Yearning for the dinners you matured on? These 5 childhood comfort classics get a homemade upgrade– and taste even better than you keep in mind. From saucy frying pan staples to relaxing casseroles and sweet after-dinner treats, Nicole recreates her favorite '80s- period meals without the boxed shortcuts, showing that classic flavors can still hold up today.
This lineup is loaded with throwbacks: a from-scratch Beefy Noodle "Hamburger Assistant," crispy, cheesy French Bread Pizza, her household's beloved Mamaw's Chicken & Rice Casserole (with a fast call to Mom for additional kitchen area wisdom), sticky-sweet Monkey Bread, and a hearty Salisbury Steak that provides severe comfort. Whether you're cooking for your own family or simply desire a taste of youth, these recipes bring the fond memories– warm, homemade and better than ever.
Timestamps:
00:00 5 Youth Convenience Dinners
00:12 Beefy Noodle Hamburger Helper
04:26 French Bread Pizza
08:27 Mamaw's Chicken & Rice Casserole
11:24 Monkey Bread
14:59 Salisbury Steak
Get all of the dishes here:
Sturdy Noodle Hamburger Assistant:
French Bread Pizza:
Mamaw's Chicken & Rice Casserole:
Monkey Bread:
Salisbury Steak:
_________
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This brought tears to my eyes going back in time. I’m 63. Thanks for the memories! 😊
58 here & brought back great memories! Made me so hungry!!❤😋
Ha, I will be 61 soon. I feel ya
67 & I agree with you all!
Me too!
I thought people would laugh at my comment but seems many can relate!
Silly to get teary over Nicole’s happy show LOL.
But my Mom and Aunts put so much love into cooking for the families.🥰
I’m old enough that, in my childhood, TV dinners came in foil packages that took 45 minutes to cook in the oven. We never had them at home because they were expensive for a big family. Once I was on my own, I bought some. Those things are the reason I learned to cook, well besides not being able to afford to eat in restaurants all the time. For the cost of the TV dinner and the cooking time, it was cheaper and faster to just cook from scratch. Maybe microwaves are the reason that some young people don’t know how to cook. Whether someone is an experienced cook looking for nostalgia, or a person just learning to cook, your recipes are wonderful! I don’t understand instant mashed potatoes. Real mashed potatoes are so easy and taste so much better. I make them the way that you do and am somewhat “famous” for my great mashed potatoes. I know a bunch of other ways to make potatoes, but mashed is the most requested.
How do you make your mashed potatoes?
@iwuvmybigfamilywhite rose or russet potatoes peeled and quartered. Boil until fork tender drain and add melted butter to taste and about a quarter to half cup of warm milk. Whip with a hand mixer or use a mashing tool. Salt and pepper to taste.
@michellevaldez47thank you!
Mom let us have those foil covered t.v. dinners every Friday night in front of the t.v. watching The Brady Bunch. 🥰
@iwuvmybigfamilysure thing. By blender, I meant hand mixer. Or just smash with a mash tool. I use the hand mixer because I like the texture smoother than mashing.
I’m fairly new to this channel but I’m really digging it. I’ve gone down the Allrecipes rabbit hole. Nicole just is a delight. She has passion, humor, and wit.
😂 me too 😊😊😊😊
She’s a Southern Girl! That’s why everyone loves her! Plus a great a great cook!
Nicole is my favorite YouTuber!
She’s taught this ol’ 63 year old gal lots😜😂
I just love everything about her videos, she educates well, she’s humorous and I feel she truly loves to teach! ❤️
She’s the best and one of my favorites to watch!!
@deirdredelaughder1060 Lol, I’m 61 yrs and couldn’t agree more.
The first TV dinner I ever saw was when my mother worked evenings and Dad and I would cook. He brought home a foil container of Enchiladas. Which I had never seen before. He sent me to check on them in the oven. I thought they were stuck together and stirred the whole thing up into bite sizes pieces! He teased me about for the rest of his life. R.I.P. Dad…
Good memory’s are priceless ❤
I hope Nicole’s family realizes how fortunate they are to have her – she’s a delight!
We’re fortunate as well! Love her!
@EdieVanDusen I agree. She’s fun to listen to and her cooking skills are top notch. Also love the All Recipes website because all of her recipes are on there too.
We are all very fortunate to have her
@ladikmk I know. When in doubt about a recipe, I love that All Recipes gives actual tried and true experiences of people who have tried the recipes. I’ve gotten some fantastic ideas, and likely dodged a bullet or two. Anything Nicole has ever made always comes our top notch. Nice that we can count on that. 🙂
@EdieVanDusen She is a peach, and yes, of course, we’re so lucky to have her sunshine and skill in our lives.
I feel like Nicole is good at warm hugs or maybe she needs a warm hug 💙 all of us out here appreciate you, Nicole. And thank you for all the warm hug dishes you share with us. 😊
FYI. When I go the restaurant to work I have 5 dogs and 11 kitties that love to listen to your voice. It is very comforting. So, I leave you videos running so that they can watch you and listen until I come home. Thanks for all the good vibes!!!!
That’s amazing! 🩷🐕🐈⬛🩷
I leave the TV on for my dog too! 🐾🩷
I emphasize with you!
We have 8 cats and 2 dogs! We deserve support!!! Love you!!!
I get this. I put jazz music on for my dog. Ha
Good lord!
Are you an animal rescue person?
That was so sweet when you called your mom— hey, Nicole!
I love watching her. She is so laid back and no nonsense.
I’m sure allrecips knows what a treasure you are to them. You have the best program to watch, always!
