Thursday, September 6, 2012

Tablespoon of Geek: Back to School Beefy KD Casserole


Good Day all it is the first week of September and for many that means one thing, it is time to go back to school. Not for me this year however but my Wifey will be beginning her long journey to acquire her Bachelor of Commerce. As a student trying to better yourself budgets can be very tight and thus will spend a lot of time eating the same cheap food.

While I was in the tail end of my college career I pretty much lived on Kraft Dinner Macaroni & Cheese. The easy to make cheesy noodle dish quickly became the main staple of my post secondary diet.

I decided with all the people going back to school this month I would take one of the college food staples and make a recipe with it.

So here is my Beefy KD Casserole:

First thing as always let us get some supplies, for this recipe you will need….

1 lb of ground beef
1 cup of Tomato Paste
1 Cup of Cherry Tomatoes Halved
1 ½ Cup of Yellow Onion Chopped
¼ of a Red Pepper Chopped
1 Clove of garlic Crushed
3 Cups of Mozzarella
1 Cup of Parmesan
2 Boxes of KD
Salt pepper and other spices of your choosing


This will make 8 servings that can be stored and eaten throughout a week or frozen for a later date.

Before we start any of the cooking steps turn your oven on to bake setting at 350 degrees

The First step in the process is to make the Kraft Dinner macaroni as instructed on the side of the box. Hopefully you have made Mac & Cheese at least once before in your life before doing this if not it is really easy. Everyone has a different method for making KD my Wifey likes extra butter whereas I like to use extra Milk. Once done put this aside on an element set to a low simmer.

Next take a large skillet a bring up to heat with some cooking oil in it, once the skillet is up to heat then add the Ground Beef. Cook and turn for a little bit until the meat has started to brown a little bit, once browning has begun add the Tomato Paste and mix in. The paste will begin to boil and the meat will continue the browning process at this point add in the Yellow Onion, Red Pepper, Cherry Tomatoes and Garlic. Keep mixing things so that everything has a chance to cook thoroughly and while this is happening add in Salt, Pepper and Other Spices.

Once the meat is cooked properly you will need to move the skillet off of the element and place to the side. At this point in the entire process you will need to get ready a medium sized Casserole dish to put everything in, it is best to coat the sides of the dish with oil for later. Next take the cooked meat part and place half of it at the bottom of the casserole dish, this will be the first layer. Next put half of the prepared Kraft Dinner goes on top of the meat to make the next layer, make sure that with each layer you spread it out evenly to the edges of the dish. Alright so the next layer is where you take the cheeses and distribute them ½ cup of Parmesan and 1 and a ½ cups of Mozzarella spread to the edges. There are another three layers in the order of the last of the meat followed by the rest of the Kraft Dinner and then top it all off with the remaining cheeses.

Place the dish and all of its contents into the preheated oven to bake for a measly 10 min.

After that timer of yours dings and you remove the dish from the oven you are going to have to wait 5 minutes. Let it cool down so you don’t burn your tongue.


Now cut it into portions and serve it out, like I said this makes a lot it can serve up to eight people. I stored a bunch in my deep freeze to eat at a later date or for an emergency lunch on the go if I need it.

I hope you enjoy and I plan on doing more meals from college food staples for the rest of September.

Sincerely Urban Yeti

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