# Mac & Cheese is women's second favorite comfort food?



## Ann Herrick (Sep 24, 2010)

Ice cream was first, according to a survey.

What about chocolate?


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Ann Herrick said:


> Ice cream was first, according to a survey.
> 
> What about chocolate?


Seriously....they didn't survey KB members...chocolate is the official comfort food of KindleBoards.


Betsy


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## Patrick Skelton (Jan 7, 2011)

How about a hot bowl of buttery popcorn?


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## momilp (Jan 11, 2010)

Never had mac&cheese, so I can't judge, but I'd thought chocolate would be absolute first.


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

Mac and Cheese was completely unknown to me until I moved to the US. I don't really like it very much. 
Cheese on noodles, I guess I am missing something here  . 

Chocolate has to be first. And Nutella would be too, from where I hail.  

And all the Torte with the cream fillings, Sacher Torte etc. *sigh.


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## Thumper (Feb 26, 2009)

I like mac and cheese, but as a comfort food? Naw...chocolate, cake, pie...THOSE are comfort foods.


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## LadyHawk (Feb 7, 2012)

Mac and cheese Yuk!    

I vote for Hot Choc with the little marshmallows and cream on top.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

comfort food:  mashed potatoes.  with Gravy.

chocolate isn't 'comfort food'. . . .it's 'anytime' food.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

That's what makes it so comforting....

Betsy


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## mom133d (aka Liz) (Nov 25, 2008)

Ann in Arlington said:


> comfort food: mashed potatoes. with Gravy.
> 
> chocolate isn't 'comfort food'. . . .it's 'anytime' food.


Exactly. Chocolate, ice cream, etc ... they are 'whatever excuse I want' foods. But when I want comfort, mashed taters all the way. I do like a good mac & cheese but I don't know if I'd list it second.


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## sherylb (Oct 27, 2008)

My DH makes a great mac & cheese!  
My comfort food is fresh, homemade bread, just barely out of the oven...crispy crust and fragrant, soft inside slathered with butter so it melts on the warm slice.
Reminds me of my grandma who always had fresh bread and cookies for us.


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## crebel (Jan 15, 2009)

I think the survey must have taken into account that chocolate is not a comfort food, it is a daily nutritional requirement, a basic food group  

I agree with most of you on what I would consider comfort food - give me mashed potatoes and gravy or a loaf of bread right out of the oven accompanied by a stick of butter.  I don't think mac and cheese would even make my top 10.


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## Lisa Scott (Apr 4, 2011)

momilp said:


> Never had mac&cheese, so I can't judge, but I'd thought chocolate would be absolute first.


You've never had macaroni and cheese? Of any kind? This cheese lover needs to know how that can be?

Warm cookies are a wonderful comfort food.


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## CoraBuhlert (Aug 7, 2011)

I guess macaroni and cheese are a specifically American thing. I sometimes eat pasta with cheese and it's okay, but I don't make it often and wouldn't call it a comfort food. 

Pasta with homemade tomato sauce on the other hand, now that is a comfort food. Curry is another one. Definitely a comfort food.

But chocolate is still number 1 for me.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

DreamWeaver said:


> Macaroni and cheese casserole, the way my mother used to make it,. . . . . .I always cook it in the same Pyrex casserole dish, which is like the one my mom used.


Nope. Mac and cheese goes in the 3 quart Corning Ware.  (The crunchy pieces of pasta at the top are the best part.) And potato salad goes in the big yellow tupperware bowl with a lid. Potatoes are mashed in the 6 quart pan -- by hand.

I actually made mashed potatoes tonight for dinner. . .there are only 2 of us, but I only seem able to make it for a family of 7. So we have some leftovers.


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## sherylb (Oct 27, 2008)

Ann in Arlington said:


> I actually made mashed potatoes tonight for dinner. . .there are only 2 of us, but I only seem able to make it for a family of 7. So we have some leftovers.


Ooohhh, potato and corn pancakes for breakfast. Num Yummy!


