This is one of those quick dinner recipes you can pull together if you have pre-cooked ground beef on hand. It doesn't require too many ingredients to make it tastes great and keep you feeling full. The fact that it involves a box of extra cheesy macaroni and cheese makes it a sure fire hit with the kiddos.
Now, I'm gonna write this recipe out as if I didn't have pre-cooked ground meat on hand. I've made this dish with grass-fed, pasture raised ground beef and with pasture raised ground pork. Either meat works well and has very little fat, which is good.
When I think about, if I could replicate a non-processed macaroni and cheese to taste like the box stuff my kids love so much, I could really have an organic meal on my hands. However, I haven't made a fresh macaroni and cheese recipe, yet, that my kids will award the Kid Seal of Approval. Oh sure, I've made some incredible tasting recipes loved by adults but the kids are...well, their kids.
HERE'S ALL IT TAKES
to feed a family of 4
- 1/2 pound fresh, lean ground beef or pork
- 1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
- 6 to 8 whole garlic cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon Mexican oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon dried rubbed Sage
- 1 regular box Kraft Thick & Creamy Macaroni and Cheese
- 1 cup fresh, whole milk, warmed
- 1 (14 ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained
- 1 (14 ounce) can black eye peas OR black beans, drained
- salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
Start by heating a large skillet over medium to medium high and cooking the meat, onion, garlic cloves, oregano and sage together until meat is browned and there's no sign of pink. Cooking and stirring occasionally for about 10 minutes.
In the meantime, start a medium saucepan of water to boil the macaroni. When the water comes to a boil, add the dried macaroni. Stir pasta, reduce heat to medium and cook for 8 minutes, until the pasta is tender to the bite. Drain off water. Add powdered cheese and warmed milk to pasta . Stir until smooth and creamy. It may look a little soupy but don't worry. The milk makes it easier to reheat as a leftover.
Once the meat is fully cooked, add the drained tomatoes, and black eye peas. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Continue to cook until the tomatoes and peas are heated through.
Now as for serving, you could lay a bed of cheesy macaroni in the bowl first and top it with the meaty mixture, as shown in the photo above. Or you can toss the pasta together with the meaty mixture and serve it up like a goulash. Either way, it tastes great.
This is a very good make-ahead-meal recipe for work lunches. Let me know how you like the whole garlic cloves in this dish. I can't get enough of them and I tend to pick them out all for myself. Hee-he-he-he. ;D
I followed the recipe pretty close but then couldt’t help myself and , had to mess with it some. Buy the way Im talking about the “Meaty Macaroni and Cheese”. I added a small green pepper finely diced. then I put the whole thing into a 2 guart baking dish. Put in half, then a handful of chedder cheese. Then put in the rest and another handful of cheese. (about a cup alltogeather.) Put the whole thing into a 350 oven for twenty minutes than under the broiler till the cheese looked good. Oh and buy the way, I lovedgar the whole garlic cloves. I cook for just my wife and myself and this will last for several days. Sometimes you don’t want the same thing two days in a row but I feel this dish will freeze well Paul Noble
HI PAUL!!!
You go on and make it yours. You’re not going to hurt my feelings. And you’re doing the right thing by sharing your spin with me, all of us here on Simple Daily Recipes. Inspiration is the seed of all great meals.
About the whole garlic cloves, I started throwing them whole a few months back when I bought a big container of peeled garlic from CostCo.
It’s so easy to go wild with the garlic, now that I don’t have to peel it! ;D
When I cook ground beef or ground pork up for make-ahead meals, I throw a two handfuls of cloves in the pan and let them soften up as the meat browns. The garlic has never been over powering, because I’m not cutting it up. Which I’ve learned while making chili with whole garlic, I still need the minced to give me the stronger garlic flavor. It’s so fun to taste the strong garlic in the sauce/soup, but eat a soft mild garlic in the same dish.
My mouth is salivating just talking about it.
Well Jill, I had wrote my comments before the dish was done. It looked just fine BUT I cooked it way too long.The 20 minutes in the oven at 350 over cooked the dish. It was way too mushy. Everything in the dish I like but it goes to show you that you cant’ cook things too long. I got side tracked and didn’t pay attention to what I was doing. Some things can be cooked a long time and not be over done but NOT pasta. I will diffinitly try the dish again and pay closer attention to the time of cooking.
Buy the way I love what you are doing with your web page. Look forward to seeing each new one. One thing about that dish though, is it didn’t cost very much and I can just chauk it up to a bad experience. Keep up the good work. Paul Noble