Pantry Casserole aka ‘Grandma’s Slop’
Hey guys! I’m Amber and I blog over at My Dear Ambellina about my life – I’m sharing the recipe for my Grandma’s ‘Slop’ aka, Pantry Casserole today!
One of my favorite things to do is cook, but when life is in the exciting phase, it is also BUSY! That’s why I choose fast and easy recipes to make, and this is just that.
Pantry Casserole, or as my grandma called it, “Slop,” is super easy to make, and a definite comfort food for me. My grandma passed in 2012, and whenever I make this dish, I think of growing up and having her make it for me. Coming home from college for weekends, this was the food I requested.
Part of the ease of this is that chances are you have the ingredients on hand already. It takes macaroni, cream of mushroom soup, cream of celery soup, tomato soup, ground meat, and cheese. That’s it!
The other ease to it is that you can use what you have on hand (although I wouldn’t recommend cream of chicken!). If you don’t have one of the soups, sub in an extra of the other. Add in a can of mushrooms (or fresh if you have them) if you want extra.
Use ground beef, turkey, or chicken. Add any spices you want (grandma didn’t but I have added oregano before, and red pepper flakes). I typically use sharp cheddar and mozzarella, but use what you have on hand.
If you don’t have macaroni, use penne or rotini (and I will use whole grain or wheat, or plain, and I’m sure gluten free would be delicious as well).
When grandma served it up, she gave us a slice of bread that had been buttered and spread with grape jelly. I still do this, much to my husband’s dismay.
Trust me, it is delicious. Nowadays I serve it up with a veggie of sorts – salad, canned beans from our garden, carrots, squash… whatever you have on hand and your family likes! Or, nothing at all, as Grandma did.
The cook time on this is a little long, but it’s wonderful because you can whip it up ahead of time and bake it (just make sure to bring it to room temperature if pulling it out of the fridge), and you can bake it and freeze it.
This reheats wonderfully too, and while it is cooking, you can go accomplish something else, like conquering the mountain of laundry begging to be folded and put away. Does anyone want to come do my laundry?
Pantry Casserole
Ingredients
- 2-3 cups of dried pasta depending on how much you want
- 1 can cream of mushroom
- 1 can cream of celery
- 1 can cream of tomato while I think you can substitute the cream of soups, I don’t recommend leaving this one out
- 1 lb of ground beef/turkey/chicken I prefer beef, but turkey is delicious as well
- 2 cups of shredded sharp cheddar
- 2 cups of shredded mozzarella
- Spices optional
- Canned mushrooms optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Brown the meat until cooked through and drain off any grease.
- While the meat is browning, boil water and cook pasta according to directions on the box
- Drain pasta and mix with the meat, adding in the cans of soup, and any optional spices or mushrooms.
- Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray, and layer half of the mixture into the pan. Top with 1 cup of sharp cheddar and 1 cup of mozzarella. Layer the other half of the mixture, and top with the remaining cheese (I always do cheddar on top, because Gma did).
- Put in the oven and bake until the top is browned and bubbly, about 45-60 minutes give or take. You can increase the temperature if you want it to cook faster, but I think low and slow works best.
- Serve it up with your buttered and jellied bread, and a veggie!
