Happy Monday Everyone! For today's 30 Minutes Or Less we are going to take a look at my twist on a store-bought classic and make Homemade "Hamburger Helper". What's more, is that we are going to make it in just about the same amount of time it would take to make it from a box. I may be biased but I think this homemade version is even going to taste better than the original.

Before we jump into this there is something I want to quickly talk about. When I was a kid there were points when my family was really struggling to make ends meet. Like millions of Canadians, we had to turn to the local food bank for help. One thing that was consistently among the items we would receive from the food bank was hamburger helper and these would be the only times we would ever have it. So when I taste the flavour of hamburger helper like in this recipe, it takes me back to that time. What I remember most about that time is not shame, it's not a feeling of sadness, it is a feeling of gratefulness. If it wasn't for our local food bank and the donations that people in the community made to it I would have gone hungry on more nights than I can remember or probably even know.

Almost 12% of Nova Scotian Households face food insecurity issues. I can tell you from personal experience that this time of year is especially difficult when you don't have enough to eat. So if you can, if you have any extra you can spare, please donate to your local food bank. This time of year and all year round. Who you end up helping could a friend, a neighbour, a family member, or even a young me.

Alright, here we go...

5:35 pm - Getting Started

I got going on this Homemade "Hamburger Helper" at 5:35 pm. To get started I put a large skillet on the stove over medium-high heat, I put a pot of salted water on for the pasta, and I diced an onion.

5:38 pm - Parsley

Once the onion was chopped up and pushed aside I chopped up about 2-3 tablespoon of fresh parsley. And that concludes our knife work for the day.

5:39 pm - Hot pan

At 5:39 the pan was nice and hot so I added in the beef. I'm using a nonstick pan so I didn't add any oil into it because enough will come out of the beef and that with the non-stick is enough. However, if you are using stainless steel or castiron you will likely need to add a teaspoon or two of canola or another neutral oil. So, I added the beef in, stirred it around a bit and seasoned it with salt and pepper.

5:44 pm - Boiling Water

By 5:44 I was still browning the beef but my pasta water was boiling. The pasta I used is obviously gluten-free and takes about 12 minutes to cook. I figured that the timing would work out just about perfect so I put the pasta in the water. If your pasta takes a little less time to cook you may want to wait for a few minutes before adding it into the water.

5:46 pm - Onions In

Once the beef was browned I added in the onion and cooked that for about 2 minutes.

5:48 pm - Herbs and Spices

After the onion came the herbs and spices. I used 1 teaspoon of garlic powder (I would have used 2-3 cloves of fresh garlic but realized way too late that I was completely out), 1 tablespoon dried oregano, ½ teaspoon paprika, and ¼ teaspoon red chilli flakes. I cooked the species with the beef and onion for about 3 minutes.

5:51 pm - Sauce It

Next up, I added in 1 cup of puréed (or crushed) tomatoes, and ½ cup of whipping cream (35%) and stirred it well to combine.

5:54 pm - More Herbs and Spices

At this point, I gave the mixture a taste and wasn't too happy with it. So, I doubled up on the spices adding in the same amount again of garlic powder, paprika, and dried chilli flakes.

5:56 pm - Drain the pasta

My sauce was looking a little too thick so I scooped out about ¼ cup of the pasta water and added that in. I also drained the pasta and added it to the sauce. I mixed all of this up making sure all the pasta was coated in the sauce.

5:58 pm - Homemade

Finally, at 5:58 pm I shut the heat off of the burner and added 2 tablespoon sour cream, 2-3 tablespoon grated cheddar, 2 tablespoon parsley to the pan. I gave the pasta one final taste, adjusted the seasoning with salt and pepper and just like that with 7 minutes to spare, Homemade "Hamburger Helper" was done and good to go.

Conclusion

What's not to love about this? It's creamy, gooey, quick, cheap, and delicious. I highly recommend you give this a shot.

You may have noticed that there are not a lot of vegetables with this dish, good eye. I suggest serving it with a salad which you have plenty of time to make and will still come in under the 30-minute mark.

I hope you enjoyed this post and remember to like and share it. Thanks, and please donate to your local food bank, no donation is too small.