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Several years ago I began collecting “Meal in a Jar” recipes, and at Christmas I made several of these mixtures and gave them as gifts. They were largely well received, and it was a lot of fun putting them all together.

My niece was working full time back then, raising three small children, and shuttling them to all sorts of after school activities. There was very little time to spare in her days, and I decided to make her an extra large batch of a Meal in a Jar called Almost Hamburger Helper. I hoped it might help her make a frugal, fast, and tasty meal with very little effort. She absolutely loved it, and I would make her a large jar of it each time she came to visit.

The Almost Hamburger Helper mix came with four recipes and, while I’ve only made the Chili Mac, my niece has made most, if not all, of them and gives them each high marks. The Chili Mac is quite good, and the best part? It only took me about 5 minutes to brown the meat, add the few ingredients, and bring to a simmer. When I came back to the stove 20 minutes later, our meal was finished. And it was really good!

So, for those busy days when finding 5 minutes to cook a meal is the most you can muster, or for those not so busy days when you don’t want to spent more than 5 minutes cooking a meal, or for those days when you just feel like eating a nice, hot bowl of chili mac, here’s the recipe for the mix and four frugal, fast, and tasty meals:

Almost Hamburger Helper

(makes about 1 quart)

2 cups nonfat dry milk
1cup cornstarch
1/4 cup beef bouillon powder
2 tablespoons onion flakes
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons dried parsley
1 tablespoon garlic powder

Mix the ingredients together and store in an air-tight container.

Use mix as a base for the following meals.

Chili Mac:
1 lb ground beef, browned and drained
1 c water
1/2 c macaroni noodles (uncooked)
2 cans chopped tomatoes
1 T chili powder
1/2 cup mix

Combine all and simmer 20 minutes or until macaroni is cooked

Stroganoff:
1 lb. ground beef, browned and drained
2 c water
1/2 c mix
2 c uncooked egg noodles
1/2 cup sour cream

Combine all except sour cream. Simmer 20 minutes or until noodles are tender. Stir in sour cream and serve.

Potato Beef Casserole:
1 lb ground beef, browned and drained
3/4 c water
6 potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
1 c frozen mixed veggies
1/2 cup mix

Combine all and simmer, covered, until potatoes are tender, about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove cover and cook until excess water is evaporated.

Quick Lasagna:
1 lb ground beef, browned and drained
1/2 c mix
1 onion, chopped
2 c water
16 oz tomato sauce
3 c lasagna noodles, uncooked, broken in bits
1/4 c parmesan cheese
2 c mozzarella cheese, shredded

Combine all except mozzarella in large skillet. Bring to a boil, let simmer for 15 minutes or until noodles are cooked. Top with mozzarella. Turn off heat and let cheese melt.

Tags: Almost Hamburger Helper

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 6th, 2011 at 2:04 pm and is filed under basic living. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.