Thursdays Are For Cooking
The strawberries are for dessert, people. Hold off on snagging a few, willya?
The casserole suits a chilly climate like the one I’m in now. There are many, many ways to fix a one-dish meal, and the casserole is the best choice because you can expand the volume to provide a table full of people with a good, hearty meal.
So here’s your first one, which is quite good.
Creamy Ground Beef Noodle Casserole
“Comfort” is the key word for this creamy ground beef and noodle casserole that makes a memorable meal out of simple ingredients.
Updated October 5, 2016
Ingredients
8 oz uncooked farfalle pasta (about 2 1/2 cups)
1 lb ground beef
1 can (15 oz) Muir Glen™ organic tomato sauce
½ teaspoon garlic salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
1 cup sour cream$
1 cup cottage cheese
½ cup shredded Parmesan cheese
¾ cup sliced green onions
1 ½ cups shredded Cheddar cheese (12 oz)
Steps
1 – Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 13×9-inch baking dish or 2 1/2 to 3-quart casserole with cooking spray. Cook pasta until al dente, about 11 minutes; drain, and set aside.
2 – Meanwhile, in 10-inch nonstick skillet, cook beef over medium-high heat 5 to 7 minutes, stirring frequently, until no longer pink; drain. Stir in tomato sauce, garlic salt and pepper; cover and simmer 2 to 3 minutes or until slightly thickened.
3 – In large bowl, mix sour cream, cottage cheese, Parmesan cheese and 1/2 cup of the green onions; stir in cooked pasta.
4 – Spoon half of the pasta mixture into baking dish. Top with half of the beef mixture and 3/4 cup of the Cheddar cheese. Repeat with pasta mixture, beef mixture and remaining 3/4 cup Cheddar cheese. Bake uncovered 25 to 30 minutes or until mixture is thoroughly heated and cheese is melted. Top with remaining 1/4 cup green onions, and serve.
Expert Tips
- Wide egg noodles or mafalda pasta would also work in this recipe.
- Stir 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper into beef mixture for a spicy kick.
That’s a hearty dish. Here’s another, which I’ve posted before and several of you seem to really like it as much as I do. It’s a stovetop dish, using one skillet. Easy cleanup, and yes, it is even better the next day.
Basic one-skillet mild or sweet Italian sausage and pasta
https://www.readyseteat.com/recipes-One-Skillet-Italian-Sausage-Pasta-7397
1-1/4 cups water
1 can (14.5 oz each) Hunt’s® Diced Tomatoes with Basil, Garlic and Oregano, undrained
1 cup Hunt’s® Tomato Sauce
8 ounces dry penne pasta, uncooked (any short pasta will do if you can’t find penne)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
3/4 pound Italian pork sausage
DIRECTIONS:
STEP ONE:
Heat large skillet over medium-high heat. Add sausage; cook 5 minutes, breaking apart with spoon to crumble. Drain; return to skillet.
STEP TWO:
Add water, undrained tomatoes, tomato sauce and pasta to skillet; stir to combine. Bring to a boil. Cover; reduce heat and cook 15 minutes or until pasta is tender.
STEP THREE
Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Serve with additional Parmesan cheese, if desired. And add the other things that go with a good meal, such as a nice green salad, cut-up fresh veggies, a couple of side dishes such as green beans and good, crusty bread.
Category: Economy
It looks like someone didn’t take your advice:
MrsAW1 and I are big fans of one-pot cooking. Thanks, Ex!
Any time… any time at all. I will look for more of those. I like easy cleanups, too.
Y’all forgot the fresh, warm, buttered, crusty bread…and a good port. If OWB is needing a few meatballs for the lasagna, I’ll volunteer. 😀 I like using the flat egg noodles for these dishes too Ex, makes a nice change from the pasta noodles.
Since you never showed up, there were no meatballs in the lasagna.
It turned out OK in spite of me forgetting a few details like what temp to bake it, how much water to add (seems like it’s 1/2 cup per 5-6 noodles), and getting too lazy to add an egg to the ricotta. Actually, it was pretty good. And should be even better today.
