This one is for Joey. And it was supposed to go up tomorrow. So no post tomorrow. Probably.
ANYWAY, Joey said she can’t imagine peas + cheese, so I said I’d post a couple examples.
The first one is … wait for it, Midwesterners …
Tuna Noodle Casserole
- some kinda noodles, cooked
- canned tuna, drained, give the juice to the cat
- canned peas
- onion powder
- crushed soda crackers (saltine crackers, regular ol’ crackers)
- can of cream of mushroom soup
- cheese
Now, of course, the cheese should be Velveeta or a generic florescent orange cheese-like substance, but I didn’t have any, so I used good cheese instead. If I had used perfectly broiled tuna steak, frozen or fresh peas, gently sauteed onions, home-made cream of mushroom soup, and home-made croutons or bread crumbs, I would have been de-aproned and forced to wear a big red F for Fancy-Schmancy sewn to my shirt. As it is, I barely squeaked by the Inspector General.
Mix it all together and bake it until it’s bubbly.
And the second is
Pea Salad
Pretty flexible. This one had a base of lettuce, then frozen peas, mushrooms, celery, hard-boiled eggs, and a topping of mayonnaise mixed with about four kinds of cheese. I put pepper on mine, after serving.
So, if you think, “Peas and cheese just don’t go together in my mind,” you may not be from the American Midwest and/or you may be under 60 years old.
More power to ya.
A WRITING PROMPT FOR YOU: What did your character grow up eating that other people go, “…Seriously?”
MA
Dan Antion
February 21, 2017 at 8:21amMy wife doesn’t like the Tuna Noodle thing. Our neighbor’s husband didn’t like it either. So, our neighbor and I used to make it, but we fought over peas. I don’t like it with peas. She wouldn’t eat it without peas. And, yes, she made the “give peas a chance” joke. She won, arguing that it was easier for me to pick out the peas than it would be for her to insert them. I also like it fine without cheese.
Marian Allen
February 21, 2017 at 8:28amActually, it would be much easier for her to cook the peas on the side and stir a mix it on her plate. That’s what I would have done. But without cheese? Ugh! That’s almost healthy! lol
Jane
February 21, 2017 at 8:35amGreat recipes. I love using up stuff and finding the great dish inside the bunch of suspicious things in the fridge.
Marian Allen
February 21, 2017 at 12:15pmExactly! A half a cup of this, a scraping of that, bash ’em all together and it’s FOOD again!
Roy A. Ackerman, PhD, EA
February 21, 2017 at 8:47amMy casserole lacks (gladly) the saltines, the onions- but it does have the peas!
Marian Allen
February 21, 2017 at 12:22pmSo just tuna, spaghetti, peas, cream of mushroom soup, and cheese? Hmm. I think the cracker addition was probably a Depression thing. I put them in because my mother put them in, and she put them in because her mother put them in, and her mother put them in to stretch the real ingredients and make it more filling.
Joey
February 21, 2017 at 8:54amNow, see…I don’t care for cold pea salad all that much — like, I’ll eat it if it’s served, but I don’t love it — but I LOVE tuna noodle casserole. I am under the age of 60, but so is my bff, who loves cold pea salad 🙂 Thanks, Marian.
Marian Allen
February 21, 2017 at 12:17pmI love all kindsa cold pea salad. I had one I didn’t share here, ’cause this was about peas and cheese, but it’s on the blog sommers. Has corn and cucumbers in it. WAY GOOD.