What things to you "Doctor" up?

[LeslieLou]

I doctor most things

Jiffy cornbread - add honey and sour cream
Spaghetti sauce- minced garlic, onion, all the spices, tomato sauce or other canned tomato to cut the sugar
Jarred alfredo - minced garlic, milk or cream and parm
Cake mixes- extra egg, coffee in place of water for chocolate, vanilla, butter in place of oil, milk in place of water for yellow or white
Kraft- extra milk with either shredded cheese or sliced cheese
Chicken rice a roni- besides chicken we add steamed broccoli and top with moz cheese - it’s great!
Bisquick for pancakes- cinnamon and vanilla

 

[mom-2greatkids]

My favorite “doctor” hack is adding 1/2 cup chopped maraschino cherries and substituting 1/3 cup of cherry juice for 1/3 cup of water in a Duncan Hines white cake mix. Cherry cake is delicious!

 

[elphaba91]

Frozen pizza. We get ones with a fairly plain base (usually just sauce and cheese and sometimes spinach) and then I add meat (ham or chicken and usually shrimp), pineapple, sundried tomatoes, olives, mushrooms and spinach.

 

[mumto3girls]

DH doctors up Band Hoagies (local High School Band fundraiser). He adds more meat and cheese.

 

[disneychrista]

My favorite “doctor” hack is adding 1/2 cup chopped maraschino cherries and substituting 1/3 cup of cherry juice for 1/3 cup of water in a Duncan Hines white cake mix. Cherry cake is delicious!

Now that is something I will have to try.

 

[ronandannette]

I doctor up my hot chocolate with kahlua.

I also have a couple take recipes that add a bunch of stuff to boxed cake mixes.

We do eat spaghetti sauce without doctoring it.

to all of this, except I prefer coffee and Bailey's.

I get unbelievable compliments on a Betty Crocker Butter Pecan cake mix made with mashed bananas, toasted pecans and shredded coconut then spiked with a little rum extract. And I couldn't improve on Newman's Own Sockarooni Sauce if I tried - it's perfection right out of the jar.

 

[mrodgers]

I put a teaspoon of good vanilla extract and a teaspoon of butter extract into boxed cake mixes. Makes them taste more homemade.

When I make pancakes, where it says to add a teaspoon of vanilla, I'm like, "Whole bottle, that looks like a teaspoon!"

 

[mrodgers]

it counts if you throw in sliced buttered cooked mushrooms and a type of meat, be it meat balls or shrimp....have visited homes where all they did was dump the jar on the hot noodles.

That's real Italian spaghetti, sauce over spaghetti noodles. Meatballs is an entirely different dish and not paired with spaghetti I believe. Spaghetti and meatballs is an American dish, "Doctored up" spaghetti we can say.

Jarred sauce which supposedly already have doctored up ingredients I guess I can say I doctor up. I brown ground meat with red wine, then a ton of garlic, ton of fresh basil, or frozen that I picked from my plants in the summer, and green pepper.

 

[mrodgers]

I doctor up jarred spaghetti sauce with lots of fresh veggies.

My kids doctor up top ramen with some seasoning and an over easy egg.

My brother was home on leave and I was making ramen noodles and he grabs one of the packages, "You ever eat these raw?" and takes a bite immediately spitting it out. "Aak, these aren't the same as in Korea!" No dummy, they're 15 cent Oodles of Noodles for crying out loud, not fresh ramen in Korea.

Speaking of which, what ever happened to "Oodles of Noodles"? Is "Top Ramen" the same brand, I don't remember what brand was called Oodles of Noodles. That's what we grew up with, then I realized one day that it's Top Ramen now and no Oodles of Noodles. (EDIT: I see google searching the packaging, it still says Oodles of Noodles, but that's not the prominent name on the package any more.)

 

[TamaraQT]

My kids doctor up top ramen with some seasoning and an over easy egg.

I doctor up Ramen by adding a half can of cream of mushroom soup, a little sugar and a pat of butter. I cook it on the stove not in the microwave. And before I put it in a bowl I stir in a tablespoon or so of heavy cream. Matter of fact...let me go make a bowl now.....

 

[LovesTimone]

I use chicken or beef stock any time I am making pasta, rice or even stuffing.

Canned veggie's really benefit from some stock instead of water, drain and rinse the veggies, add in stock, salt and pepper and whatever other seasoning, and some butter, and your good to go.

With jarred red sauce - I will use a couple of cans of already seasoned canned tomatoes, throw them in the food processor, We don't like the chunks of tomato swimming around, adding it to the jarred sauce... I also saute' fresh mushrooms, onions and garlic and add that all in, some white wine and sugar... and let simmer...

Boxed mac and cheese, extra shredded cheese - If I decided to bake it, a splash of cream, along with the extra cheese, if you want add some bread crumbs on top.

Things like stove top - again I use stock instead of water, this year since I am making 2 meals - I am going to use stove top, which is my parents request, for the meal I am making to take over to their house tomorrow. For our Thanksgiving meal at home, I will saute' onions, celery, and sweet green apple together, and add into the stove top, and make Stuffin Muffin's

Wild brown rice - I add in different mushrooms, onions, and garlic that I saute and use beef stock, make sure to add in a bit extra for the mushrooms mixture... This is a favorite dish of my family.