Yeah, we discovered some years back that you really don’t need to cook the pasta before baking, but you must add water for them to soak up. The only advantage of cooking them first is that the dry pasta splinters a bit when breaking it up to fit the pan. Not worth another pan in this household. We just pile everything in adding some water to each layer. It looks a little sloppy when it goes in the oven, but turns out just fine.
Bread??? I thought you’d bring that, and all I had to do was cook! Okay, then, I’ll make some of that medieval crusty bread that had a crust so hard it had to be pounded with a hammer to break it open, and that made it stay fresh longer, as well as giving the “lower level” (serfs) the trencher that their food was put into.
Reminds me that everything for lasagna is waiting to be put together and baked. May add a few meatballs to the mix.
I think I may make the skillet pasta/sausage this time, if I can find any sweet Italian sausage. And it really is good the next day, too!
For those who like to cook under pressure: https://www.sixsistersstuff.com/recipe/instant-pot-creamy-shells-and-beef/ Ingredients 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 medium yellow or sweet onion, diced 1 pound lean ground beef 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon pepper 1 teaspoon garlic powder 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes 1 tablespoon tomato paste 1 (16-ounce) box medium pasta shells, uncooked 1 (24-ounce) jar pasta sauce 3 cups water 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese 1 cup heavy cream 2 ounces cream cheese, cut into chunks and softened Instructions Add olive oil to the inner pot of an Instant Pot. Turn on “Saute” mode. Add onion and cook until starting to get soft. Add ground beef and cook and crumble it with a wooden spoon until no longer pink. Turn Instant Pot off. Add Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, garlic powder, crushed red pepper flakes and tomato paste and stir. Pour shells on top of ground beef mixture. Pour pasta sauce and water on top of shells. Do not stir, but press shells down into liquid with the back of a spoon. Place lid on Instant Pot and make sure valve is in “sealing” position. Set to Pressure Cook on HIGH for 5 minutes. Do a manual pressure release and when the pin drops, remove the lid. Stir in Parmesan cheese, heavy cream, and cream cheese. Serve. Note: almost any noodles such as egg wide egg noodles works with this. And for the sausage and noodles: https://www.kitschencat.com/pressure-cooker-penne-pasta-with-sausage/ 1 tablespoon olive oil (affiliate) 1/2 onion, diced 2 cloves minced garlic 1 1/2 cups cooked, crumbled Italian sausage 24oz pasta sauce (affiliate) 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning (affiliate) 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes 1 tablespoon salt 16oz penne pasta Instructions In pressure cooker, sauté onion and garlic in olive oil until starting to soften (about 3-4 minutes). Add all remaining ingredients, and stir well until all noodles are coated. Add water to the pot until it just covers the top of the noodles. Stir, lock lid, and set to high pressure for 4 minutes. When time is up, put a dish towel over the pressure valve and do… Read more »
Oh, yeah!!!
That looks really good and the temps this weekend are going to drop like big boulders off a cliff.
Something I came up with a few months ago…
Sea Dragon’s Italian Ground Beef Casserole
Ingredients
1 lb lean ground beef
1 can (15 oz) diced tomatoes, Italian seasoned
1 can (10 oz) Rotel tomatoes
1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp pepper
3 cups uncooked pasta/noodles of choice
5 green onions, sliced
8 oz sour cream
3 oz cream cheese, softened
3 cups shredded cheese, Italian blend
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large skillet over medium heat, brown and crumble ground beef. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, salt, sugar, Italian seasoning and pepper. Stir together.
Cook pasta and drain well. In a medium bowl, stir together pasta, green onions, cream cheese and sour cream.
Spoon pasta mixture into a greased 13×9 inch baking dish. Top with beef mixture. Sprinkle with cheese. Spray a piece of aluminum foil with cooking spray and cover dish sprayed side down.
Bake for 35 minutes, uncover and bake 5 more minutes. Serve.
Serve? If the pan isn’t emptied in less than 10 minutes, I would be very surprised.
Strawberries are not just for dessert.
Strawberry-Blue Cheese Steak Salad
Trust me on this one.