Fakeout - DIY Hamburger Helper

Ground Beef. Now, that's a tricky item. There are really two things I do with ground beef: meatballs and hamburgers. In the interest of this blog, and in branching out, I thought that tonight I'd try something a little different.

When I was a kid, my mom used to make Hamburger Helper all the time. Of course, as all mothers do, she put her own little twist on it. I posted her recipe around this time last year, and thought tonight was a great night to revisit it.

DIY Hamburger Helper
Kitchen Canister Original

Ingredients

1/2 of a large onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, diced
1/2 lb ground beef (93% lean)
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon soy sauce
a dash of paprika, red pepper flakes and rosemary
1 can of cannellini beans
1 roma tomato, diced
2 cups egg noodles
1 packet of powdered brown gravy mix

Directions

Heat some oil in a large frying pan and add the onions and garlic. Saute for about 5 minutes, until onions are fragrant and start to become translucent. Add salt and pepper to taste, and stir. Meanwhile, boil the water to cook the egg noodles.

Add the beef to the frying pan and saute. After mixing the onions, garlic and beef together, add the Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, and spices and mix. Once beef is browned, add the cannellini beans and heat through for about 5 minutes.

Once you add the beans, the water for the noodles should be ready. Add the noodles and cook for about 6 minutes. They're going to cook a little bit with the beef mixture, so don't cook them all the way.

While the noodles are cooking, add the tomato and stir the mixture. Turn it down to low heat.



Once the noodles are done, strain them, but reserve a little less than a cup of the boiling water. Add the water and noodles to the beef, and mix in the gravy packet. Turn the heat to medium-high and let the mixture come to a boil. Once it boils, put the heat on low and let it heat through.

Servings: 4


Chef's Notes
To modify this recipe, I added beans, and reduced the amount of noodles to make it a little healthier and more filling. This worked out great. I've been exercising a lot lately, so I find that I'm much hungrier at night than I normally am.

The next time I make this, the only thing I would do differently is use a can of diced tomatoes, or increase the fresh tomato to two. There wasn't enough tomato taste for me and I think it would be a nice compliment to the beans.

If you're looking to make this recipe even healthier, I think ground turkey would taste great, too.

Overall, I think it tasted very similar to hamburger helper. That little white glove guy can keep his prepackaged dinner, because I would definitely make this again!


sorry buddy!