…from Chef Boyardee to Annie’s certified organic vegetarian

Chef Boyardee was my mother’s can of choice. And I loved it; Spaghetti O’s, Spaghetti with Meatballs swimming in that orange tomato cheese sauce. I guess I outgrew Chef Boyardee and then it became unfashionable. “That’s just junk food, not good for you.” I never really investigated, but it seemed like that would be the case. It tasted too good to be good.

A while back we bought a GroupOn for $20 of groceries at Real Food. It’s only about a block away and I go there pretty often for stuff like heavy cream or a nutritious Newman’s Own Salt & Pepper Thins pretzel… Real Food is the only place around that carries them. They only carry organic stuff and they’re very strict about it. Since I don’t do real shopping there, I had to think about how to spend 20 whole dollars. Some pretzels, sardines, Tom’s Toothpaste, and a few cans of soup or tomatoes should do it.

Well, just above the rows of soup, guess what I saw?

Certified Organic
Annie’s
homegrown
organic
BernieO’s
Pasta in Tomato & Cheese Sauce

made with only vegetarian ingredients

Rabbit of Approval
(instead of Seal of Approval… get it?)

Holy orange sauce, Batman! I gotta have this.

I did not hesitate. Bought the can, took it home, opened, heated and YUM, what a lunch. (OK, I added a few sausage slices. Annie might be vegetarian, but I’m not.)

I need to figure out how to make that orange, cheesy tomato sauce. Perhaps that will be the next installment. Meanwhile, I found some recipes starting with a box of Annie’s Original Shells & Cheddar. I’ll give that a shot.