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