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> Seriously....they didn't survey KB members...chocolate is the official comfort food of KindleBoards.
> 
> 
> Betsy


chocolate! chocolate! chocolate!

and ice cream.

i can't stand mac and cheese.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

I like Mac & Cheese, particularly Stouffer's, which I ate for lunch today and it was quite delicious...

L


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## Jackal Lantern Books (Aug 30, 2011)

While mac n cheese -if done right- can be totally awesome.... definitely not even in my top 5 for comfort foods! Bring on the Whoopie Pies! Cinnamon Roles with tons go gooey frosting! Creme Hornes! German Chocolate Cake! Coconut Creme Pie!


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

see, the problem is that chocolate isn't a comfort food, it's a requirement for life.


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## Sophrosyne (Mar 27, 2011)

Mac and Cheese is def American. I never had any until I was an adult. But my daughter loves it. Growing up, my comfort foods were chocolate in all its forms, Greek spaghetti or baked Greek spaghetti with lamb in tomato sauce and avgolemono soup. Oh, and my dad's mashed potatoes or my mom's rice pilaf.

Now it's sweet tea and chocolate. 

And yes, depending on how it's done, Mac and Cheese. Trader Joe's Mac and Cheese is really good. With creamy, organic tomato soup.


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## sherylb (Oct 27, 2008)

DreamWeaver said:


> I respectfully disagree, Ann. It must be made in an oval, 2-1/2 quart Pyrex casserole dish decorated with retro flowers!  After my mother passed away some years ago, her Pyrex casserole dish went to one of my sisters. Years later I searched for something similar and found one at a local antique store.
> 
> My mom's mac and cheese recipe also has ham in it. It _must_ have ham. And sliced celery. And crumbled Dutch rusk with pats of butter on top, which adds a pleasant, crispy texture!
> 
> ...


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## MichelleR (Feb 21, 2009)

I don't recall being surveyed, but mac and cheese would top my list, a baked potato would be on there, fresh from the oven bread with butter. I like chocolate, but I rarely crave it. Please don't make me leave.


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## cheriereich (Feb 12, 2011)

Hehe, cheese pizza is my #1 comfort food, but mac and cheese would probably be up in my top five. I might put cheesecake in #2, though.


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## NS (Jul 8, 2011)

Atunah said:


> Mac and Cheese was completely unknown to me until I moved to the US. I don't really like it very much.
> Cheese on noodles, I guess I am missing something here .
> 
> Chocolate has to be first. And Nutella would be too, from where I hail.
> ...


Same here! No mac and cheese or peanut butter jelly, but chocolate, chocolate, chocolate!


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## Alle Meine Entchen (Dec 6, 2009)

for me, comfort food would have to be chicken noodle soup (homemade) or chicken and dumplings.  I actually don't like Mac and Cheese, I make it b/c DH and DD like it (and a food a toddle will eat is something that should be kept in rotation).

As for the Europeans who have never heard or had Mac and cheese, when I lived in Germany, I remember the horror on the looks of some of my German friends when they learned that Americans eat cheese that comes from a can and enjoy it!  They def. didn't like Cheez wiz LOL


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## mom133d (aka Liz) (Nov 25, 2008)

I'd always heard that Thomas Jefferson brought mac & cheese over from France, but Monticello's website says no.  But he still made it popular in the States. I didn't realize the history that mac & cheese has: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macaroni_and_cheese)



