Move over, Hamburger Helper.

Yesterday was on of those days when I just didn't want to spend a great deal of time cooking dinner.  I've been following the Carbohydrate Addicts Diet so I'm cooking breakfast and lunch every day.  So by dinner time, I wanted something easy.  I also wanted something satisfying and homey. 

My 'go to' used to be Hamburger Helper.  Easy and inexpensive.  However, the last time I made it, both Hubs and I were O-U-T!  It tasted like salt, chemicals, and cardboard.  NOT appetizing at all. Since we've been eating better, out tastes have obviously changed.  I had to come up with an easy alternative.  So I went to the pantry and started searching.  This is what I came up with.  It's delicious.  The true test of success in my house is if Hubs goes for seconds.  Yes he did and even packed the leftovers for lunch today.  GO ME!

As always, try to use the best ingredients you can get your hands on.  Quality ingredients make simple foods shine.  To us, quality means organic and local if possible.  No chemicles or additives.  Just real food.  Sorry.  I forgot to take a picture.  It looks just like 'Beef Pasta' with mushrooms. 

Beefy Pasta
1 pound ground beef
1/2 box mushrooms, sliced
1-1/2 cups whole wheat noodles*
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1 package brown gravy mix
2-1/2 cups water
1 teaspoon beef bullion paste
salt
pepper
Sour cream (optional)

Brown ground beef. Add mushrooms and saute until tender. Add garlic powder, onion powder, and parsley. Stir. Then add brown gravy mix, water, bullion paste, salt and pepper. Stir again. Bring to boil and then turn down heat to simmer. Cover and cook until noodles are soft. If sauce seems too thin, bring temp back up and boil with lid off until the consistency is as you like it, stirring often. Stir in sour cream if using. I usually just put the sour cream on the table to add to taste. I love it, Hubs hates it. Feel free to adjust the seasonings to your family's preferences

*Whole wheat noodles work really well in this.  I normally mix 1/2 whole wheat and 1/2 regular as we feel whole wheat pastas are a bit heavy for most dishes.  Feel free to substitute regular egg noodles.  Heck add rice instead of noodles.  That would be good too!