Fun fact about myself, I’ve never had regular hamburger helper from the box! So I can’t really compare this recipe to the boxed kind but I will say this recipe was pretty tasty. After I re-made it twice though. Just ask my family, I’m a terrible cook. I always burn it, or mess it up somehow. I’m more of the baker. Don’t get me wrong, I want to be more of a cook, I’m slowly working on it.
INGREDIENTS:
1 pound lean ground beef
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
2 cups beef broth
8oz tomato sauce (used LaRosa’s sauce)
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 cups pasta shells
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
salt and pepper, to taste
HOW TO MAKE:
1. In a pan, cook the pasta shells according to the package.
2. While the pasta is cooking, brown the ground beef in a skillet / pan over medium high heat. Remove cooked ground beef from pan and set aside, reserving 2 tablespoons of grease in the pan.
3. Add garlic to the pan for 30 seconds (with the ground beef just chilling in the colander).
4. Add the flour and stir to cook for 30-60 seconds, because the flour gets super thick super quick when it’s hot, and then slowly stir in the beef broth and bring the mixture to a boil. The mixture will look like a gravy sauce.
5. Pour in the tomato sauce, Italian seasoning, salt, smoked paprika, garlic powder, stirring to combine. Stir on low for a few minutes until it looks cooked and mixed.
6. Add in the cooked pasta from the other pan, and stir until mixed together.
7. Add in the heavy cream and shredded cheese, and stir until all the cheese is melted.
8. Add back in the ground beef that’s been chilling in the colander, and cook for 2-3 minutes more to re-heat the ground beef, and serve!
NOTES:
This dish would be good with garlic bread, or rolls. It almost taste like a creamy lasagna! If you follow the original recipe, linked below, you’ll notice we did not add an onion, and did our own version. We did not cover the pan while the beef was browning, and we did not add the pasta when they said to. We cooked it beforehand, in a separate pan. Also, we lessened some of the spices as we do not like a lot of salt, things like that.
What my kitchen looks like after I cook a meal lol I’m always super messy! It took me over an hour to make this recipe because the first try I burned everything in the skillet. Like the smoke detector went off. Luckily, we had enough ingredients to make it a second time and it worked out way better. Let me know if you try it, and how it turned out!
Recipe adapted from The Novice Chef, and can be found here.
