I made that!

I know, this post is really pushing it. Some of you will forever think I am just plain gross. It’s thanksgiving week and I’m posting a recreation of a classic Hamburger Helper dish. What can I say? I’m at home sick (it’s been a week, I’m dying here!), I’m moving to Seattle in 5 days, I want comfort food and I can’t help it, sometimes I just like to reverse engineer recipes. A year ago the chef at the restaurant I worked at cooked a family meal that smacked of Hamburger Helper, and since then I’ve been obsessed with recreating Cheeseburger Macaroni. But of course I needed to up the game, so I made it Bacon Cheeseburger Macaroni. Well…duh…I think that was an obvious move. Definitely not a date night dish, but great for those nostalgic moments (I can admit it, I grew up in Alabama eating some pretty trashy food). Don’t judge me too harshly.

I started by slowly cooking the bacon, to render its fat. I probably cooked it for about 15 minutes on medium low.

Then I added a diced onion, a carrot, a green bell pepper and a jalapeno. I know technically there weren’t vegetables in the Hamburger Helper version, but come on people, we’re adults now. Kind of. I cooked those on medium until the onions started to turn translucent. Then I threw in 2 minced garlic cloves and cooked it all for a minute more.

Then I added some ground beef and chili powder. I cooked it all until the beef was nicely browned.

Then I added in tomato sauce, tomato paste and worcestershire sauce. I cooked that for about 10 minutes.

Then I added the sour cream and cooked it a few minutes longer. This is the part where it looks seriously unappetizing. But if you can hang in there, it’s worth it.

I turned off the heat and stirred in the cooked macaroni and the shredded cheddar cheese. I stirred it for a good while, to melt the cheese into the sauce. Then I added salt and pepper to my liking. And then I ate it. I’m not gonna lie, this recipe makes quite a lot of pasta. Probably enough to feed 6-8 people. But this one time, when I was testing out the recipe, 4 of us ate the entire thing. And then ate an apple pie. Shameful.

Bacon Cheeseburger Macaroni Recipe:

3 slices bacon, diced

3/4 cup chopped onion

3/4 cup chopped green bell pepper

1/2 cup chopped carrot (optional)

1 jalepeno, chopped

2-3 garlic cloves, minced

1 lb ground beef

1 TBSP chili powder

1 TBSP worcestershire sauce

2 TBSP tomato paste

3/4 cup tomato sauce

1 cup sour cream

12 oz macaroni, cooked and drained.

8 oz shredded cheddar cheese

salt and pepper

– Cook bacon on medium low heat until it is halfway cooked and releases it’s fat.

– Add onions, bell pepper, carrots and jalepeno and cook until onions are translucent.

– Add garlic and cook for 1 minute.

– Add ground beef and chili powder and cook until browned.

– Add worcestershire, tomato paste, and tomato sauce and cook for 10 minutes.

– Add sour cream and cook for 5 minutes.

– Add noodles and stir well.

– Add cheese and stir well.

– Season with salt and pepper to taste.