Beef-a-roni...Childhood Favorite Made Better

Did you have this for dinner?  For school lunch?  This was one of my comfort foods growing up and if I'm honest, it might still be.  It's simple, so easy to make and extremely tasty.  While this is cooking,  you can prepare a side salad and have dinner ready in about twenty minutes!

Beef-a-roni with Parmesan

The best part about this recipe?  You can make it much, much healthier.  I used lean beef but you can use ground turkey, ground chicken, pork...stop me before I sound like Forest Gump!  Or you can use a combination of them!  Here's what you'll need for about 8 servings:

1 lb. large elbow macaroni noodles
1 1/2 lbs. ground beef
15.2 oz. can tomato soup
1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 onion, minced
1 cup water reserved from pasta
2 tbs. garlic powder
Salt and pepper to taste
Parmesan cheese

I've found that it takes about the same time for 1 1/2 lbs. ground beef as it does for pasta to cook, so, I stair step mine by putting the meat on the same time as I put the water for the pasta on to boil.

The package said this was lean beef, but I drained a lot of fat from it.  A lot.  Okay, enough grumbling.

Brown the beef with the onion, garlic, salt and pepper.  While this is cooking, put water on to boil for pasta.  Once it's at a rolling boil, add a healthy pinch of salt for seasoning and add the pasta.  Stir well and lower temperature.  If your directions state to cook it for 15 minutes, cut the time to 13.  Trust me.  While the pasta is cooking, toss together a healthy side salad and butter your favorite bread for this lovely meal!

Pasta's on!

You can use any pasta...wheat, macaroni, penne, shells...I used the rest of my penne and shells here.  The bigger pastas hold the sauce better in my opinion.

Browned beef, tomato soup and ketchup. Mmm.

Drain the fat and add the tomato soup, and the ketchup.  Mix well.
Now here's the fun part.  Your pasta?  Don't drain it!  What??  Don't drain? Nope. Using a large slotted spoon or pasta scoop, lift pasta from water and place in beef mixture.  Don't toss the water.  Stir your pasta in the sauce and add one cup of the water from your pasta pot to the mix.  This has all that lovely starch from the pasta in it and makes it taste so good!

Sprinkle a little Parmesan cheese on top, plate up with the salad and freshly buttered bread...you're in heaven!

NOTE:

• As stated above, you can substitute ground turkey, chicken, pork, veal, etc. for the beef
• Substitute any small pasta for the macaroni and change it to wheat if you prefer!
• Use lower sodium/fat/sugar based tomato soup or ketchup to make this a little healthier