Grandpa's Gotta Cook—Hamburger Helper (Macaroni, Cheese, Tomatoes, Bell Peppers)

Where's The Hamburger Helper?!

Yeah, I know. Hamburger Helper is an actual brand of mixes you can buy and then add to ground beef to create pretty tasty dishes. This is actually more homemade. I'm not sure why we're calling it this but we are, okay?

The Idea

While this dish isn't new to our family by any means (my wife started making it a couple of times a month a few years ago), the reason for it happening this past Saturday when it was my turn to cook was due to another post here by @ambrosial with seven very delicious looking grilled cheese recipes. Who knew grilled cheese could be so fun! Apparently @ambrosial did, and most of the world. I already admitted to living a grilled cheese sheltered life on her post, so no need to get into that here.

However, if you're looking for ways to liven up your grilled cheese sandwiches, feel free to click the link.

How Did You Get This From That?

Welcome to my mind. It works in all kinds of strange and mysterious ways. Actually, it's more like an audible of an improvisation here when you have some ingredients, but not necessarily all of them, and you're not really sure how much the rest of the household is going to appreciate being guinea pigs while you try out a recipe for the first time kind of deal.

So, I went for something everyone new and previously liked, and then decided even if no one else did, I would give it the "grilled" sandwich twist. Meaning there would be bread toasted and buttered. But I get ahead of myself.

Elbow macaroni lurking just beneath the boiling, bubbling surface.

When making our homemade version of hamburger helper, you must, of course, boil some elbow macaroni. I was recipe-less on this one (I could have consulted the internet maybe, but I figured I'd wing it this time, since that's how my more experienced wife generally cooks), so after consulting the side of the macaroni box, I dumped the entire contents into a pan of boiling water.

Fresh ground beef from the store this time instead of the freezer. It's a miracle!

Next we need to get the hamburger part of the hamburger helper going, so into the other pan went the ground beef. It's amazing how much less work this is when the ground beef is freshly bought and not yet frozen. I just kind of plopped it in there and waited for it to cook a while before breaking it up into bite-sized pieces. Normally, I'm scraping off the outside of the meat as it cooks to get to the still frozen inside.

Pre-chopped vegetables added to the now cooked beef, along with some garlic salt and pepper.

If you remember from last week and the unwritten law of Grandpa's cooking, you'll know that there are ingredients that need to worm there way in, so to speak. In this case, the tomatoes and bell peppers made it in, while the onion and the mushrooms did not. Aside from that, garlic salt and black pepper were added.

Macaroni on top of meat-vegetable mixture.

When the macaroni was ready, it went into a strainer and then waited for the meat and vegetables to be done before being evenly distributed over it in a pre-sprayed baking dish. If you think that's a lot of macaroni, yes it is. I probably should have consulted a recipe. :) Or at least quizzed the wife.

Mozzarella cheese added to the top to provide the cheesy goodness that cheese provides.

While the oven was preheating to 350 degrees, the only thing left to do was add the pre-grated Mozzarella cheese, and we were ready for some baking. Or, more aptly put, some cheese melting. I set the timer for 12 minutes, but I probably could have gotten away with eight. And more cheese. Or maybe some other flavor of cheese, like cheddar, that not everyone else likes.

Post cheese melting dish. Doesn't look like much cheese now, does it?

At this stage, there wasn't much I could do about it, so after a minute or two to cool, the family was gathered and the meal was properly blessed (it probably needed it) and consumed.

_{All images by Glen Anthony Albrethsen on an iPhone 6s.}

Hamburger helper on buttered toast. I mean, open grilled cheese and hamburger helper sandwich. :)

As for me, there was one last thing to do. Make the buttered toast. Thankfully, that took all of two minutes and I did it while the dish was cooling down.

Overall Reactions?

Meh. Maybe slightly more than meh because of the bell peppers and cheese, but it was definitely lacking the flavor of past hamburger helpers. The tomato just didn't come through. I still liked it, but would have preferred more of the zest the acidity of tomatoes usually brings. I don't know if that meant more tomatoes, or less macaroni.

My youngest son did go on the grilled cheese adventure with me, though and said he liked it, but with the enthusiasm of a marathon runner after the race.

All-in-all, I'd like to try it again, with less macaroni, maybe more tomatoes, and a different cheese. Maybe toast the bread at the bottom of the dish? I'll have to think about that one.