> Macaroni is mentioned in various medieval Italian sources, though it is not always clear whether it is a pasta shape or a prepared dish.[3] However, pasta and cheese casseroles have been recorded in cookbooks as early as the Liber de Coquina, one of the oldest medieval cookbooks. A cheese and pasta casserole known as makerouns was recorded in an English cookbook in the 14th century.[4] It was made with fresh, hand-cut pasta which was sandwiched between a mixture of melted butter and cheese. It was considered an upperclass dish even in Italy until around the 18th century.[3]
> 
> "Maccaroni" with various sauces was a fashionable food in late eighteenth century Paris. The future American president Thomas Jefferson encountered the pasta in both Paris and in northern Italy. He drew a sketch of the pasta and wrote detailed notes on the extrusion process. In 1793, he commissioned American ambassador to Paris, William Short, to purchase a machine for making it. Evidently, the machine was not suitable, as Jefferson later imported both macaroni and parmesan cheese for his use in monticello.[5]. In 1802, Jefferson served a "macaroni pie" at a state dinner.
> 
> Since that time, the dish has been associated with America and especially the American South. A recipe called "macaroni and cheese" appeared in the 1824 cookbook "The Virginia Housewife" written by Mary Randolph, Jefferson's cousin. Randolph's recipe had three ingredients: macaroni, cheese, and butter, layered together and baked in a 400-degree F. oven. The cookbook was the most influential cookbook of the 19th century, according to culinary historian Karen Hess. In it, Randolph addressed the specific needs of Virginia cooks at a time when wealthy families imported cookbooks from England ignoring the special requirements of the New World. It shows many regional cuisines were firmly established: cornmeal bread, toasting ham, boiling turnip tops, broiled shad, sweet potato pudding, batter cake, hominy, and apple fritters. Similar recipes for macaroni and cheese occur in the 1852 Hand-book of Useful Arts, and the 1861 Godey's Lady's Book. By the mid 1880's, cookbooks as far west as Kansas included recipes for macaroni-based casseroles.


All this talk of it, makes me want some.


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## Pawz4me (Feb 14, 2009)

That's very interesting about the history of mac and cheese.

While I don't dislike chocolate, it's not something I ever crave, so it wouldn't appear on my list of comfort foods.  Mac and cheese would definitely make my list.  Along with fried chicken, grits, biscuits and gravy and pecan pie.  I guess y'all can tell I'm from the south . . .


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## momilp (Jan 11, 2010)

Lisa Scott said:


> You've never had macaroni and cheese? Of any kind? This cheese lover needs to know how that can be?
> 
> Warm cookies are a wonderful comfort food.


Lisa, I came to the States in my thirties, so I didn't grow up with it and I don't eat lots of cheeses, but give me warm bread, fresh from the oven, and I can write poetry about the beauty of yeast


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## Meb Bryant (Jun 27, 2011)

Mac N Cheese is the _only_ food that activates my gag reflex. I know, I know. My six-year-old grandson wants to teach me how to love Mac N Cheese like he does. If only I could get over that pesky gag reflex.

Everything else is comfort food.


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## CoraBuhlert (Aug 7, 2011)

Alle Meine Entchen said:


> As for the Europeans who have never heard or had Mac and cheese, when I lived in Germany, I remember the horror on the looks of some of my German friends when they learned that Americans eat cheese that comes from a can and enjoy it! They def. didn't like Cheez wiz LOL


I find the idea of cheese from a can icky as well. It's not something I can imagine myself eating and enjoying. No offense to those who do.


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## Ann Herrick (Sep 24, 2010)

I used to make Macaroni Cheese Supreme with three kinds of cheeses and sour cream. It was delicious, but a caloric and cholestrol disaster, lol!

To me a real comfort food is one that _I_ don't have to cook!


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## D/W (Dec 29, 2010)

CoraBuhlert said:


> I find the idea of cheese from a can icky as well.


Me too!

And I want to point out that homemade macaroni and cheese is _completely_ different than what is found in a box.


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

Yikes, cheese from a can. Same goes for that velveeta type stuff that isn't really cheese. 

I eat cheese mostly as it is, you know in chunks, real cheese.  . 

As to comfort foods, I know for me Hungarian Goulash and Carrot Schnitzels are what I remember growing up with as comfort foods. That and cooked cauliflower topped with bread crumbs sauteed in butter. And other things I couldn't even begin to describe in english  

I finally mastered the goulash, but I still struggle to find carrots thick enough to turn into Schnitzel. They are all so skinny here in the stores.


