It’s time for an 80s casserole!
This is Meat Noodle Casserole!
This recipe is from a great book I found recently at my Goodwill, which I was very excited about. Better Homes and Gardens always has the best (and craziest) recipes. And pictures!
And yes, that spaghetti pie is coming up very soon.
- 3 ounces medium noodles (2 1/4 cups)
- 1 can condensed soup (Such as cream of mushroom, cream of celery, cream of chicken, cheddar cheese)
- 1/2 cup dairy sour cream
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 cup thinly sliced celery
- 1 – 2 1/2 ounce jar sliced mushrooms, drained
- 2 T chopped pimiento
- 1 tablespoon snipped parsley
- 1 pound ground meat, cooked and drained
- Seasoning
- Crumbs
- 1/4 tsp paprika (only for bread crumbs)
- 1 T butter or margarine
- In large saucepan, cook noodles in a large amount of boiling salted water for 10 to 12 minutes or until tender. Set aside.
- In large bowl, stir together soup, sour cream, and milk. Add celery, mushrooms, pimiento, and parsley. Stir in cooked noodles, meat and seasoning. Turn mixture into a 2 quart casserole.
- Combine crumbs and paprika (only with bread crumbs). Toss with melted butter and sprinkle over casserole.
- Bake, uncovered, in 375 degree oven for 30 to 35 minutes or until heated through.
The main reason that this casserole was picked was because of versatility. I love that this recipe has a “backbone”, so to speak, of ingredients and then gives you plenty of ways to branch out and use what you have on hand.
Which is what we needed to do, and why we picked this casserole. I wasn’t feeling too hot (hello, winter sickness season in Michigan!) and Tom stepped up and made this casserole for dinner. He even took pictures, because he is a champ.
Though I was able to drag myself to the table to take pictures of him tasting it!
“How is it?”
“Bland, but good. I should have added some more spices.”
“The baby sure likes it.”
“More than you think. That’s her second helping already.”
The Verdict: Good
From The Tasting Notes –
The way we prepared it (cream of mushroom soup and hamburger), it ended up tasting vaguely like hamburger stroganoff, which was good. We used saltine crackers, but it would have been better with Ritz crackers for the topper. It was a bit bland, but that could easily be fixed by adding more chili powder, pepper or some cayenne.
I bet Kraft Singles would be darned good on top of this. They are great on my not-dissimilar tuna noodle casserole.
Little ones just love the bland food. Lukewarm and bland, yep. Someday I hope my four-year-old will want something for dinner besides cool macaroni and cheese from a box…