Okay, foodies. I know this is simple, but I want to run it by you
anyway.

My wife tore a page out of our Weight Watchers magazine. It's a
recipe for a Hamburger Noodle Bake casserole. We don't normally make
hamburger-helper type recipes, but we figured it's kid friendly and
we'd like to have one night without arguments.

Problem is, the page my wife tore out has the ingredients, but the
procedure was on the facing page, and the magazine is gone.

Here's the list:

12 oz no-yolk egg noodles (I use Healthy Harvest WW noodles).
1.5 pounds lean ground beef
2 14-oz cans diced tomatoes
1 1/2 cups shredded reduced fat cheddar cheese
35 reduced fat Ritz crackers

So, my inclination is to cook the noodles, brown the beef, then mix it
all together and bake it at 350 for, I don't know, 20 minutes?

I'd probably add the crackers towards the end?

Actually, the Ritz sound kind of gross to me, I'll probably leave them
off of half the casserole.

Mitch wrote:
> Okay, foodies. I know this is simple, but I want to run it by you
> anyway.
>
> My wife tore a page out of our Weight Watchers magazine. It's a
> recipe for a Hamburger Noodle Bake casserole. We don't normally make
> hamburger-helper type recipes, but we figured it's kid friendly and
> we'd like to have one night without arguments.
>
> Problem is, the page my wife tore out has the ingredients, but the
> procedure was on the facing page, and the magazine is gone.
>
> Here's the list:
>
> 12 oz no-yolk egg noodles (I use Healthy Harvest WW noodles).
> 1.5 pounds lean ground beef
> 2 14-oz cans diced tomatoes
> 1 1/2 cups shredded reduced fat cheddar cheese
> 35 reduced fat Ritz crackers
>
> So, my inclination is to cook the noodles, brown the beef, then mix it
> all together and bake it at 350 for, I don't know, 20 minutes?
>
> I'd probably add the crackers towards the end?
>
> Actually, the Ritz sound kind of gross to me, I'll probably leave them
> off of half the casserole.
Sounds like a plan, altho it may need a few more minutes in the oven

"Mitch" <Mitch@...> wrote in message
...
> Okay, foodies. I know this is simple, but I want to run it by you
> anyway.
>
> My wife tore a page out of our Weight Watchers magazine. It's a
> recipe for a Hamburger Noodle Bake casserole. We don't normally make
> hamburger-helper type recipes, but we figured it's kid friendly and
> we'd like to have one night without arguments.
>
> Problem is, the page my wife tore out has the ingredients, but the
> procedure was on the facing page, and the magazine is gone.
>
> Here's the list:
>
> 12 oz no-yolk egg noodles (I use Healthy Harvest WW noodles).
> 1.5 pounds lean ground beef
> 2 14-oz cans diced tomatoes
> 1 1/2 cups shredded reduced fat cheddar cheese
> 35 reduced fat Ritz crackers
>
> So, my inclination is to cook the noodles, brown the beef, then mix it
> all together and bake it at 350 for, I don't know, 20 minutes?
>
> I'd probably add the crackers towards the end?
>
> Actually, the Ritz sound kind of gross to me, I'll probably leave them
> off of half the casserole.

I suspect you're supposed to crush the crackers and put them on top for a
kind of crumb crust. I think I'd mix 1 cup of the cheese with the cooked
noodles/browned beef/tomato mix, and the other half cup with the topping.

The whole recipe sounds underseasoned to me. I'd add some onions or garlic
to the beef when browning. And it may not be kid-friendly, but I'd probably
use Ro-Tel tomatoes.

