Beef, Mac, and Cheese Casserole

I like to call this my 'Cheater's Lasagna.' What? I'm all about convenience! Don't judge me!!

Anyway, it's basically the same thing, but with elbow noodles and not so many different cheeses.

The Details:

2 cups elbow noodles, cooked

1 lb ground beef

1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1 (16 oz) can tomato sauce

Seasonings to taste

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Brown ground beef in large skillet. Add cheddar cheese, 1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, tomato sauce, and seasonings to beef. Simmer for 15 minutes. Combine with elbow noodles and spread into 9'x13' pan. Sprinkle remaining mozzarella cheese on top. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 15 minutes.

For my seasonings, I used garlic, parsley, and oregano, but you can use whatever you prefer.

And another really nice thing about this recipe is you can refrigerate or freeze it and simply warm it back up in the oven. Make it ahead of time or save the leftovers for later!

Happy Cooking!

Baked Mac and Cheese

I think this is one of my more popular dishes, or at least it is requested every time I give people an option as to what they want. Some have even told me they would be happy with just this, so it must not be too bad. The cracker topping gives it a crunch.

The Details:

4 cups milk

1 lb (4 cups) shredded cheddar cheese

1/2 cup butter

1/4 cup flour

1 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 cups elbow noodles, cooked

1 sleeve round butter crackers, crushed

1/2 cup melted butter

Combine milk, cheese, butter, flour, and salt in pot over medium high heat until butter and cheese is melted. Continue cooking until mixture starts to thicken. Add cooked noodles and place in 13'x9' pan. Mix together crushed crackers and melted butter and sprinkle over top. Cook at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. 

I've found that if you started the cheese and milk mixture and then start the noodles boiling, the cheese mix should be about done when the noodles are. I dump the crackers in a plastic storage bag and use a rolling pin to make sure they're good and crushed. And you might not need to use the full 1/2 cup of melted butter in the crackers. Just add enough to moisten the cracker crumbs, not to make them soggy.

Happy Cooking!

Spaghetti

Yes, you could just cook the noodles and throw in some browned beef and store-bought sauce, but why? Ok, so that's basically all I did with the exception of making my own sauce. But whatever.

The Details:

1 lb spaghetti noodles

1 lb ground beef

1-12 oz can tomato sauce

1-6 oz can tomato paste

1 cup water

garlic

parsley

basil

salt

Cook noodles. Brown brown beef in skillet. Add remaining ingredients. Simmer 15 minutes. Add to noodles.

Pretty simple. You can use less meat if you don't want so much, but we're a meat family. And you could add whatever spices you want, or just use an Italian blend.

I'm also going to be sharing my French bread recipe later this week, which goes great with this.

Happy Cooking!