the review: homemade spaghettios

I haven’t had spaghettios since elementary school. My mom used to put them in my thermos for lunch. Imagine lukewarm, over-cooked pasta in a Wonder Woman thermos. Kind of makes you hungry, doesn’t it? Kind of explains why I really need to follow the recipe if we ever want to eat anything tasty around here. Anyway, when the little twins were born, we discovered a dive of a restaurant in Boise that actually had spaghettios on the menu. We brought the older kids there for dinner one night and none of them had EVER had spaghettios. Can you believe it? If they end up in therapy, I am certain this will be the reason.

I pinned a recipe for homemade spaghettios several weeks ago purely out of nostalgia. But as luck would have it, one of my young associates pointed to this picture while looking over my shoulder and waiting for me to finish the week’s meal plan. Spaghettios it is.

Did you know that there is cheddar cheese in spaghettios? I didn’t. I just thought it was made of noodles in plain tomato sauce. Not so. And I am here to tell you that if you gussie up this recipe with quality tomato sauce, this dish is pretty darn good. I used Pomi strained tomatoes because that is what I had on hand. If you haven’t tried Pomi, do. It also makes a great sauce for pizza on its own.

Anyway, chop a little garlic, sauté with some oregano and red pepper flakes, then add your sauce, milk, and other sundry items, simmer and you are good. I skipped the water (accidentally) and the sugar (on purpose). Add some cheese. Pour it over your noodles and serve. This recipe may have taken 30 minutes start to finish. Perfect with Italian sausage and broccoli for a cold fall night. I didn’t even have to bribe Gus with dessert because he loved his spaghettios. See how that fork is elevated in the top photo? That’s my photo assistant, Gus. He has already learned that the sooner the photos are taken, the sooner he can eat the shot. Smart kid.