Honey's Spaghetti

My grandmother, affectionately called, "Honey", was a southern girl. She was born and raised in Alabama and lived out the rest of her life in Georgia. When I get back to my roots and try to think how to cook southern style, I think of Honey. She could make any meal southern. She could make tacos southern. Don't ask me how, but when I make tacos they never taste like they did at Honey's house. She was also famous for her Southern style spaghetti. There is nothing Italian about this dish.

I know I've mentioned Honey's spaghetti before but I was reminded of it again the other day because I made it. I don't really make it that often. First of all, it takes a while. There's a good hour of prep and then there's the baking and the clean up. It takes a decent amount of various pots and pans to cook which means a lot of clean up time, my least favorite part of cooking.

Also, it serves an army. The recipe fills 2 dang casserole dishes. 2! I remembered too late that I usually 1/2 the recipe when just making it for less than 20 people.

It has a homemade sauce that calls for a healthy portion of bacon grease. After all, who doesn't love a good glob of bacon grease now and then? Then it has bacon on top. And cheese. A pound of cheese. Yes, I said a pound. 1/2 a pound is mixed in and 1/2 a pound on top, under the bacon. What's even worse (or maybe better) is that my grandmother used even more cheese. I remember when she was giving me the recipe, she said, at least a pound, "I use a little more."

So we had company over after church this past week and I decided to break out Honey's Spaghetti. I made 2 whole casserole dishes of spaghetti. I froze one the the other we gobbled up after church.

This is not a diet type meal. This is a mmmmm....bacon and cheese really do make things taste better meal. You can just run it off later.


The picture above was taken before the other 1/2 pound of cheese and the pound of bacon was added on top.

So, in case you were curious, here is the recipe for Honey's Spaghetti: (I've noted my changes in red)

1 large can of chopped tomatoes
14 oz. bottle of ketchup
1 TBSP salt
1 TBSP Pepper I use 1/2 a TBSP
1 TBSP paprika I use 1/2 a TBSP
1 pound bacon
3 bell peppers I use 2
5 medium size onions I use 2 med-large
3- 8 oz boxes spaghetti, cooked
1 pound sharp cheddar, grated

Heat the first 5 ingredients together on low.
Fry the bacon
Grate the bell pepper and onion
In a portion of the bacon grease, add bell pepper and onion with 1 cup of water. Cover and steam out most of the water. I've never been able to effectively steam out most of the water so I cook them in the water for about 15-20 minutes until they are really tender and then drain the water.
Then pour into tomato sauce.
Mix noodles and 1/2 of the cheese and then add to the tomato sauce. Mix well.
Pour into greased casserole dishes.
Sprinkle remaining cheese on top followed by the bacon strips.
Cover and heat through until cheese is melted at 350, about 20-30 minutes.

If I am freezing some or just cooking it all ahead of time to have at a later date, I freeze or refrigerate before baking and I don't add the cheese and bacon on top until I am ready to bake.


*Remember that this recipe makes two casserole dishes worth. So if you are just making it for your family, 1/2 the recipe.


So there ya go, that's Honey's Spaghetti. Enjoy. :)




This picture was taken after 1/2 was already eaten.