ABSTRACT: Rather than make a Hamburger or Tuna Helper from a box, you'll find these homemade recipes a delicious and better way to eat these favorites
CONTENT: As much as I love to cook from scratch and make everything homemade, I have to admit, every once in awhile I get just plain lazy and resort to making a meal from anyone of the Betty Crocker "Helper" meals. But as I said, I've only done that a few times. While the "Helper" meals are good in a pinch and a bit of a time saver, the few times I've prepared anyone of these prepackaged meals, I found them way to salty, also, if one reads the ingredients there are a lot of chemical and preservative additives that quite frankly, I like to avoid.
So one day, I wondered to myself if I could make my own types of "Helper" meals. They would be purer and without all the chemical additives to them. As you can imagine, I began to experiment, and came up with my own homemade style Helper type meals that were absolutely delicious.
Homemade Creamy Stroganoff Hamburger Helper:
Ingredients:
1½ pound of ground hamburger meat
1 large onion, chopped
1 pound mushrooms, sliced
2 tablespoons butter
¼ cup flour
1 cup milk
½ to 1 cup beef broth
1 tablespoon Worchestershire Sauce
1 tablespoon parsley
Salt and pepper to taste
8 ounces or half pound box or package of uncooked macaroni, noodles or Rotini pasta
In a large saucepan, boil water to cook either the macaroni, noodles, or Rotini pasta. Cook until just done, drain and set aside. I have given these three options, as either of the three make for a great "Helper" meal.
In a large skillet brown the hamburger until done. To drain off excess oil from hamburger place a paper towel in a colander and add hamburger into colander.
Wash mushrooms under cold water, remove stems, and slice. In another large skillet or even a stock pot, with heat of flame on low, sauté chopped onions and sliced mushrooms in two tablespoons of butter until done. Sprinkle the ¼ cup flour onto mushrooms and onions and gently blend in flour with whisk, slowly add the milk, continuing to blend, then the beef broth. Add the Worchestershire Sauce, parsley, and salt and pepper to taste. Once everything is blended well, add the hamburger meat, and again blend in well, finally add the cooked noodles and blend so everything has an even coating of the sauce mixture.
Makes 4 Servings
Homemade Cheesy Version Hamburger Helper:
Ingredients:
1½ pound of ground hamburger meat
1 large onion, chopped
2 tablespoons butter
¼ cup flour
1 to 2 cups milk
1 cup shredded Cheddar Cheese
1 tablespoon parsley
Salt and pepper to taste
8 ounces or half pound box or package of uncooked macaroni, or Rotini pasta.
Once more I suggest the idea of either using macaroni or Rotini pasta, however in this case not the noodles, as these two types of pasta work the best for this meal. In a large saucepan, cook either macaroni or Rotini pasta until done, drain and set aside.
In a large skillet add both onion and hamburger and cook until hamburger is browned and onion is translucent. To drain off excess oil from hamburger and onions place a paper towel in a colander and add the onion and hamburger into colander. Set aside.
In another large skillet or even a stock pot, on low flame, melt the butter, then add the flour and blend thoroughly with a whisk. Slowly add about a cup of the milk and blend with a whisk thoroughly to remove any lumpiness. Add the cup of shredded Cheddar Cheese and once more blend in for an even texture of the "sauce". Since the cheese will thicken the sauce, it's advisable to add more milk according to your preference in the thickness of the cheese sauce. Keep blending for a unified thickness of the sauce. Add the parsley and salt and pepper to taste, then next add the onion and hamburger mixture and blend into the sauce, and finally the macaroni or Rotini pasta.
Makes 4 Servings
Other seasoning ideas:
To add a zesty spicy taste to this Cheese version, one can also add 1 or more tablespoons of a Taco type seasoning to taste...add this seasoning at the same time you blend in the parsley and salt and pepper stage.
Homemade Tuna Helper:
Ingredients:
2 small cans of tuna, drained
1 large onion, chopped
1 pound mushrooms, sliced
2 tablespoons butter
¼ cup flour
1 to 1½ cup milk
1 tablespoon parsley
Salt, pepper and Old Bay seasoning to taste
8 ounces or half of a package of uncooked macaroni, noodles or Rotini pasta
In a large saucepan, boil water to cook either the macaroni, noodles, or Rotini pasta. Cook until just done, drain and set aside. Once again all three work great, just as it does with the first hamburger helper type meal.
Wash mushrooms under cold water, remove stems, and slice. In another large skillet or even a stock pot, with heat of flame on low, sauté chopped onions and sliced mushrooms in two tablespoons of butter until done. Sprinkle the ¼ cup flour onto mushrooms and onions and gently blend in flour with whisk, slowly add the milk, continuing to blend, adding enough milk to desired thickness of "sauce". Add the parsley, salt, pepper and Old Bay Seasoning to taste. Once everything is blended well, add the tuna, and again blend in well, finally add the cooked noodles and blend so everything has an even coating of the sauce mixture.
Makes 4 Servings
Other options:
One can make a "cheesy" version of this, by adding a cup of shredded Cheddar Cheese at the making of the sauce stage...add more milk if sauce becomes to thick. Blend sauce and cheese mixture thoroughly with a whisk to remove any lumpiness.
No comments:
Post a Comment