Hamburger Helper

This Homemade Hamburger Helper is easy to make, requires no fancy ingredients, is ready in 30 minutes, and is a meal the whole family will love. I have never been a fan of the boxed stuff, it's too salty and it's full of ingredients I didn't even know existed. I dislike buying things that have an ingredient list full of unpronouncables. Serve with a salad or steamed vegetables.

1 lb extra-lean ground beef
½ medium onion, chopped
2 Tbsp. tomato paste
½ tsp. garlic powder
½ tsp. chili powder
1 cup elbow macaroni, uncooked
3 cups beef broth
2 cups cheddar cheese, freshly grated
sea salt
black pepper, freshly ground

Add the beef and onions to a soup pot. Cook over medium-high heat until the beef has browned (about 7-10 minutes), breaking the meat up with your spoon as you go along. If there's a lot of excess fat, spoon most of it out.

Stir in the tomato paste, garlic powder, and chili powder.

Add in the beef broth and increase the heat to high. Once it starts boiling, add in the macaroni.

Reduce the heat so it's not furiously boiling (a rapid simmer is good). I ended up cooking mine over medium heat. Let it cook uncovered until the pasta is tender and most of the liquid has been absorbed (about 13-15 minutes). I stir it every couple of minutes.

While it's cooking, grate the cheese (this saves prep time at the start of the recipe).

salt & pepper as needed. I let it sit for a couple minutes prior to serving (soaks up the sauce and flavours more), but you can serve it right away.

Makes 4-6 servings.

Cook's Notes:  As with any one pot meal, ingredients and stoves vary. If you’re running out of liquid (like it’s in danger of sticking and burning) when you still have a while to go before the pasta is done, feel free to add in more liquid, ½ cup at a time.

Nutritional Information:
Calories: 501kcal, Carbohydrates: 22g, Protein: 44g, Fat: 25g, Saturated Fat: 15g, Cholesterol: 130mg, Sodium: 1106mg, Potassium: 624mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 2g, Vitamin A: 640IU, Vitamin C: 1mg, Calcium: 437mg, Iron: 4mg