Monday, April 18, 2011

This ain't yo hamburger helper!

Heath has monthly medical staff meetings. Sometimes he comes home with tales of tenderloins of beef or delicious pasta full of juicy gulf shrimp. I stopped cooking big supper on those nights. My kids don't have really discerning palates. Occasionally Jacob has been known to ask for "The Chef," and I'll be damned if he doesn't mean that canned junk by that rascal Chef Boy-ar-dee. He's also been known for compliment gems like "mama, you make the best microwaved bacon," and that old standby "it was so good that I want a peanut butter and jelly instead."

When not asking for "The Chef" Jacob has been known for requesting a "Hand Meal." Of course he means that adorable glove that asks you to trust what he's got in that packet of yellow powder. Tonight I decided to beat him to the punch and make homemade "hamburger helper" and you know what? It's just as easy and utilizes all those random bags of shredded cheese you've got stuck in that drawer.

Brown 1 lb of ground turkey. (It doesn't really brown, I know.) Add about 1/2 cup of chicken stock to the turkey so that the texture will be pretty fine. To this mix add 1 tablespoon of flour and stir. once it's a gloppy mess, add 1.5 cups of chicken stock. I also added about 2 cups of velveeta water at this point. Add salt, pepper, seasoning of your choice. Once the liquid is starting to boil, add wagon wheel pasta. after about 6 minutes add your cheese board. We used cheddar, white cheddar, american melt mix (whatever that is!) and an errant chunk of. That's right. I have that in my house. What's it to you?

I poured this into a dish and cooked uncovered at 250 for about 30 minutes. It would have been great topped with cracker crust, or more cheese, but the starving kids wanted it just that way.

it was actually pretty swell.

Mama 1, Chef, 100....but my luck's changing!

1 comment:

jenj22 said...

Bon Apetit! Norah thinks the best thing I cook is chicken nuggets. They are pretty tasty after they thaw. She had asked me at the grocery why I won't by hamburger helper. I tried to give her a rational answer but she didn't want to hear it. I'll have to try your version.