Memories of My 'Kid-Friendly Goulash' Days...

I decided to spend some time today putting some of my recipes in the blog and kept thinking of the goulash creation I made up (with help from my Mom) when my kids were very young. I used to pride myself on my authentic Italian recipes I had learned from several of my Italian friends and could never understand why my children would turn their noses up at my creations. One day, my son (about 6 at the time) told me he had a great dinner at my friend Maria's house. "Mom, Maria makes the best spaghetti!" I was hurt. So, I called Maria and asked for her recipe. She responded, "Hamburger and Ragu spaghetti sauce." After I hung up the phone, I recalled a "spaghetti" dish my mother used to make when I was a child and decided to give it a try. It worked! The kids loved it and I felt some sense of creativity because it wasn't Ragu! The recipe for Kid-Friendly Goulash reigns supreme and has many variations. My son picked the green peppers out, but liked the onions. We only added the cheese if we had some on hand (no time to run out for extra ingredients in those days). On one of my nostalgic days last year, I made the original goulash dish for my family. My son and daughter (24 and 19 at the time) were unimpressed. Actually, my daughter said, "This tastes like tomato soup!" But, my husband still liked it....