Homemade Hamburger Helper

A day or two ago I came across this recipe on EatingWell.com, and we decided to try it for supper tonight.  It's kind of like beef stroganoff and Hamburger Helper, only better (than H.H., anyway).

Hamburger Buddy

Ingredients

• 3 cloves garlic, crushed and peeled
• 2 medium carrots, cut into 2-inch pieces
• 10 ounces white mushrooms, large ones cut in half
• 1 large onion, cut into 2-inch pieces
• 1 pound 90%-lean ground beef
• 2 teaspoons dried thyme
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 2 cups water
• 1 14-ounce can reduced-sodium beef broth, divided
• 8 ounces whole-wheat elbow noodles, (2 cups)
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup reduced-fat sour cream
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley, or chives for garnish

Preparation

1. Fit a food processor with the steel blade attachment. With the motor running, drop garlic through the feed tube and process until minced, then add carrots and mushrooms and process until finely chopped. Turn it off, add onion, and pulse until roughly chopped.
2. Cook beef in a large straight-sided skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat, breaking it up with a wooden spoon, until no longer pink, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in the chopped vegetables, thyme, salt and pepper and cook, stirring often, until the vegetables start to soften and the mushrooms release their juices, 5 to 7 minutes.
3. Stir in water, 1 1/2 cups broth, noodles and Worcestershire sauce; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until the pasta is tender, 8 to 10 minutes.
4. Whisk flour with the remaining 1/4 cup broth in a small bowl until smooth; stir into the hamburger mixture. Stir in the sour cream. Simmer, stirring often, until the sauce is thickened, about 2 minutes. Serve sprinkled with parsley (or chives), if desired.

I used ground beef that was 92/8, 'cause that's what I found at the store (I pondered using ground turkey, and I'm sure it would work here).  I did not need to drain the meat after browning it.  I used my usual pre-minced garlic and dehydrated chopped onion, and just added them separately at the same time as the veggie mix (which somehow ended up as more of a puree for me instead of finely chopped, but oh well).  I also added 2 sticks of celery in with the other veggies in the food processor.  I added some mushrooms in whole slices, apart from the veggie mix, because husband and I love mushrooms.  I used unflavored Greek yogurt in place of the sour cream, and the garnish we chose was chives. 

I thought it was delicious, and relatively quick to make.  If you want any variation, there are many suggestions from reviewers on the page I took the recipe from; I didn't read all 100.  I noticed a few of the reviewers complained that it was bland and/or the thyme was too strong; we didn't have either problem.  Might be because I like thyme.  Might be because we've been cutting out sodium wherever we can for years now, so what's good to us might be bland to some.  My picky-eater 3-yr-old wouldn't even taste it, despite the presence of noodles (which he loves by themselves), but husband approved and said he would eat it again.  Also, no doubt it was much healthier than the boxed Hamburger Helper stuff!