Today I’m sharing with you a quick and simple recipe–savory tomato pasta. This meal literally comes together as fast as it takes to brown some hamburger. Plus you probably have all the ingredients you need sitting in your pantry and freezer. You can make this meal in 30 minutes or less.
Savory Tomato Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground beef (or turkey)
- 1/2 cup chopped onion (I just use frozen chopped onions to make it faster)
- 1 can (15 oz.) tomato sauce
- 1 can (15 oz.) tomato soup (can use homemade or favorite variety)
- 2-3 whole dried bay leaves
- 1-3/4 cup macaroni (elbow) noodles
- 1-2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
Instructions
-
Bring a pot of water to a boil for the macaroni noodles. Lightly salt the water and add the noodles. Cook according to the package instructions.
-
While the water is coming to a boil and/or the noodles are cooking, brown together the ground beef along with the onion. Drain any grease and return to the pan. Add the can of tomato sauce and tomato soup along with the bay leaves. Cover and simmer 10-15 minutes.
-
Drain the noodles and return to the pot. Take out the bay leaves from the tomato and meat sauce and then pour the sauce over the macaroni noodles.
-
Stir in 1-2 cups of grated cheddar cheese. Cook until the cheese melts and serve warm!
I had to blend up the tomato sauce and tomato soup since there were chunks in the soup–heaven forbid my kids have tomato chunks in their food:)
I usually double this recipe for my family, but I only double the tomato soup, tomato sauce, and noodles. I don’t add more bay leaves, meat, or cheese.
I even made it as a freezer meal once just to experiment, and it turned out great, although clearly with the baking time added would not make it a 30-minute meal. You simply place a layer of plastic wrap on first and then aluminum foil after that to freeze it, but when you pull it out of the freezer to cook it, you remove the layer of plastic wrap and return the foil on top to bake it.
Serve with your favorite salad, garlic bread, or steamed vegetable and feel proud of the fact that you just made a healthier version of “hamburger helper” that doesn’t contain strange ingredients or weird preservatives. Enjoy!
What are some of your favorite quick and simple meal ideas?