It was really tasty!! But a bit too much food! I got the ideas from the 1972 edition of the Betty Crocker Do-Ahead Cookbook, pictured here with a Sweet Peas Meals! bit and a menu I made up for us for a little health concern:
BUT so far the only thing I've used from the book are the TV dinners ideas, which basically are to put these in a covered oven-safe divided dish:
MEAT: Always cooked. Either have a very tasty juicy meat (like the leftover sausage patties we had) or have one with a sauce.
VEGETABLES:
Use frozen ones, put some butter on top. (We had carrots and green
beans plus a marvelous potato latke -- a potato pancake with onion -- we
find here sometimes.)
RICE: Use instant/Minute rice in the
proportions of 3 tbl rice to 1/4 cup water plus some salt, pepper, and
if you'd like a flavoring like a bit of curry powder. (We had instant
brown which I hadn't actually frozen, but I think that was ideal because
it takes longer to cook and this way it was perfect.)
To
cook: 450 in a convection oven for about 25 minutes (in a normal oven
same if you only have 1 tray, otherwise maybe 5 more minutes).
In this age of microwaves, though, I wondered, how in the world did my mom keep us kids from burning ourselves on the pans on the rare days she served TV dinners?! I've asked her...