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## Not Here (May 23, 2011)

Guess I'm the weirdo. My mom never made mac and cheese really. I've always gone to soups for comfort. Chicken and alphabet soup or beef vegetable soup. Yummm. We like to add a little heat while in the bowl. With homemade pop-overs or cornbread. If I'm going sweet, anything my mom makes is like a little bite of heaven. I'm a lucky duck though, having a chef for a dad and pastry chef for a mom.  I don't know how I could have been more spoiled growing up.


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## Pawz4me (Feb 14, 2009)

I don't think very many people eat cheese in a can.  I make that judgment based on the tiny amount of shelf space (approximately six inches) given to it in the grocery stores around here!


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## mom133d (aka Liz) (Nov 25, 2008)

Pawz4me said:


> I don't think very many people eat cheese in a can.


We had it a few times in the house growing up. As a child, I loved it. Had it once in college, my stomach still cramps from the thought. Velveeta was our standard cheese. We'd never buy pre-sliced. That was a luxury. Now I'm older, my tastes have matured, and pre-sliced isn't as costly as it was growing up.  I do admit that if I'm making a cheese dip, which is quite rare, I'll get velveeta for it. With rontel(?) tomatoes & chilies its really good.


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## MichelleR (Feb 21, 2009)

We always had Velveeta in my house growing up, and then I grew up and barely gave it a thought. When caring for my mother, I made spaghetti sauce and melted the Velveeta in, and I think it freaked out my husband. 

I think that's at the heart of comfort food though ... the stuff you'd want when there isn't much time left. 

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## Not Here (May 23, 2011)

MichelleR said:


> I think that's at the heart of comfort food though ... the stuff you'd want when there isn't much time left.


Yes! That is a great way of putting it.


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## skyblue (Dec 23, 2009)

It doesn't even make my list as I don't/won't eat it.  

Fine chocolate on the other hand....


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## KindleChickie (Oct 24, 2009)

Grilled cheese with tomato soup is my fav comfort food.


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## MichelleR (Feb 21, 2009)

KindleChickie said:


> Grilled cheese with tomato soup is my fav comfort food.


That's a great combo, but I also like to melt swiss in my tomato soup sometimes.


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## sherylb (Oct 27, 2008)

KindleChickie said:


> Grilled cheese with tomato soup is my fav comfort food.


I with you on this one, but the tomato soup has to be made with milk or cream instead of water. Another grandma memory, sitting at her kitchen table in the plastic orange chairs eating lunch.


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## CK Kennedy (Sep 2, 2011)

Guess I've led such a sheltered life - protected from all the mac-and-cheese haters.  

And, of course, living in Texas, that "cheese food" (Velveeta) sits like a brick in my pantry. And, being said "cheese food," it could potentially sit there for many years without disintegrating. Such an  unsophisticated admission, I suppose.


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## MichelleR (Feb 21, 2009)

I think we all have a couple less-than-sophisticated cravings.

My husband likes his grilled cheese with Miracle Whip, I like to dunk mine in ketchup. 

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## Randirogue (Apr 25, 2011)

Ann in Arlington said:


> Nope. Mac and cheese goes in the 3 quart Corning Ware.  (The crunchy pieces of pasta at the top are the best part.)


That's why I bake mine in a long flat Pyrex dish. More crispy edges. I figured out a relatively quick way to make it by combining stovetop method with a baking finish so that now I only make it from scratch (and forgo the much less tasty boxed version). There be some creamy, gooey, crispy goodness.

But, as much as I love it, I wouldn't call it my number 2 favorite comfort food. It is in the top ten, easy, though.


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## Indy (Jun 7, 2010)

Chocolate isn't comfort for me, it's what you eat with coffee if it's not breakfast.  Mac and cheese is only comfort food if it's kraft mac and cheese.  Made my way, with extra butter, cream, parmesan and a few english peas added, with a sprinkle of basil.  I don't get it much because nobody thinks that's the way you make macaroni.  By the time I get to the peas, my daughter has freaked out that I've ruined her food.  

