King Ranch Chicken by far. It's cheesy, spicy, and comforting, even with all the canned soup. I tried making a "healthy" version once with a white sauce base and it just wasn't the same.

Green bean casserole and hash brown casserole are my other faves.

I get people to eat cauliflower all the time w/this gratin from Chicago's West Town Tavern.

And I just love a nice potato or noodle kugle.

It's a tossup between tuna casserole made with my own roux, and Southern-style breakfast casserole, with velveeta, shredded hash browns, bacon, sausage, and eggs. Mmmm.

Baked French Toast, it's so easy and can be put together the night before and sit in the fridge until the next morning when you pop it in the oven! Served with bacon or sausage and it makes even the coldest morning and cozy one :)

I make a smoke gouda mac and cheese with kale, even the kids love it.

Chicken pot pie. I bake mine in a 9x13 dish and I roll out my crust into a rectangle and just lay it across.

I have a fridge clean out recipe I make with wild rice. Basically you layer all the little odds and ends you may want to get rid of , leftover veggies, maybe some tomato sauce, top it with a bag of wild rice and cover the whole thing with chicken broth and bake. Top with cheese when it comes out of the oven and stick it under the broiler. Sounds odd, but it's really good and so adaptable.

Mostly oldies but goodies: tuna noodle; creme brulee french toast; egg, sausage and sourdough and baked penne or lasagna.

The skillet mole pie with greens and cornbread crust from Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. SO GOOD. I've never made my own mole before, and it was such a treat.

Tuna noodle, hands down.

I make tuna noodle with this recipe as the base: http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=222877 (I just substitute the tuna for the ham it calls for).

My other favorite is sweet-potato noodle kugel - very much a "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts" recipe: http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1173708

Mac 'n cheese with lobster!

not really sure if this has a name, kind of a king ranch i guess. flour tortilla topped with chicken/COM/COC/rotel tom/corn/topped with cheddar cheese/repeat and bake. so simple and yes mostly made of canned ingredients but i seriously can't stop eating once i start.

What casserole appears in the second photo?

BetsyGinDC, it's a casserole from my book recipe testing sessions. Pasta with zucchini, Gouda, and pine nuts, I believe.

Ritzy Chicken. It's cooked chicken, mixed with cream of chicken soup and sour cream then topped with butter ritz cracker crumbs and baked. It's SO good over rice.

Garlic Cheese Grits Casserole: http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Beckett-Howorths-Cheese-Grits-Casserole

The best ever....

Anything in the kugel family. Especially broccoli kugel and potato kugel in all its forms.

Thanks, Faith! That sounds awesome. I love casseroles and look forward to your book. :)

Do green chile chicken enchiladas count? Yum!

How has no one mentioned tetrazzini? Giada's Chicken Tetrazzini Recipe is to die for. I make several at a time and freeze. The first time I made this I imbibed a glass of wine too many and botched the recipe big time but it was still amazing! It never disappoints.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/chicken-tetrazzini-recipe/index.html

Are the recipes available for the casseroles in the two photos? They look delicious :D

I have a version of mac and cheese that I make that has olives, green chilies, ground beef, mushrooms, and lots of garlic.

My ex-boyfriend's mom taught me to make a Middle Eastern casserole that she called Tahjen: meatballs seasoned with cinnamon and nutmeg, potatoes, tomatoes, onions, and a tahini sauce over the whole thing. Good stuff, especially with rice.

My recent favorite was a bean casserole from Moosewood: http://appetiteforconversation.blogspot.com/2009/11/layers.html. Now that you reminded me of it, I just might make it this weekend!

Lamb pastitsio all the way for our family - the kids will eat bucket loads of it, as will my husband and I. This is the recipe I (sort of) use: http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/1672/pastitsio

I pretty much love any well-made casserole!

When I moved to Minneapolis, I learned that casseroles are called hotdish in these parts (maybe some sub-category of casseroles?) and often involve tatertots and some kind of condensed cream-of-something soup. Somehow still completely comforting and satisfying.

@Slow Lorus: I am a transplant to MN as well...coming from a casserole family to a hot dish family was a stretch for me (still not big on the tater tots) but I've been able to introduce Chicken Pot Pie and Tuna Noodle Casserole to my new family!