Bubba's Bar 'n' Grill

Ok, first, give me your best recipes for casseroles or whatnot that you can easily transport to a friends house for things like bed rest, funerals, potlucks, etc.

And second, I usually take lasagna's. I got on a "Mom" forum once and got SHREDDED for saying that I don't normally bake the lasagna, just assemble and send instructions for them to unfreeze and bake when needed. The only time I ever pre-bake is when I know they will eat them ASAP.

Now that I've been on bed rest, I can say that if it comes frozen, it's MUCH better to be unbaked. I've eaten ones that we reheated, and ones that we baked ourselves. The reheated ones tend to lose something in all the handling, whereas the ones that were raw and we baked ourselves - everything from hash brown casserole to Italian beef - has been way better.

Any opinions on that?

I’d have to agree with you about the “deliver it uncooked and let the recipient cook it when they are ready” scenario.
In cases of bed rest, mourning, etc, the chances of someone being inundated with food would be high, and therefore something that can be frozen and used later would be more helpful.
(At least that’s what I think!)

I have a great Lasagna fake that tastes really good and gets thrown together quickly…

P.T.A. Supper Beef and Macaroni Casserole
8 oz elbow macaroni
1 lb hamburger
1 small onion, chopped
2 c. tomato sauce
1 t. celery salt
¼ t. pepper
8 oz cream cheese
1 c. cottage cheese
½ c. sour cram
¼ c. chopped parsley
2 T. butter
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Boil up your macaroni, drain and set aside.
Brown hamburger and onion in a skillet, drain off excess fat, stir in tomato sauce, celery salt, and pepper.
In a medium bowl beat together cream cheese, cottage cheese, sour cream and parsley until smooth.
In a buttered, DEEP, 3 quart casserole, layer half the macaroni, all of the cheese mixture, and remaining macaroni. Top the macaroni with the meat sauce and dot with butter.
(If you want you can cover the whole thing with additional cheese like mozzarella, I have done both and it’s good either way.)
You can make this up to 1 day ahead and refrigerate with no problem.
Bake until casserole is bubbling about 45 minutes (It will take longer if it was refrigerated).

In my book it’s just a satisfying as lasagna and much less fuss.

Don't really know for sure on this one, but what I can tell you, is when my mom used to make home made baked mostaccioli, it always tasted better when reheated the 2nd day. Not sure why, but it did.