For me comfort food is something with chicken in it.  Cream of chicken soup, thinned out and heated on the stove, with toast, is good.  That mess I make in the slow cooker with cream of chicken, barley and mushrooms, is really it.  Chicken pot pie, when homemade, is divine.  It's got to have a bisquick crust.  Chicken and dumplings will do, as will homemade chicken soup.  I keep some of the broth portion frozen for months after making a batch of soup just for when someone gets sick.


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## MichelleR (Feb 21, 2009)

Indy,
Oh, my husband would definitely go for chicken soup. I never think I like chicken soup, until I'm eating it, but all I have to do is mention I'm making some and he becomes ridiculously happy. Bonus points because he knows it's not my thing, and so it must be for him. 

Now, chicken pot pie, that I could go for.


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## Indy (Jun 7, 2010)

For my husband, comfort food is more like steak.  He'll eat whatever I make, or at least try it once.  But the things he loves are the beef stew and that pan full of sausage and potatoes, baked in the oven.  There are not leftovers.  If I make the stew in the middle of the day, in the cast iron pot, where he has to look at it and smell it all day, we don't really have leftovers.  Same thing with the sausage/potato bake.  He thinks the portion size is whatever is on the stove.


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## Vegas_Asian (Nov 2, 2008)

Does it have to do with the fact it is something relative to childhood and it easy prepare. Not to mention nice and hot . Though this is coming from someone that is having Mac and cheese and green beans for lunch. NomNom. I am having the frozen dinner one. Its more flavorful...its that one company that makes lasagna 

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## Adonna (Feb 4, 2012)

I'm surprised cheesecake wasn't on there.  Cheesecake makes me happy!


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## KindleChickie (Oct 24, 2009)

MichelleR said:


> Indy,
> Oh, my husband would definitely go for chicken soup. I never think I like chicken soup, until I'm eating it, but all I have to do is mention I'm making some and he becomes ridiculously happy. Bonus points because he knows it's not my thing, and so it must be for him.
> 
> Now, chicken pot pie, that I could go for.


Omg, I love chicken pot pie. If I wasn't totally sick with the flu I would have to get up and get one right now just because you mentioned it. As it is I have been living off Thera flu and cranberry juice for 3 days.


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## MichelleR (Feb 21, 2009)

KindleChickie said:


> Omg, I love chicken pot pie. If I wasn't totally sick with the flu I would have to get up and get one right now just because you mentioned it. As it is I have been living off Thera flu and cranberry juice for 3 days.


That you can be in a food thread at all hopefully signifies that you're on the mend. You might be almost at the stage where a piece of toast tastes like the best thing ever.


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## kindlequeen (Sep 3, 2010)

Hot SOURDOUGH bread, fresh from the oven with real butter melted all over it!  

I really dislike homemade mac and cheese but I love the boxed stuff, my husband is the opposite and doesn't get it.  There should be no crunchy bits, only creamy yumminess.  (And it has to be Kraft!  no Velveeta here)

My mom also makes these things she calls "whatcha-ma-call-its."  She sautes ground beef and onions, then encases the mixture in Pillsbury biscuits, deep fries them and finishes them off in the oven while cooking the rest.  We'd eat these with gravy and they were heavenly.

Chocolate is great but now that I'm an adult and I can eat it whenever I want, it's lost some of it's allure.


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## MichelleR (Feb 21, 2009)

kindlequeen said:


> My mom also makes these things she calls "whatcha-ma-call-its." She sautes ground beef and onions, then encases the mixture in Pillsbury biscuits, deep fries them and finishes them off in the oven while cooking the rest. We'd eat these with gravy and they were heavenly.


Although it's different, it makes me think of a Pasty


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## KindleChickie (Oct 24, 2009)

Huff post had an article on best grilled cheese, some of these look wonderful...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/food-wine/best-grilled-cheese_b_1274711.html#s692634&title=American_Grilled_Cheese


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## tsilver (Aug 9, 2010)

garlicky mashed potatoes, rice, or pasta with gravy


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