Budget "Beef-aroni" - old fashioned comfort food...

Anyone out there remember ?Beefaroni?? Maybe I?m the only one that old now - but seriously it was my favorite pasta-in-a-can. I?ve tried lots of recipes that try to duplicate it - but I think mine (of course!) is the real deal... And guess what? It?s still out there! Maybe you even remember the advertising jingle:

We?re having Beefaroni! It?s beef and macaroni! Beefaroni?s full of meat. Beefaroni?s fun to eat. Beefaroni?s really neat. Hooray! Whee! For Chef Boy-ar-dee!

This week I had a good amount of ground beef I needed to use, and meatloaf just didn?t sound good. It made me think of our favorite comfort soup. I usually make this family stand-by with crumbled ground beef and it?s wonderful - but this time I made it into meatballs.



I formed tiny meatballs (smaller than normal) and placed them in a heavy pan in a 350 degree oven. After watching them, and testing a few - I determined they were finished about an hour later. After taking most of the meatballs and packaging them to freeze, I had about 2 cups left.



Over the years, I?ve seen similar recipes, but they turn out too watery to resemble my favorite canned Beefaroni. The thing I liked about Chef Boy-ar-dee?s was the creamy, but not too thick sauce. Once I added a can of condensed tomato soup to the mix - it was perfect. I still like it to be a bit soupy, but not watery - so my recipe has evolved over years of making it.



And yes, kids love it - it DOES have macaroni you know... If you want it more ?classy? - change the pasta to something fancy.

For the recipe - tweaks included - go to:
www.changeabletable.com