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

Spicy Pasta Alfredo with Veggies

Do you remember in the bit about me how I said to use moderation?  Here's a prime example.  However, if you add lots more veggies, it's easier to do!

Spicy Pasta Alfredo with Veggies

This dish is soooo easy that it'll become a weekly favorite at your house like it has at mine!  For the dish you'll need:

1 lb. pasta, uncooked (I used macaroni, but I really like penne or rigatoni)
4 oz. can mushroom slices, drained
12 oz. grilled/roasted chicken breast, diced
16 oz. Ragu cheesy garlic sauce (their version of alfredo)
1 small zucchini, thinly sliced
2 cups cherry or grape tomatoes
2 oz. mini pepperoni
2 cups baby spinach
1 clove garlic, minced
red pepper flakes (to taste)
salt (to taste)
pepper (to taste)

Cook pasta per directions-being sure to salt the water to add flavor to your pasta, reserve one cup of starchy water from pasta once cooked and drain. In a large sauce pan, spray liberally with non-stick cooking spray, heat on medium and saute zucchini for 2-3 minutes.  Next, add tomatoes.

The idea here is to cook the veggies that take the longest, first and add the ones that don't take very long as we go.  Again, saute for just a couple of minutes.  The tomatoes should just be warm, not ready to burst.  Next, add the mushrooms.

Doesn't this look yummy?  Now we're at the point where the mushrooms are already cooked and just need to heat up.  This doesn't take very long, maybe a minute or two.  Just stir the vegetables so that the heat is evenly distributed.   Here comes the good part:  baby spinach!

Because you just want the spinach to wilt a little, you can literally put it in the pan, stir it around and it's done.  Like 20 seconds!  Now, pour the veggie mixture onto the pasta.  Into the skillet will go another shot of non-stick cooking spray, the chicken, pepperoni and red pepper flakes. I use just a couple of good shakes on the red pepper flakes.  It lightly warms the tongue without feeling like you're on fire.

Since the chicken and pepperoni are both cooked, they only need to heat for 2-3 minutes.  Add minced garlic at this point.  Just give them a good stir to keep from sticking.  Next, add the pasta sauce.  Once you've dumped the jar onto the meat, pour the cup of reserved liquid into the jar, cap it and shake vigorously.  Pour over mixture.

Here's the best part!  It's almost done!  Just give this a good stir, cook for 3-4 minutes until the sauce is heated thoroughly and pour over pasta, veggie mixture.

Once the sauce is on, return mixture to heat and incorporate by gently stirring. You don't want the veggies to break down, but just enough that the sauce covers everything.

Salt and pepper to taste.  You may find it doesn't need much since there's seasoning on the chicken, pepperoni and in the sauce.  I literally used a dash of black pepper in mine, no salt needed.

I served mine with garlic knots (mmm, my favorite!).  It's a big hit in my family and you'll soon see why!  Give it go and see what happens at your house!

NOTES:

• In place of or in addition to the zucchini, I've used eggplant, squash, okra, really any summer veggie is great!  Just don't add too much as it makes the dish mushy!  You can also substitute your favorite green in place of the baby spinach!  
• You can easily halve or quarter it if you're cooking for less.  It does keep well in the fridge (about 3 days is all it's made it at our house) but don't try and freeze it.  The results are not pretty!
• You can make it vegetarian!  Just leave out the meat!  You might prepare some tofu to add to it!  
• It's also easy to use different meats!  I've substituted chicken breast (prepared), turkey breast, tuna...so easy to do!