taco pie!

I wanted to get back to some recipes from the Western Dubuque Marching Band Cook Book. So I started flipping through the pages to find something to cook. And while I thought it might be fun to randomly pick things, like bubble pizza (which calls for 2 canisters of instant biscuits) or Barbecued Ham Balls (which calls for graham and/or Ritz crackers), I decided to ask some of Sarah's siblings to provide suggestions. I got this from Sarah's sister:

Mike,

I like Chicken Breasts Supreme recipe on page 219. I have also made the Taco Pie recipe on page 241. The kids and I like it, but Ben does not. I also make the Broccoli salad on page 277 quite a bit.

I decided on the Taco Pie, because it sounded the most ridiculous and because Ben doesn't like it. But also, since I do like Iowan Taco Pizza quite a bit, I thought this would probably be good. After all, the recipe calls for crushed Doritos. 

Kay's Meatloaf

This is the recipe that started our journey through the Western Dubuque Marching Band Cook Book. Sometime before Thanksgiving of this year, I had been craving meat loaf, as is not unusual for me once the weather starts to chill. The problem was, I had never made meatloaf before. And I had never actually seen anyone make meatloaf before, other than on TV. Growing up, the closest thing I had ever gotten to homemade meatloaf was the meatloaf sandwich at Boston Market, which used to be called Boston Chicken, if you recall. Today, the nearest Boston Market, as far as I know, is out in Brookfield or maybe LaGrange. Either way, much too far to be a viable option.

Dinner in a French Loaf

Sarah was in marching band in high school. I'm told that, in her high school, this is what the cool kids did.

As part of the fundraising for this marching band, they sold cookbooks. These cookbooks were filled with recipes that were submitted by marching band moms and other members of the community. The recipes were presumably then sent off to be printed and bound before being sold. Looking through this cookbook is like a time capsule's peek into a traditional midwest american kitchen. And for Sarah, many of these recipes conjure up memories of her dad's cooking, as the only things that he knows how to cook come from these pages.

Here is a recipe that got the father-in-law's seal of approval. Sarah and I made this shortly after Thanksgiving this year. It's a heavy dish, that's for sure. But it's wonderful. Eating this dish is like eating a cheeseburger for the first time. It's called Dinner in a French Loaf because you serve it like a soup breadbowl, but I really think it should be called Cheeseburger Casserole. It's savory, crunchy, cheesy, and really warms you up from the inside out.

Dinner In a French Loaf:

1. 1 lb. hamburger
2. 1 small onion, chopped
3. 1 can cream of mushroom soup
4. 1.5 C cubed Velveeta cheese (I know, right)
5. 1 loaf French bread

Brown hamburger with onions. 

Slice the french loaf in half and cut out the inside. Mix the crumbs of loaf with the hamburger. Add soup and cheese. Press into loaf. 

Place the top on the loaf. Wrap in aluminum foil. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes. Slice to serve.

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This recipe serves a ton of people. Sarah tells me that this used to serve her entire family for dinner, which is six people. All I know is, we ate this for dinner, and then I ate the leftovers for lunch at work for about a week.

Like I said, the recipe is heavy. We are planning on going through and trying several of the recipes from the cookbook as is. Then, we are going to try and remake them in a slightly more modernized fashion. Should be an interesting experiment.