When I was a little girl, I remember having goulash – and this recipe reminds me of that. While this recipe is not the same as the goulash I ate as a child, it is one that I know we’ll make a lot – as it a comforting, filling and easy recipe.
The recipe contains ground beef, tomatoes, onion, kidney beans, noodles, cheese and seasonings. What could be more comforting than that?
I started by chopping an onion and then cooking it, with some garlic and olive oil, in a large dutch oven.
After the onions and garlic sauteed for about 5 minutes, I added in the ground beef and cooked until it was browned. I added in the seasonings and stirred through.
Once the beef was done, I added in the canned ingredients – tomatoes, tomato paste and kidney beans and stirred through. I added in the beef stock and brought the pot up to a boil.
After a boil was achieved, I lowered the heat to simmer and added in the pasta. I allowed the pasta to cook for approximately 13 minutes (just cook until the pasta is done, refer to the box for cooking times).
While the pasta was cooking, I shredded approximately 1 1/2 cups of cheese. I used moneterey jack cheese, but cheddar would be good too!
Once the pasta is done, you’ll want to add in the cheese and stir through. You can add more cheese, when serving, if you like!
Easy Chili Mac
1 lb lean ground beef 1 1/2 onion, diced 1 tbsp minced garlic 1 16 oz box elbow macaroni pasta 1 large can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes 1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce 1 can rotel tomatoes with chilis 1 can dark red kidney beans (drained) 3 cups beef stock 1/2 tbsp chili powder 3/4 tbsp cumin 1 tsp salt 1/2 tsp pepper 1 1/2 cups grated cheese 1 tsp olive oil
Put olive oil in hot dutch oven (or large pot)
Add in garlic and onions and saute for about 5 minutes
Add ground beef to pot and cook, until browned
Add in seasonings and mix through
Add in tomatoes, tomato sauce and kidney beans, bring pot to a boil
Reduce heat and add in the box of pasta
Cook until pasta is done (around 13-15 minutes should be sufficient)
This meal tastes way more complex than it is to make – thanks, in great part, to the use of a packet of Au Jus Gravy mix (if you don’t want to use a prepacked mix, feel free to make gravy as you normally would). While I didn’t put mushrooms in this dish (my youngest doesn’t care for mushrooms), it would be delicious with mushrooms.
I started with one thinly sliced onion and some garlic. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – most delicious things start with onion and garlic! I cooked the onion and garlic in a hot pan, with a bit of olive oil and butter. I let them cook until soft.
Then I added in the meat – I used beef stew meat and it worked great – and browned it. Then I added in the remaining butter and stirred through, before adding in the Au Jus mix and broth.
I let the broth come to a boil, then I reduced the heat to a simmer, covered the pan and allowed it to simmer for 45 minutes.
To finish the gravy, I added in some heavy cream and let it thicken. If it isn’t as thick as you’d like – you can also do a simple slurry to thicken it.
I served it over mashed potatoes (I’ve blogged about my mashed potatoes before – when I made Cheeseburger Pie – I’m very particular about mashed potatoes). You can check out the recipe for the potatoes on that blog post.
Paired with some asparagus, and it was a fantastic meal!
Beef and Gravy with Mashed Potatoes
Total prep and cooking time approx 1 hour 15 minutes
Mashed Potatoes – you can find my recipe for mashed potatoes as part of this blog post.
In hot pan, add olive oil and 1/2 of the butter
Add in the onion and garlic, cook until soft
Add in meat and brown, add in the remaining butter and stir through
Add in the au jus gravy mix and then the stock, lower to a simmer – cover and cook for 45 minutes
Add in cream and allow to thicken (if it doesn’t thicken as much as you’d like, you can make a slurry and stir in until it is to your desired thickness)
Serve over mashed potatoes (Or rice, is you prefer!)
The other day, I bought some bell peppers – these were admittedly ‘value’ peppers, all in one bag, that were a LOT less expensive than the $2.99 (green) – 3.99 (yellow and red) PER BELL PEPPER that they wanted, otherwise (** side note, not sure what was going on there, I don’t recall ever seeing peppers that expensive before). The ‘value’ bag had one yellow bell pepper that was used for another recipe, the remainder were green. I mention the ‘value bag’ status of these peppers because, they are the funkiest shaped peppers I’ve ever seen in my life. That said, probably not the prettiest to use for stuffed peppers – but, you work with what you have!
One thing that I really don’t like, with regard to stuffed bell peppers, is when the pepper doesn’t seem to be cooked through fully – that said, I decided to ‘precook’ my peppers in the oven. I simply halved the peppers, tossed them with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper – and cooked them in the oven for 20 minutes, sliced side down. At that length of time, they maintain their integrity, but cook long enough that they will be perfect after baking them stuffed!
While the peppers were cooking, I got started on the filling. This consisted of ground beef, onion, mushrooms, a can of Rotel tomatoes (I missed it in the picture below, but I’ve included a picture separately in case anyone doesn’t know what I’m talking about), cooked rice (I had some frozen, I used that), garlic, salt and pepper.
The filling started with a little bit of oil in a large skillet – once the oil was hot, I added in the onions, garlic and mushrooms. I cooked this mixture for about 10 minutes.
Once the vegetables were on their way, I added in the ground beef and cooked it through.
