Kid Friendly Food

Most of the things I usually cook have dozens of ingredients. Sometimes it's hard for me to do things the easy way. It's rare that I'll make something with just 4 ingredients, but this recipe is one I loved from my childhood. I've made it for Katie, and it is one of her favorites. I'm almost embarrassed to post it, because well...it's so plain and simple, yet it's VERY kid-friendly.

The ingredients: a bag of shell noodles (cooked), grated cheese (2-3 cups of grated colby, cheddar, etc.), 2-3 regular sized tomato soup cans, and about a pound of cooked ground beef. There really isn't an official recipe. You just prepare the above items, place it into a baking dish, mix it up, and heat until the cheese is melted and it's hot throughout. I usually cook it for about 20-30 minutes at 350 degrees.

What do we call it? Sadly, we've never given it a name beyond "Shells". Which is really confusing when Katie requests "Shells" for dinner and I get excited thinking she's wanting my yummy "Stuffed Shells" recipe (will post that sometime in the future...it's delicious!). This happened a month or so ago. I went ahead and made several batches of Stuffed Shells (had to have some to put in the freezer for future dinners), only to have a semi-disappointed child who wanted "Shells" for dinner....

As soon as we went through the planned meals that week, I went ahead and made her what she wanted: Shells.

Katie's "Shells" are a little different though. She's a vegetarian (has been for over a year now). So in place of ground beef I add the soy "meat" to hers. I've used both the GimmeLean tubes and the Gardenburger bagged kind, and both seem to work.

Anyway, if you're looking for something quick, easy, and kid-friendly, you might want to try it.