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Chili Mac - Quicky



My daughter and her boyfriend were in for the weekend.  It was so great to see them!  We toured a great old home in our area on Saturday.  It was built in the mid 1800's and is just humongous.  It is filled with fancy old furnishings, antiques, portraits of the family members, and possibly a few spirits LOL!

 My daughter and her dad always have a standing date at Pizza Hut on Saturday afternoons when she's home (not my thing exactly, but my daughter, her boyfriend, and Doug really love it .. so what can I say??).  I joined them for lunch so I wasn't very hungry all afternoon.  In fact, I was so full that I just couldn't think of anything to take out of the freezer to make for supper.

 By about 6PM, I was getting a little hungry.  I had a small amount of hamburger in my freezer which could be thawed quickly in the microwave.  It was about the size of my fist.  What on earth could I make with that little dabble of hamburger?  I decided to try my hand at Chili Mac.  You know... kind of along the same idea as Hamburger Helper but using chili type ingredients.  (I didn't have the amount of cheese that I needed for Homemade Cheeseburger Macaroni and it was kind of rainy weather.  Perfect for chili.  I just also didn't have the amount of hamburger that you would need to make a whole pot of chili.  So, Chili Mac it WAS and it turned out delicious!  I served it with some baby carrots and dip and we loved it!

 Here's how I made Chili Mac AT HOME MY WAY:
Chili Mac
  • 1 pound of hamburger (or less)
  • 1 (8 oz) can of tomato sauce
  • 1 can of crushed tomatoes (diced would work also)
    1 can of kidney or pinto beans (drained)
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder (my family doesn't like onions)
  • 1 1/2 Tablespoon of chili powder (or less if you like less spicy)
  • salt & pepper to your liking
  • 1 1/2 cups water
  • 1 cup of UNCOOKED elbow macaraoni
Instructions:
Brown the hamburger in a decent sized skillet or dutch oven.  Drain if needed.  Add the onion powder and some salt/pepper.  Add the tomato sauce, crushed tomatoes, drained kidney/pinto beans, water, chili powder.  Stir well.  Cook on medium heat with a lid (stirring occasionally) about 15 minutes (until all the tastes have time to blend together).
Add the UNCOOKED macaroni to the pot.  Stir well.  Heat and stir often because the macaroni will try to stick to the bottom of the pan.  Continue cooking with a lid, stirring occasionally until the macaroni is done.  This took about 10-12 minutes.
*If your Chili Mac looks pretty dry and your macaroni isn't done, feel free to add a little drizzle of water, stir and continue cooking until the macaroni is done. 
Looks great, doesn't it?  The college kids loved it!

 This is mine before the macaroni had time to cook and swell up.  This will thicken a lot as the macaroni cooks:


Enjoy!

Gina
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