The next step was to add in the rice. As I was using frozen rice, there were some clumps – I just allowed the warm ground beef to break it apart and stirred until the rice was separated and warmed through.
Finally, I added in the can of Rotel tomatoes and mixed everything through. I reduced the heat to simmer, covered and allowed it to cook for about 10 minutes. This should be about the same time that the peppers are ready to come out of the oven.
***Note, for the next time I make this, I’m thinking I will add some cheese to the mixture, itself, as well.
While you’re letting the filling simmer, you can take that time to grate some cheese (use whatever cheese you like, I used monterey jack), if you’re not using pre-grated cheese.
Once the filling is completed and the peppers are out of the oven – it’s time to put things together! It couldn’t be easier – just flip the peppers over in the baking dish, fill with as much filling as you’d like – top with cheese and you’re ready to put it back in the oven!
Cover the baking dish, loosely, with foil (you want to try to avoid the foil touching the cheese, so you don’t ‘loose’ your cheese when you remove the foil) and cook for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, you’ll want to remove the foil, return to the oven and cook for a final 10-15 minutes (until the cheese starts to brown).
Stuffed Bell Peppers Total cooking time approx. 1 hour 15 minutes
4 Bell Peppers, halved 1 lb ground beef 1 cup chopped fresh mushrooms 2 cups cooked rice (I used frozen rice that I’d made earlier) 1 can Rotel tomatoes 1/2 onion, diced 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce 1 tbsp minced garlic 1 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp pepper olive oil
In large baking dish/pan – add halved bell peppers, spread a little bit of olive oil on both sides, salt and pepper. Bake peppers @ 375 degrees for 20 minutes (sliced side down)
Add small amount of oil to skillet – then add in onion, garlic and mushrooms to pan. Cook for approx 10 minutes, stirring occasionally
Add ground beef, salt and pepper to pan and cook the beef thoroughly
Add rice – stirring, allow rice to warm through (will take longer if you use frozen rice like I did)
Add in can of Rotel tomatoes, stir – cover and simmer for 10 minutes
Once mixture is done simmering (10 minute) and timer goes off for the peppers – remove peppers from oven
Flip pepper halves over in pan (peppers should be somewhat cooked, but not mushy)
Add filling to each pepper
Top with shredded cheese, add pepper if you like
Loosely cover pan with foil (try to ‘tent’ the foil so that your cheese doesn’t melt to it in the oven) and return to oven for 20 minutes
Remove foil and cook for another 10-15 (or until cheese starts to brown)
This dish was a huge hit! It will definitely go into our regular rotation.
It really started as a result of having lean ground beef in the refrigerator and a package of corn tortillas, which I accidentally bought (thinking I grabbed flour). What a happy, happy surprise! It was loved by all!!
As already noted, it has lean ground beef, corn tortillas, black beans (which I always have on hand!), corn and tomatoes (and the requisite onions and garlic). Luckily, I had a packet of taco seasoning in the pantry (otherwise, you could certainly use chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, cumin, salt and pepper that you have on hand – or whatever combination of those spices you like!).
I started by rough chopping the onions and then I cooked the onions and garlic, in a small amount of oil in a hot skillet.
After the onions were translucent, I added in the ground beef and cooked until browned. Then, added in the taco seasoning.
The next step was to add in the corn, black beans, tomatoes, etc. I did hold off on adding the jalapenos, as I wanted to taste the meat mixture first to determine how much to add. Spoiler alert – I added the whole can.
Once everything was well mixed, I allowed it to simmer for 15-20 minutes.
This gave me plenty of time to grate the cheese and pre-heat the oven.
Then I started putting the casserole together – starting with a layer of tortillas. I ended up with 3 layers of tortillas – but, you can do as many layers as you like (next time I make this, I intend to add more of the tortillas, I only used 4 per layer as I prepared this today).
Once all the layers are in (end with the meat mixture on top), top with the grated cheese and put in the oven (400 degrees) for 20-25 minutes. I did turn the broiler on briefly, at the end, to get a little bit of browning on the top.
I topped it with a little bit of sour cream – and it was DELICIOUS! I definitely went back for seconds!
Mexican Casserole
2 lbs lean ground beef
1 can black beans (drained)
1 can corn (drained)
1 large can diced tomatoes (drained)
1 small can tomato paste
1 packet taco seasoning
1 tbsp garlic
1 onion (chopped)
Small corn tortillas (number will depend on size of casserole dish)
1 tsp oil
1 – 1 1/2 cups grated cheese (depends on size of casserole dish)
Salt to taste
1 can jalapeno peppers (optional)
Sour cream for garnish
Chop onion
Add oil, onion and garlic to hot skillet – cook until onion is translucent
Add in ground beef, cook until browned
Add taco seasoning and mix completely
Add tomatoes, tomato paste, b lack beans and corn, mix well
Add salt, as needed, after tasting mixture
If desired, add jalapenos (I used a 11 oz can of picked jalapenos with carrots and onions by San Marcos) and mix well
Simmer mixture for 15-20 minutes
Start with a layer of corn tortillas in the bottom of an oven safe dish
Alternate with the meat mixture, until all meat mixture is one – ending with meat mixture on top. For my casserole, this was 3 layers of corn tortillas.
Top with cheese and bake @ 400 degrees – for 30 minutes
Michelle Can Cook! 