The 4-Ingredient Comfort Food You’ll Want for Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner

We, here at Allrecipes, take comfort food very seriously. While most people reserve their comfort food recipes, like soups, chilis, and casseroles, for the colder fall and winter months, we always find a way to bring those hearty, down-home meals to every season. Because even the summer deserves a big slice of tomato pie or a plate of jambalaya. 

And, we don’t base our comfort food cravings on the time of day, either. We’ll take our favorite warm-and-fuzzy recipes at any time of day—and, let’s be honest, a recipe is best when you want it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. 

Betty Crocker’s cookbooks have always set a gold standard for many home cooks—including some Allrecipes editors who still swear by some old-school favorites. And the 1957 “Betty Crocker’s Cook Book for Boys and Girls” is no different. 

This cookbook taught many of our family members how to make classics, like Sloppy Joes and pigs in a blanket, and was even reprinted in 2003 by popular demand. One of its most beloved recipes is a simple four-ingredient dish called Cheese Dreams.

How To Make Betty Crocker’s Vintage Cheese Dreams

While you might have heard of Cheese Dreams before, you may be thinking about the appetizer sandwich squares made with Cheddar, butter, heavy cream, egg, Worcestershire sauce, and seasonings between two bite-size pieces of white bread. However, Betty Crocker’s Cheese Dreams aren’t an appetizer—instead, the cookbook describes the four-ingredient recipe as a “main dish.”

These Cheese Dreams are made with English muffins, bacon, tomato, and American cheese. Together, you’ve got a toasty, melty open-faced sandwich that you can serve for breakfast, lunch, or even dinner—and can customize to your liking. 

To make Betty Crocker’s Cheese Dreams, the recipe instructs you to broil buttered English muffin halves until toasted and bacon until crispy in the oven. Then, you’ll top the toasted English muffin halves with two pieces of bacon, a thick tomato slice, and a thin slice of “processed cheese” (like a Kraft Single). 

Next, you’ll broil the English muffins until the cheese melts and “serve at once.”

I’ll admit that Cheese Dreams aren’t the most appealing dish—and it can be really easy for the American cheese to turn from melty to slightly blackened in a matter of seconds under a hot broiler. So, I might recommend baking in a typical 350-degree F (175-degree C) oven until the cheese melts, rather than broiling. 

I wouldn’t expect to win any food beauty contests with this recipe, but, I’m a firm believer that it doesn’t matter what food looks like as long as it tastes good. And these Cheese Dreams taste delicious. 

The cheesy, toasty English muffins are like an open-faced, upgraded grilled cheese sandwich with a juicy tomato and crispy, savory bacon. 

I would eat Betty Crocker’s Cheese Dreams for breakfast—maybe even with an over-easy egg under the cheese layer. But, if you put two English muffin halves together, you’ve got a cheese, tomato, bacon sandwich that could transform into a lunch or dinner dish.

It seems like this dish could be whatever your cheese dreams make it.