Well ya' know I'll bet you $100.00 that was my Mom's secret too!!! My Mom shore wuz secretive 'bout her ingredients back in the day! My Mom she used 2 jars of whole button mushrooms in hers and she did not use macaroni, but canned corn and mixed vegetables (Veg-all) to be exact, and tomotoes & of-course the trinity and diced celery as well (I know as I spyed on her) but I never saw the tomato soup (she was sneaky). Dang that stuff tasted some kind of good!

You know what else she used to do: she used to hide chocolate milk mix, and cans of sweetened condensed milk, and I actually caught her drinking ch. milk one night after we were scurried off to bed. Another occassion found her there in front of the TV with a spoon feasting upon sweetened condensed milk straight from the can!!! She only had 5 hungry kids who would devour everything in sight, so she hid back her little indulgences hee-hee!!!

This is a GREAT story, Cathy! Your Mom sounds like a cool woman- who sure knew how to indulge well! My own Mom kept coconut and a can of crushed pineapple hidden. She enjoyed sampling from them often and she THOUGHT we didn't know about them! Hee-Hee!

Speaking of Eagle Brand Milk- I LOVE me some "Magic Bars"! YUM! By the way- have you ever made Caramel Sauce from heating a can of Sweetened Condensed Milk? At work we would put several cans (unopened) in the HOT water of the huge steamtables on the buffet-line for all day long to slow-heat. Slowly the canned milk would turn a rich brown color. We would then open them and without adding any other ingredients, or doing anything else, it turned into the lovliest-ever rich, thick caramel sauce for ice cream, desserts, etc. I replicate this at home by placing a can of the milk in a hot water bath in the crock pot all day long. SO YUMMY. If you've never tried it- YOU MUST! Also good to dip sliced granny smith apples into, or simply poured over a warm square of plain chocolate pan-cake!

Or to top egg custard! Thanks I will give it a try Kevin.
I find that I am a product of my Mom and simply adore sweetened cond. milk, although I do not indulge as she did or.....there again that darn 14 sizes big problem would have me:(

Sure, now you share the condensed milk secret, Chubby. After I went out and bought a jar of caramel sauce to go with the banana panna cotta I just made.

It's really fantastic, KYH. And the longer you allow it to warm (hell- I often forget it and leave it in 8, 10, 12 hours!) the darker and thicker it gets. It's also fantastic on bread pudding...

Panna Cotta? You glutton!

For my sweets-fix tonight, I grabbed myself a bag of "Poppycock" at the gas-station mini-mart just now. I went over to finance a tank of gas and my credit-rating allowwed me enough extra to get the crunch toffee-popcorn! How lucky am I?