Ground beef, elbow macaroni, and stewed tomatoes.

I also knew it as goulash, although my mother added kidney beans. She also used tomato sauce or paste instead of stewed tomatoes because one of her kids (me, to be exact) wouldn't eat tomato in solid form.

It was a fairly regular meal, I suspect because it was easy to make enough to be sure of leftovers. So, two dinners for not a lot of effort.

Wow. Pregnancy weight gain seems so random to me. Some women gain 50 pounds, some only 5. One friend I know lost 20 pounds during one of her pregnancies. I can see why my OB recorded my weight but pretty much ignored it and focused on whether or not the babies were growing, not me.

I'm sure if I could have had all the pasta I want as well as milkshakes and other sugary things, I would have gained more, but with the strict limitations on carbs and sugar and the 3 small meals and 3 small snacks a day thing, adding full fat dairy has not caused me significant weight gain. I lost 3 lbs my first trimester because of the morning sickness, so technically I have gained 7 lbs, but I'm only 4 lbs up from my pre-pregnancy weight, which is how my doctor is calculating it.

I was concerned with my own weight gain just because I didn't want it to interfere with my ability to get around independently, which it really hasn't. But ltc is also growing quite well despite my own lack of weight gain.

What my mother did with ground beef haunts me still. Ground beef, elbow macaroni, and stewed tomatoes. Dear god, just reading that combination makes me bilious. She called it slumgullion, and I concede that she grew up poor in the Depression, but by the late 60s I would think she would come up with some variant on the food. And burnt-offering pork chops. Poor woman, she never really did learn how to cook--though her fudge and meatloaf were celestial. And she could make divinity from scratch.

Oh, my sister, we have the same mom. Though maybe not, I think my mom called it goulash. Luckily I like tomatoes. We used tomatoes from our garden, too.

Then there was the hambone and beans (whiteish beans, I don't know what they were.) On their own, I like ham and I like beans, but combined, the smell literally turned my stomach.

Oh, and that stuff. Yes, that smell is nauseating. And I hate those white beans, whatever they're really called. I think they're what my grandmother called "navy beans", which makes no sense, they're white, not blue.

It's called "navy bean" because it was served a lot on ships. Dried beans travel well, after all.

The ground beef/elbow mac/tomato dish is called American Chop Suey where I come from, and was a regular lunch special at my old work cafeteria!

I seriously want to eat all of these things everyone has mentioned, because that is how I actually like to eat.

I am also generally a fan of "mix many things together and eat them out of a pot", but I don't like tomatoes. But I love putting frozen peas in stuff and pretending that makes it healthy.

I am also generally a fan of "mix many things together and eat them out of a pot"

Me too!

I am also generally a fan of "mix many things together and eat them out of a pot", but I don't like tomatoes.

Me too! I do like tomato sauce, though, so if they are cooked enough it's all good. And if I'm making it myself I leave them out or use tomato sauce or paste.

Someone hold my hand. I just listed my first ever ebay auction.