Recipes the World Forgot
I made basically one New Year’s resolution for 2023: bring back the Recipes the World Forgot series that I used to do semi-regularly!
With hundreds of recipes on Mel’s Kitchen Cafe, sometimes the newly posted recipes get all the attention when in reality, there are some hidden gems that are AMAZING and worthy of chance in the spotlight again!
This lineup is full of recipes I make regularly even after all these years.
That lentil chili is easily my favorite “red” chili recipe (SO GOOD), the cinnamon chip scones are literally the best scones on the planet (just read the reviews!), and the quinoa salad might be the best of the bunch.
Which of these recipes have you made?? I love knowing which recipes are YOUR favorites!
64 Comments on “Recipes the World Forgot”
Yes your sloppy joes are a hit!!! And I have to admit that the meatloaf at Cheesecake Factory is my go to order and I came home from a recent trip there realizing I have never made meatloaf so I of course turned to you because you never let me down and it was fantastic! So flavorful!
Those sloppy joes & dan dan noodles are in our regular rotation 🙂
My family LOVES the sloppy joes! Thanks for the great recipes.
The giant cookie is my go-to for Boy Scout potlucks. I buy cardboard rounds at the party store and use a pizza cutter to slice it up before wrapping in plastic wrap. This is always the first dessert to go.
I’ve made with choc chips, pb chips, M&M’s, mini chips, you name it. I have added peanut butter to the batter too. So easy to customize and really easy to make.
Yes! YES! YES!!!! please bring these posts back. Recipes the world forgot are some of my favorite!!!! Thank you!
I agree “the best sloppy joes” are the BEST!!!! no way could the world ever forget them. They are go to meal to take to a family in need. Good wholesome food. When it’s my husbands turn to cook, this is his meal. So easy and so much better then opening a can. You probably have everything in your cabinet !
I won second place in a chili cook-off at one our local breweries with the lentil chili! The only thing I changed was to add some chilis from our garden. So thank you! That was fun. I also made your Easy Brazilian Cheesy Bread and handed them out along with the chili samples. They were a hit too!
The lentil chili, meat loaf, foil packets (I literally put this on my list to make when I was meal planning earlier), and especially the giant cookie are made often and loved out our house. The giant cookie is one of my favorite spur of the moment desserts and has been made for countless birthdays. I’ve actually made most of these recipes, but had forgotten about some. Hooray for bringing this feature back!!!
That meatloaf recipe has been my go to recipe for years! It has converted many self proclaimed meatloaf haters!!
Hilariously enough, I made the sloppy joes for supper tonight. Then opened my emails and saw this. Thanks for this recipe, it’s simple and easy.
The meatloaf is my base recipe that gets made often! The sauce on top is perfect.
My daughter claimed the giant cookie as her favorite family recipe for a school project! It’s especially fancy if you make it into TWO big cookies and put frosting between them as a cookie layer cake.
We love your cinnamon chip scones!!! So good!!!
Awesome idea for the two layer cookie!!!
We LOVE the sweet potato taco packets. They feel special and aren’t hard to make at all. Sloppy Joes, and Quinoa Salad is to die for as well. I made the cinnamon ship scones and they are super yummy as well. Especially when I made the homemade cinnamon chips- that really took it to a whole new level.
Made the Dan Dan Noodles and they were good, but my family preferred your yummy super quick Korean Beef over those.
The red sauce chicken enchiladas are so dreamy delicious!
The three you mentioned are favorites at our house. We have been making them since you posted them.
I love this series, it always brings back into light a recipe that I want to make.
I just made the giant chocolate chip cookie last weekend! I make the scones about once a month. I recently discovered Nestle’s bite-sized cinnamon roll truffles and tried those in the scones in place of the cinnamon chips. SO good!
Both I and my kids make the giant chocolate chip cookie in a regular basis! It’s the perfect snack to take when you need something ready in less than an hour. We use cheap Danncy Mexican vanilla in this recipe, and it’s always delicious.
Those scones really are the BEST! Definitely my go to. And the giant cookie is just so fun and always a hit.
Those scones really are something else.
I just made the dan dan noodles for the first time last week and they were a huge hit! Every member of my family loved them. Will definitely be a repeat recipe for us!
Happy to hear that!
Dan Dan Noodles makes a regular appearance at my home. I always add in a package or two of frozen stir fry vegetables to the pasta during the last couple minutes of boiling to make a full meal out of it.
Oh, I’ll try that for sure! Love the idea of adding extra veggies.
I will second that the quinoa salad is the best thing ever! I make it usually twice a month and eat it for lunch all week long and never get bored of it! It’s SO good! And the sloppy joes really are the best sloppy joes, we don’t make them super often because we have a few sloppy joe haters in the fam, but even the haters admit that they are the best sloppy joes (even if they don’t love them, they eat them better than any other kind of sloppy joe) I personally really enjoy them! And the Dan Dan noodles were surprisingly good as well! I made them just to use up some peanut butter that I have but ended up really liking them!
