Casserole Topped with Crescent Dough.

I stopped buying boxed meal products a long while ago, mainly because I discovered I can make it better, without all the preservatives, and add more fresh ingredients.  So there I was, going to make one of my own "hamburger helper" type meals, when I spied the canister of Pillsbury crescent rolls.  I like keeping dough products like biscuits, crescent rolls, even pie crusts in stock for those spur of the moment ideas. If I have to suddenly make dough, chances are I'll get frustrated and give up the idea altogether.

Instead of making a regular cheeseburger skillet meal, I prepped the ingredients and pulled out a 4-quart casserole dish.  I layered items in the dish in a manner I thought would work; and yes it did!  What I really liked was the perforations of the crescent rolls helped with serving sizes.  I used a pie server, since the servings were in the form of a wedge; each held together without making a mess.

Over the weekend I made a chicken pot pie and a baked turkey broccoli casserole; once again used the crescent roll dough to see how it compared to pie crust.  Good stuff!  Same old, same old?  Nah, play with your food and have fun experimenting.

Cheeseburger Crescent Bake

Ingredients:

2 lbs. lean ground beef

½ cup diced onions
½ cup diced red bell peppers
2 cups diced tomatoes
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
½ tsp. ground black pepper
¼ tsp. salt
6 cups cooked, large elbow macaroni
1 package (8 oz.) shredded, sharp Cheddar cheese
1 can (8 oz.) crescent roll dough

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350F; spray a 4 quart casserole dish with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large skillet, medium-high heat, brown beef part way; add onions and peppers; complete browning the beef.  Add tomatoes, Worcestershire, pepper and salt; mix thoroughly and remove from heat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In a large bowl, combine cooked macaroni with beef mixture; spread out into casserole dish.  Spread Cheddar cheese overall; bake for 20 minutes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Remove dish from oven; remove crescent roll dough from can and unroll over mixture in casserole dish.  Do not separate the dough into individual pieces.  Return dish to oven and bake additional 15 to 20 minutes; until dough browns.  Remove from oven and let rest for 10 minutes before cutting along the perforations of the dough.  Use pie server to lift up wedge serving.

  

 

Makes 8 servings.

Mary Cokenour

Box Meal Made Fresh.

Hamburger, Chicken and Tuna Helpers have been around for a long, long time; and while there seem to be more and more varieties, it just never seems to taste any better. The newest commercial for Hamburger Helper is start with the basic ingredients in the box and add your own to make it special. I don't know, but wouldn't making the entire meal from scratch be more beneficial? Seriously, powdered sauces and cheeses are just not appetizing; and anytime I did use one of the products, I ended up "doctoring it up" anyway.

Then there is the newest product on the market by Velveeta; Cheesy Skillets. Now I have to admit that Velveeta, while might be a doubtful real cheese product, has its uses. I did try one of the new skillet meals and was very disappointed, mostly because the packet of "liquid gold" barely covered the pasta and meat in the skillet. Then there is the commerical using a blacksmith seducing a woman with his cast iron skillet and "liquid gold". Holy moly, but that guy creeps me out so much, I'd run before trying out the product.

Meat, cheese, sauce, and veggies mixed all together to make a meal; not a new concept, but manufacturers in the food industry have lowered the standard just way too much. I'm going to post for you my basic recipe for a creamy, cheesy meal that you can have as is; or doctor it up anyway you want. You'll know exactly what the ingredients are because you're putting them in your skillet; no mysteries out of a box. My recipe is for the crock pot, but can easily be made in a skillet by cooking the pasta at the same time you're browning your meat; then adding it all together.

I've also cut alot of oil and fat out of the meal by using very, very lean ground beef; and Velveeta made with 2% milk instead of whole milk. Why not real cheese like cheddar? You would have to melt the cheddar with milk to make sure it became smooth, not clumpy; and real cheese exudes alot of oil itself and who wants to see that floating at the top of your sauce? Like any of my recipes, you can tweak it to your liking, so if you want to use cheddar instead of Velveeta, go for it! Oh, and don't be worried that the meal looks too soupy after it's done; as it rests, the pasta will absorb liquid. Also, any leftovers will heat up easily and still be creamy; no spritzing water on it before reheating in the microwave.

 

 

Creamy Cheeseburger Macaroni

Ingredients:

2 lbs lean (93% or more) ground beef
1 large onion, diced
1 cup diced mushrooms
4 cups uncooked pasta (small shells, rotini or large elbows)
2 cans (10.5 oz) cream of mushroom soup
1 ¼ cups milk 1 (32 oz) package Velveeta cheese, cut into ½ inch slices

Optional: 1 cup diced bell peppers or ½ cup diced hot peppers (either sautéed with the beef), 1 cup diced tomatoes (add in last ½ hour of cooking); substitute ground turkey for beef.

Preparation:

In a large skillet, medium-high heat, begin browning the ground beef, onion and mushrooms together until no more pink shows in the beef; drain what little oil there is. Place inside a 6 quart crock pot which has been coated with nonstick cooking spray.

Spread the pasta over the meat mixture. In a medium bowl, stir together the soup and milk; pour evenly over the shells. Layer the Velveeta slices on the top; cover and cook on low for 4 hours. It will look soupy at first, but begin to firm up as it rests; however it will remain creamy.

Makes 8 servings.

Mary Cokenour

Stretching the Elk.

So after getting the craving for cheesesteak out of the way, there were still about four servings of the Elk cheesesteak I had already made remaining. Meat, cheese, onions, peppers and I needed to think about what to do with it; then a commercial for Hamburger Helper came on the television and a lightbulb went off in my own mind.

Getting out the pasta pot, filling it with water and setting it on high heat to bring to a rolling boil; I took out the leftovers, placed them in a large skillet and set that onto low heat. Once the water was ready, I added 3 cups of penne pasta to cook plus a sprinkling of salt; the leftovers though were heating up nicely and the cheese was melting. I added to the skillet a 14.5 ounce can of diced tomatoes, draining them first, and this helped the cheese to become a thinner sauce. Draining the cooked pasta, I added that to the skillet also, tossed to coat it all and let it remain on the low heat for an additional five minutes.

All in all, it took about 30 minutes to complete this extremely easy and delicious meal from simple leftovers and the addition of two ingredients; diced tomatoes and cooked pasta. Sorry Hamburger Helper, but you've got nothing on my elk. Wow, could I go so far as to say I've invented "Elk Helper"?

Mary Cokenour