The Casserole Chronicles: Readers tell us of their worst childhood dinners

Some might consider casserole a one-dish wonder. But to others, it's a gloppy, gluey concoction that stops the appetite cold.

We asked readers to send the Deseret News stories of their most hated casseroles from their childhood. To sweeten the deal, we offered a cookbook to the first five entries. However, so many people responded within minutes of each other that it was hard to limit the cookbook giveaway to only five people. (Does that say something about how vivid these memories are?)

So we ended up giving cookbooks to Echo Taylor, Lori Rammell, the Kyle Snow family, Sarah Stoker, Lori Andrews, Tina Larsen, Lisa Buckmiller, Liz Warner, Melissa McQuarrie, Betty Blair and Ann Shunn.

Our Casserole Chronicles underscored the fact that what is one child's best-ever favorite casserole is another child's dinner nightmare.

Tamale pie, Spanish rice, Hawaiian haystacks and shepherd's pie are all popular dishes. Maybe it was a less-skilled preparation, or poor ingredients, or maybe just the palate of the recipient that put these on the "icky" list.

Then there's Vienna-sausage casserole, shipwreck, weiner casserole and macaroni & ketchup, which probably give new meaning to the phrase "just like Mom used to make."

And the dinner in a pumpkin story should be a cautionary tale to moms everywhere. A casserole is never improved when it comes out of the oven served in a brownish, sunken-in, goopy and stringy container. Pumpkins are for candles, not casseroles.

And Betty Blair's memories of Great Depression dinners may serve as a reminder to just be thankful for whatever food we might have.

Here are the stories, with a warning to read at your own risk. Some may definitely cause you to lose your appetite.

My least favorite casserole had to be my mom's Spanish rice. It was made with rice, hamburger, great big pieces of onion, and big ol' stewed tomatoes (among other things.)

Obviously, I wasn't a fan of onions or tomatoes, so whether they were actually as big as I remember can be debated, but I detested everything about that dish. It literally made me gag — which just made my mom angrier. I used to try hiding the stuff in my napkin, as those were the days when we couldn't be excused from the table unless we had cleaned up our plates, but my mom always knew what I was up to.