Just don’t watch her cooking shows when you’re fasting. 😮
The 80s color block sweatshirt to go with it – love it! ❤
Me too 😂
I thought the same! Ode to the ’80’s
WHAM! Shirt 😊
Where can I get that sweatshirt?!
Thanks for noticing! 🎉
Tuna casserole was and still is my favorite meal growing up
😵 😝 😢 ugh
I’m 65 and still make it lol .. My daddy hated it so we could only have it when he was out of town hahaha
We had it so much that I can’t eat tuna today.
With crushed potato chips on top!
That’s funny, I came here for tuna and noodles and my pops didn’t like it either, but we sure did. My kid is 33 and this is something I still make for her occasionally
Ooh, I have a suggestion. When I was little, my busy working mom would sometimes make Minute Rice and open a big can of LaChoy Chicken Chop Suey (or chow mein?… can’t remember the name) with crunchy rice noodles to put over the top and we loved it . Does anybody remember that stuff from the ’70s and ’80s? I’d love to see Nicole recreate a version that’s more grown up and satisfying!
Yep, one of my favorite. It’s not the same anymore 😥
Yes my dad loved eating this in the 80’s and 90’s. 😁
@winnerscreed6767exactly. Tastes off
Yes! Poor Man’s Chop Suey…..I make it every Winter.
Yes! My mom would layer it over toast. She called it Chicken Ala King. As kids in the ‘60s, we loved it. In the winter she also bought the individual pot pies (chicken and turkey). But we never had the traditional TV dinners back then. Such sweet memories!!!❤
Did anybody else’s Mom make something called porcupine meatballs? I don’t have my mom anymore to call and ask her about the recipe, but I remember that she would make up smallish meatballs with diced onions and egg and bread crumbs, roll them in uncooked rice and then brown them all over in a frying pan until they were a little caramelized. From there, I swear she added Campbell’s tomato soup and maybe brown gravy to the skillet and just covered with a lid and let them simmer until the meatballs were done and the rice was cooked. She served it over mashed potatoes, and strange as it sounds now, I remember it was pretty delicious.
EDIT: Thanks everybody for the great comments. It’s lovely to know there are so
many good folks and Mamas feeding their families these great old recipes. ♥️
Yeeesss! They are so good!!!
Yes I make “Rice Porcupines” often.
I had never heard of it until I met my husband. His mom made them for him as a kid. She made it for us a few times and it was pretty good!
My.mom took these to every family gathering ❤
I loved these. My momma made them too.
Occasionally our parents would go out to eat and leave us kids at home on a Saturday night. A TV dinner was a real treat! The El Patio Mexican Dinners were our favorites. And Banquet Chicken Pot Pies.
Oh my goodness, I remember staying home around 9 or 10, can’t do that now. And eating the patio tv dinners and put pot pies.
The only time I got to enjoy these delights as a child was when I’d go to a friends for a sleepover bc at my home, being Korean, it was always home cooked Korean meals. Years later I find out that when my childhood friends would come to my place for sleepovers, one of their favorite parts was my mom’s cooking.
For example: mind blowing for me was having corned beef and hash for the first time and my friends loving kalguksu (homemade knife cut Korean soup noodles. Love how our childhoods and what we ate create such fascinating memories.
My grandmother came from Eastern Europe and I loved watching her make her wide egg noodles then dry them over the same wooden frame she stretched my grandfather’s pants over after laundering them 😂 she
@br-ian. Oh I love Asían food!! I can’t make anything taste like they do!! I didn’t get to experience it til I was in my 30s,once! Then later got to eat Vietnamese, marinated thin beef strips i’m fresh vegetables salad, peanut oil,don’t know how to spell how it was pronounced. And “shrimp potato”, looked like thin friend sweet potato, little yellow sauce! And rich, strong coffee from little one cup over glass, in cold sweetened condensed
milk!
Exactly the same. Meatloaf was one of them.
On my birthday every year after my dad passed in 1980 my mom would make Swiss steak with round steak, home canned tomatoes, chopped onion bake in oven. Homemade mashed potatoes. We’d have a vegetable and tossed green salad. Always a two layer yellow cake with chocolate frosting made from scratch. I’m 74 I’m miss mom’s cooking plain. I make now again but just not the same. Thanks for memories, so enjoy your videos
What a wonderful memory. Thanks for sharing with us. ❤️
Thank you for sharing. X
I remember that delicious course you mentioned! Ty
Add chopped green bell peppers
My Mom would make Swiss Steak for my birthday. I really miss my Mom and her cooking!❤
At 76 yrs old, im smiling with so many memories!! Ty, ty, ty !!
Remember the Boil in Bags? Turkey, chicken or beef with gravy. Boil bags and pour over bread or rice. They were yummy. Or remember the round toaster pizzas by Butoni? Oh my. Those were the days.
@JC52668al’aKing🥰
@J@JC52668 Oh Lordy! I hadn’t thought about those boil-in bags in decades and decades. Which is probably a good thing because I’m sure we got lots of plastic along with the weird gravy and strange meat that was in those bags.
I’m also 76 and remember cooking all of these for my kiddos.
@JC52668yes I love the boil in bag meals
Tip on the beefy noodles – for those who want to use sour cream, add it while it’s still warm, but off the heat and not simmering – otherwise it’ll split.
N, I’m SO GLAD u can call your Mama and talk to her! I lost mine last August, and despite knowing it was coming, I miss her so much. Hug yours, and be grateful! TFS.
It took me years to get over not being able to pick up the phone to call my mother and ask her something important.
I remember Swanson TVDinners, served in a sectioned aluminum tray, covered with tinfoil. Salsbury Steak was my favorite.