spaghettios

[bear]

Okay, at the risk of getting kicked off the boards for low-brow food, I wanted to share a fun, easy way to regress to childhood. I was at Trader Joe's in Cambridge, MA a couple of weeks ago, and of course the first thing I always do is hit the food demo. I grabbed the hot pasta sample, and with the first bite was immediately became a hungry five-year old at lunchtime.

They had cooked up a bag of their new little circle pasta, analetti, and mixed it with a carton of their creamy organic tomato soup (in the shelf-stable septic packaging) that had been heated. They sprinkled in some of their shaker top cheese (parmesan? I forgot to check) and let it simmer for a while, stirring often since it sticks easily. Voila! Spaghettios without the metallic taste or mush. My adult sons think it is fun comfort food.

[AMFM]

now if there were mini meatballs...
oh how it grosses me out now but in my youth! :)

[WCchopper]

Also nut-and -berries kid, had hot dogs at a friends and, well, had a technicolor yawn. But I bought some of those little pastas and I'm going to try it, I was intrigued by your description. I'll let you know how it turns out....

[bear]

Don't forget to cook the sauce and cooked pasta together for a few minutes, and don't forget the parmesan. Have fun!

[WCchopper]

Having no frame of reference for what spaghettios should taste like, I ventured into the unknown last night! I cooked the O's "al dente", drained them, then poured soup over them and let them simmer for a few minutes. It was actually pretty good! For something prepared so quickly, I can imagine uses for a late supper in the fall when I'm tired and don't want to be gustatorially challenged.

[fluffernutter]

We were a nuts-and-berries kind of family, so when I visited the neighbors for dinner and was served spaghettios, it was the biggest thrill ever. Now I try to get my daughter to eat them -- after all, they're a super treat -- and she turns up her nose. Maybe I'll try your idea so we can both enjoy.

[laurendlewis]

"so when I visited the neighbors for dinner and was served spaghettios"

???
Explanation please? Curious to hear the story behind that sentence.

[AMFM]

i'm going to guess when she (or he) was growing up and got to stay at her friends for dinner and eat spaghettios. i loved going to friends - or grandmas - and eating things i wouldn't at home! and i'm sure my kids do too!

[bear]

We are also mostly a nuts-and-berries kind of family, and our kids are now in their late twenties and thirties. It's been a few years since they have had any Franco-American food, and have definitely out-grown the original Spaghettios.

That's why it was really fun to taste the TJ's pasta and tomato soup. A relatively healthful comfort food, not really mushy pasta, no metallic taste, with the only questionable part being the sodium content, which still beats almost all the fast-food burger/convenience options.