Love hearing which ones of these you’ve made and loved, Misty!
Excellent timing as always! I was planning to make scones today my friends’ “thirtea partea” I’m hosting and then I saw this post. And guess what?! I already had a partially opened bag of cinnamon chips that needed used. You’re recipes (and timing!!) are always spot on! Thank you!
Oh, that’s great timing!!
The Best Sloppy Joes are adequately named. I’ve never been a fan of jarred joe sauce. I decided to make your recipe and have not looked back. Delicious!
That’s how I feel! They made me love sloppy joes again.
I feel like I won BINGO because I got three in a row of recipes we know and love – large cookie, sloppy Joes, and the quinoa salad.
Hahaha.
Love that big cookie! I will have to try some of the others.
🙂
I just made the Dan Dan noodles this week for the first time and they got rave reviews! We love chicken lettuce wraps and felt like this was similar – just over noodles. So fun! Thanks.
That’s actually a really good way to describe that recipe!
The sloppy joes are a classic no favorite at our house. I’m excited to try the lentil chili and the Mediterranean quinoa.
Glad you like the sloppy joes!
I regularly make the Lentil chili. I love it! I recently ate the chili with johhnycakes (or hoecakes) with shredded cheese in them they were fantastic together.
Wow! YUM!
I make the giant cookie a lot! It’s so easy and delicious, but it always grabs people’s attention. Excited to try the lentil chili, sloppy joes, and cinnamon chip scones!
So true about that cookie!
I can’t believe I haven’t made any of these!! I’ve been following your site for 10+ years and it’s my go-to site because I love that your recipes aren’t too crazy/fancy and can find most of the ingredients in my kitchen! I hate buying an ingredient I will only use for one recipe!
With that being said, please continue the RtWF posts. I love seeing them – and obviously need some old ones brought back to light that are good but I’ve never noticed. It’s so nice to know these REALLY tried and true recipes are still making appearances at your house!
Some of our favorites of yours: Skillet chicken pasta with sun dried tomatoes, ultimate beef stroganoff, 7 layer dip, lemon yogurt bread, healthy no bake granola bites and healthy applesauce oat muffins.
Thank you for all your hard work over the years to bring your passion to others – it’s turned cooking/baking (and freezer meal prep) into a passion for me! ❤️
Thanks for including your favorites! And I’ll definitely keep up with these posts. It’s my goal this year!
I love the giant cc cookie! A winner!
It sure is!
The cinnamin chip scone recipe is my go-to scone recipe. Most other variations I make (chocolate chip, berry, etc,) are based on that recipe. I also love your pumpkin scones.
I love all your recipes, and I love that you’re bringing this feature back because I sometimes wonder with an older recipe whether you still make it or have moved on to a different recipe.
Thanks, Laura!
I just had the lentil chili last night for dinner! It’s a favorite around here. It’s so easy to throw everything in the pressure cooker, it’s healthy, and it’s delicious- all of my kids will eat it so it’s a winner in my book!
So happy you love that one!
This giant cookie is my 9 year old son’s claim to fame! He learned how to make it by himself from start to finish, and he’s so proud to whip it up when he has family or a friend over. We had an elderly neighbor that fell recently, and he made one with extra care for her. 🙂 Thanks so much!
Wow! He’s amazing!!
Immediately gleaning recipes to make a grocery list to make several recipes ASAP!
When Mel’s recipe lists “The Best” in the title… it IS THE BEST!!!
Have a great weekend Mel and fam. <3
Haha. Thanks, Andrea!
Mel, THE 12-INCH COOKIE!!!!!!
It’s amazing!
I always enjoy a good recipes the world forgot post. These are some of the most cooked recipes in my home. We are actually going to have the lentil chili tomorrow! We cook it vegetarian and freeze half for later. The sloppy Joe’s work great with half turkey and half beans. They also freeze great. The foil packs are great as it, with chips, or rice. I even made them vegetarian when we had guests, but I prefer with Turkey, cooked all together as a casserole. The first time we made Dan Dan noodles are either my child’s favorite thing or the worst thing haha but I always enjoy them, and guess what, they freeze great too! I am going to have to try these sweet bakes soon. 🙂
Love all of these insights!!
Yummy! I am making The Best Sloppy Joes this weekend!! It is one of our favorites. The cinnamon chip scones are calling my name, might have to make those happen too!
They are seriously the best. I’d eat them over chocolate cake any day and that is saying something.
Sadly, if these recipes, I’ve only made the meatloaf and the sloppy Joe’s (both yummy!). I need to work on this soon!
My friend made a casual goal of making a new recipe from your site weekly, and she’s doing pretty well at it. I’m trying to go through your older recipes not regularly and try others, too, so RtWF will definitely help me find some hidden gems a bit easier. Thanks, Mel!
🙂
Yay! I love this series. 🙂
And I was happy to see Dan Dan Noodles! That is one of our family’s favorites.
Yum!
It’s a family favorite here, too!