and then iterate with revisions until successful. I am at the point now where I can think in my head how a recipe will taste just by reading it, and I invariably know if it would be good and how it would need to be changed to make my zero-calorie imaginary culinary delight into its real-world reciprocal. One of the things I did to develop this one was read voluminous material on recipe sites (allrecipes etc.) and I found someone who seemed to have just the right background, so I scrounged around until I tracked down an email; I wrote her, and she wrote me back, contributing her personal recipe, experience, and insights, uncompensated, just because she agrees with me that recipes are guidelines and she’s a genuinely nice person sharing a common passion.

Last week, just after Debbie did the rainforest benefit, I was looking for something specific in my old emails, and of all the things, I found her email from four years ago, so I wrote back with the link to return her favor with my own version of the recipe I developed (which is one of my best, at least in the “easy” category). Such a delight to discover this morning through her reply that her email was still valid.

It really put me in a good mood, and I try to return favors and give back to anyone and everyone who gives something of themselves, something that makes a difference in the quality of life of someone else. Do you know anyone who just radiates? I do, and I gravitoward them.

Also on unrelated tangents:

I liked Google’s playable pac-man logo today, but I had to keep closing it because the cpu fan on my lapdance, er i mean laptop lol, ran constantly at cruising speed. (My car has six speeds, but the laptop only has four: Off, Turtling, Cruising Speed, and Jet Engine).

I made shawarma today, but had to mix up a new batch of Baharat (the spice that’s the primary flavor in it). The big batch I mixed on 12/2/07 got used up. I haven’t cooked it yet. It’s one of my very best recipes… if I ever get an opportunity to cook for Debbie, it might be this one.