Anny

On Thu, 04 Jan 2007 16:23:43 GMT, Mitch <Mitch@...> wrote:

>Okay, foodies. I know this is simple, but I want to run it by you
>anyway.
>
>My wife tore a page out of our Weight Watchers magazine. It's a
>recipe for a Hamburger Noodle Bake casserole. We don't normally make
>hamburger-helper type recipes, but we figured it's kid friendly and
>we'd like to have one night without arguments.
>
>Problem is, the page my wife tore out has the ingredients, but the
>procedure was on the facing page, and the magazine is gone.
>
>Here's the list:
>
>12 oz no-yolk egg noodles (I use Healthy Harvest WW noodles).
>1.5 pounds lean ground beef
> 2 14-oz cans diced tomatoes
>1 1/2 cups shredded reduced fat cheddar cheese
>35 reduced fat Ritz crackers
>
>So, my inclination is to cook the noodles, brown the beef, then mix it
>all together and bake it at 350 for, I don't know, 20 minutes?
>
>I'd probably add the crackers towards the end?
>
>Actually, the Ritz sound kind of gross to me, I'll probably leave them
>off of half the casserole.

I'm pretty sure the Ritz are crumbled on top of it to add extra
crunch...

I'd take a guess that the beef is browned and drained then mix in the
tomato and cheese and COOKED noodles, then top with cracker crumbs and
bake. I can't say the recipe sound very appealing to me - it needs
spicing up a LOT to make it edible!

On Thu, 4 Jan 2007 10:42:35 -0600, "Anny Middon"
> wrote:

>The whole recipe sounds underseasoned to me. I'd add some onions or garlic
>to the beef when browning.

True. I almost always brown beef with onion.
It does seem kind of weird that there's no seasoning!
Salt and pepper, at least. Garlic powder, maybe.

Mitch wrote:
> Okay, foodies. I know this is simple, but I want to run it by you
> anyway.
>
> My wife tore a page out of our Weight Watchers magazine. It's a
> recipe for a Hamburger Noodle Bake casserole. We don't normally make
> hamburger-helper type recipes, but we figured it's kid friendly and
> we'd like to have one night without arguments.
>
> Problem is, the page my wife tore out has the ingredients, but the
> procedure was on the facing page, and the magazine is gone.
>
> Here's the list:
>
> 12 oz no-yolk egg noodles (I use Healthy Harvest WW noodles).
> 1.5 pounds lean ground beef
> 2 14-oz cans diced tomatoes
> 1 1/2 cups shredded reduced fat cheddar cheese
> 35 reduced fat Ritz crackers
>
> So, my inclination is to cook the noodles, brown the beef, then mix it
> all together and bake it at 350 for, I don't know, 20 minutes?
>
> I'd probably add the crackers towards the end?
>
> Actually, the Ritz sound kind of gross to me, I'll probably leave them
> off of half the casserole.

If the recipe calls for Ritz specifically then it's probably listed at
the Ritz web site. But I think adding any crackers to a casserol that
already contains starch in the form of noodles is redundant, most
especially for a diet recipe... and I also think the Ritz crackers
sounds gross. I'd add a couple diced onion and a handful of minced
garlic cloves sauted with the beef, add a diced green pepper too, needs
s n' p, and a fistful minced parsley, and a bit of red pepepr flakes,
.... I'd cut back on the cheese by half and use skim mozz as a topping.

Btw, no-yolk egg noodles are for those who are allergic to egg yolks,
not for dieters... the amount of egg in commercially prepared egg
noodles is insignicant, and very likely to increase shelf life fat free
powdered eggs are used... why not simply use ordinary pasta (any shape
you like), dried pasta contains no eggs. If you use elbows in that
recipe what you have is American Chop Suey.

This was bad, even with the tweaks.
I can't believe how bland.

Mitch wrote on 04 Jan 2007 in rec.food.cooking

> On Thu, 4 Jan 2007 10:42:35 -0600, "Anny Middon"
> > wrote:
>
> >The whole recipe sounds underseasoned to me. I'd add some onions or
> >garlic to the beef when browning.
>
> True. I almost always brown beef with onion.
> It does seem kind of weird that there's no seasoning!
> Salt and pepper, at least. Garlic powder, maybe.
>

I'd use real cheddar as well.