A Little Bit of Nostalgia

First off let me get on a soap box for one minute.  I am the kind of person who eats, for the most part, full fat dairy products.  The exclusion is milk: 2% milk. But, I make whole milk yogurt; I eat full fat sour cream, cream cheese, and cheese.  Low fat versions taste funny.  Go low fat somewhere else.  Let's keep the dairy pure.  I remember working with a lady who was talking about how she only uses low fat cheese and that her husband probably doesn't even know what real cheese tastes like.  I sat in disbelieving shock.  How sad that life must be.

So imagine my disappointment when a fat free cream cheese ended up in my shopping bag.  I shook my head.  I knew the color wasn't right when I picked it up, but instead of thinking that I had made a mistake I thought they must have changed their coloring system.  Really...

The problem is what to do with it.  I didn't buy it for a specific purpose; I was just in the mood. But, I didn't want to just throw it away.  I tried it one some toast with strawberries.  The grainy almost chemically taste was still too strong.

Enter casserole.  I grew up on a wide range of casseroles.  S doesn't like them, mostly as a rule.  But, this is one of my favorites.  I make him eat it about one a year when I'm in the mood.  He even said he liked it this time.  Maybe he forgot.  Bonus: there isn't any cream of anything and it uses cream cheese.

Pearl's Casserole

1/2 lb. Ground beef
2 t. Garlic powder
8 oz. Tomato sauce
1 t. Sugar
1 t. Salt
6 oz. Egg Noodles
4 oz. Sour Cream- full fat!
1 1/2 oz. Cream Cheese- get rid of your fat free!
1/2 C. Grated cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

There are three parts of the casserole

1. Brown the ground beef with the garlic.  Drain fat.  Add tomato sauce, sugar, and salt.  Simmer until thick.

2. Boil noodles according to package directions.

3. Mix the sour cream and cream cheese in small bowl.

Take a 9 in. Pyrex dish and spray lightly with spray oil.  Layer like this: noodles, cream cheese stuff, beef mixture and then again.  Top with the grated cheese.  Cover with foil and bake 20 minutes.