I keep on hand things like cream of whatever soup... you can use this product in so many ways, for a chicken and rice casserole, or making a pot pie with left over veggie, a can of cream of asparagus soup, some shredded cheese, a splash or two of cream or whole milk, even sour cream you can make left overs into something that your family won't think is left over...

Salad dressing are a great marinade - Any kind of Zesty Italian dressing simple just put thawed out chicken or pork chop in a Ziploc and add the dressing, keep in the fridge all day, when you get home from work, grill or roast in the oven... Balsamic dressing we really like the sweet Kraft on chicken on the grill, or veggies roasted in the oven...

Having a well stocked pantry is your best friend.

 

[tvguy]

Kraft Macaroni & Cheese - I add shredded cheese, use half & half instead of milk; Kraft spaghetti in the box - I use crushed tomatoes, add butter and Parmesan, mushrooms, and seasoned cooked ground beef. I save the water from cooking potatoes and use it to dilute canned soup - greatly improves the flavor.

LOL. Shades of Pioneer Woman on TV. Open a box of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, put bread crumbs on top, and then claim it is a Five Star Restaurant dish. Buy a foot long sandwich from Subway, put Grey Poupon on it.....gourmet sandwich.
I grew up with my mom doctoring up frozen pizzas.....or better yet the Chef Boyardee pizza kits. Meat, mushrooms, olives. Money was tight in the 1960s and pizza parlor pizza was just way too expensive. I think I may have been 16 before I actually had pizza parlor pizza.
My wife, well, she prefers stuff from stratch. How hard is spaghetti sauce? A few ingredients in a pot, let it simmer an hour.
Home made Macaroni and cheese is almost as easy as opening the Kraft box. Actually if you buy the version with the cheese paste pouch ("the Deluxe version") it takes longer to get all that cheese paste out than it does to make it from scratch

 

[NannyBeBe]

I do make spaghetti sauce and macaroni and cheese from scratch. But I'm watching my grandkids here at my house while they are doing online school and both parents are teaching online at their house.
I just don't have time to cook from scratch for their lunches. So I doctor things up.

 

[3boymthr]

Canned corn. Drain and pour into a Pyrex bowl then add diced butter, tiny diced pieces of cheddar (1/8” sq), bacon bits; fresh if I have it, jarred if not. Toss together. Bake in the oven.

I used to make and doctor instant mashed potatoes with cheese, etc. (DH grew up with them so preferred over fresh) and they were actually pretty good but they changed how they make them so no matter what I do they taste like gritty bits of raw potatoes.

 

[BadPinkTink]

wow, I'm surprised at the amount of processed food, packets and premade things you all use.

I would never use a boxed cake mix or pancake mix, or jars of pasta sauce or canned vegetables or boxed mac and cheese.

The one thing I do "doctor up" is Franks Hot Sauce. I used to work in Hard Rock Cafe and still make their buffalo wing sauce, which uses Franks Hot Sauce as a base.

I also "doctor up" my breakfast muesli by adding fresh mango and blueberries.

 

[fla4fun]

I doctor spaghetti sauce as well. I sauté onions, garlic and ground beef, add the jar sauce, add about 2-3 oz of tomato paste to thicken the sauce and boost the tomato flavor, add oregano and rosemary, and let it simmer for a while. I use the same sauce for lasagne but I increase the tomato paste a little to thicken the sauce even more. Prego traditional is my first choice of jar sauce, but the Classico with basil is a solid backup.

I also doctor frozen pizza. Depending on what the base pizza is (I prefer a three meat, but sometimes I can’t get them) I may add pepperoni and/or sausage. I usually keep a bag of the Jimmy Dean precooked sausage crumbles in the freezer along with some pepperoni, just in case. I always add hot pepper flakes, oregano, onions, rosemary, chopped garlic, and sometimes chopped fresh jalapeño peppers (I don’t like pickled jalapeños).

I can’t think of anything else that I doctor on a regular basis.

 

[cabanafrau]

I get the frozen gnocchi from Trader Joe's, either the white or red sauce, cook and at the end add some thawed frozen cooked shrimp and wilt some baby spinach leaves into the mix.

 

[BrianL]

Ramen - I drain all liquid, add a half can of veg-all or creamed corn and the flavor packet.
Hamburger Helper - always sub ground turkey, for Mexican variety, serve on a bed of corn chips and drizzle Valentina hot sauce over the top.

 

[Mysterian]

I also doctor up oatmeal.

Same.

I use a mix of evaporated milk, regular milk, and water, then add a cinnamon stick ,sugar, and a lime peel and then cook over low heat until it boils. It's the Puerto Rican way.

Wowza! I uh... add blueberries.

 

[Mysterian]

Ramen - I drain all liquid, add a half can of veg-all or creamed corn and the flavor packet.
Hamburger Helper - always sub ground turkey, for Mexican variety, serve on a bed of corn chips and drizzle Valentine hot sauce over the top.

Ramen is so versatile. I use two packs per serving, and if I do use a flavor packet (rarely) then only one. I always drain it as well, cooking it while it's still fluffy, somewhere between al dente and it's gooey translucent state. Then I lightly add lemon pepper and soy sauce (I prefer the Krystal brand. I can only find it at Rouses now. Louisiana folks probably know it.) , and from there I may add peas, diced carrots. If I mention adding chicken is it no longer doctoring and just a "recipe"?