Bacon Cheeseburger Macaroni
We eat a lot of ground beef. It is relatively inexpensive and can be used in so many different types of family friendly recipes like some of our favorites: Enchiritos, 3 Meat Chili, Preacher’s Macaroni Casserole, and Easy Italian 3 Meat Penne Pasta. Ground beef is like a blank canvas to us busy home cooks! The not so glamorous part has always been having to drain the grease from the meat, which is why I was so excited when Michelle contacted me about the Easy Greasy. Michelle is a mom that got tired of dealing with the grease issue when making meals for her family and she did something about it!
From their website:
‘Easy Greasy™ is a kitchen tool to make draining hot grease from food fast, easy and safe! Its patent pending design consists of a strainer that sits securely in a heat-resistant container. Simply pour cooked food into the strainer and allow draining. Then remove the strainer and easily move your food to a pot or dish. Your hot grease is safely contained! Once your hot grease has cooled, just scoop it into the trash or secure the lid to store it. It’s that easy!’
It works absolutely beautifully, and I will not cook ground beef without it! The Easy-Greasy is available to order from lakeside, QVC, itdcommodities, and Amazon.
My hubby loves all of those ‘helper’ boxed meals. I love him despite this. 😉 I do make him the homemade versions though every once in a while. I am not an ingredients snob, but to be honest, the reason I don’t like the boxed meals, is because I don’t really like the taste. I prefer homemade EVERYTHING. It just tastes so much better. I have tried a few different recipes for the cheeseburger macaroni and they all are ok, but they add shredded cheese at the end, and we REALLY prefer a creamy cheese sauce. When I came across a recipe that has a homemade cheese sauce added at the end, I knew we had to try it. This is my favorite homemade ‘helper’ meal by far.
Bacon Cheeseburger Macaroni
Ingredients
1 lb ground beef
1 onion chopped
2 cups beef broth
1 cup water
1/2 cup ketchup
2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1/4 cup tomato paste (NOT the whole can. I made that mistake one time!)
2 tsp garlic powder
2 1/2 cups macaroni noodles, dry
For the cheese sauce
3 Tbsp unsalted butter
3 Tbsp all purpose flour
1 cup whole milk
2 cups freshly grated sharp cheddar cheese
cooked bacon pieces (I usually use the precooked kind for this)
hamburger pickles
Directions
Brown ground beef with onions. Drain grease. Add beef broth, water, ketchup, dijon mustard, tomato paste, garlic powder and uncooked noodles. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer for 10 minutes or until noodles are cooked. Stir occasionally to keep noodles from sticking.
Meanwhile prepare the cheese sauce by melting butter in another pan over medium-high heat. Add flour and whisk for 1-2 minutes until flour is cooked through. Add milk and whisk until smooth. Cook until sauce begins to thicken, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in cheese until sauce is smooth. Add cheese sauce and cooked bacon to the hamburger mixture . Serve topped with pickles if desired.
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