Kay’s Macaroni Hamburg Casserole

Kay Mason Thompson, 1950’s 20^th Century

     This is a recipe I learned from my Grandmother Kay Thompson (my father’s mother) who used to make this all the time.  Every man that’s ever tried this loves it, it’s a family favorite, and kids will eat it anytime. It’s just a good 1950’s traditional recipe.  And it’s better than hamburger helper because you can control the sodium and fat that’s in the beef.  It’s a regular in our house for sure.

• 1 box of Kraft’s Deluxe Macaroni & Cheese
• 1 lbs of ground beef
• 1 can of Campbell’s condensed tomato soup
• 1 14-16 oz can of diced tomatoes
• 1/3 cup of dried diced onion + 2 tblsp for the top

    Preheat the oven to 325.  Pull out a casserole dish (approximately 2 ½ quartz). Boil the macaroni as advised on the Kraft box.  Drain and add the cooked macaroni to the casserole dish.  Mix in the cheese packet and tomato soup.  Open the canned tomatoes and drain as much as possible.  Add the drained diced tomatoes to the mix as well. Thoroughly incorporate.   Brown the ground beef and drain.  Once drain add the beef and the dried onion to the mix.  Once thoroughly incorporated, top the casserole with the remaining 2 tablespoons of dried onion.  

     Cover your casserole for the first 30 minutes and cook at 325 degrees.  After 30 minutes, uncover and cook another 10 minutes to crisp the top.

     Take the casserole out and let cool 5-10 minutes, then scoop out into individual bowls.

     A GREAT comfort food.  Also reheats well, makes an excellent leftover.