Homemade Hamburger Helper Cheeseburger Macaroni

Homemade Hamburger Helper Cheeseburger Macaroni - made November 23, 2018 from A Southern Mom

Although I made this recipe awhile ago, I postponed putting it up on my blog in favor of my holiday baking recipes instead.

Plus, this is generally the time of year when I post recipes for "real food". Yes, it's my usual new year "let's give cooking another try, shall we?" effort. Not that this recipe takes much effort, thankfully.

When I was in college and for some years after, I loved making hamburger helper. It was so easy. Brown some ground beef, tear open the box and let stuff simmer until the pasta was tender. That's my kind of cooking.

And although this technically wasn't from the Hamburger Helper box, it was also pretty easy. If you can brown ground beef, you can make this recipe. Bonus that it used some of my Penzey's spices. Double bonus that it tasted pretty good and made enough to feed me over multiple meals.

1 lb lean ground beef
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup hot water
2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups macaroni
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1. Brown ground beef in large pan over medium heat; drain the fat.
2. Add cornstarch, spices, sugar, water, pasta and milk; bring to boil.
3. Lower heat and simmer mixture until pasta is al dente.
4. Add cheddar cheese and stir. Turn off heat and stir until cheese is melted. Serve warm.