Spanish Macaroni

According to Nana, this was what she would cook when she couldn't think of anything else to cook.  At first glace, the finished product looks like Hamburger Helper, and in a way, it kinda is - only WAY better!!  I actually prefer making it from scratch because you know what's in it, it's cheaper and you can alter the ingredients to make other variations of the same recipe.

Spanish Macaroni

1 to 1 ½ pounds of ground beef

1 chopped onion

1 Tablespoon MORTON’S CHILI BLEND

1 (14.5oz) can of diced tomatoes

½ can of water

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

2 cups (dry) elbow macaroni cooked and drained

 Brown 1 to 1 ½ pounds of ground beef.  Because I only had 80/20 ground beef in the freezer, I strained the excess fat off of the meat before adding the onions.

Add 1 chopped onion

 1 Tablespoon MORTON’S CHILI BLEND

1 (14.5oz) can of diced tomatoes

½ can of water

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

 Bring to boil. Cover and simmer 30 minutes.

 While the meat and tomatoes are simmering, boil 2 cups of dry elbow macaroni and strain.  It is best cook it aldente so that the macaroni does not get too mushy.  Add the pasta in the last 5-10 mins of simmering and stir to combine.

It should look like this. :)

A healthier version could be made by substituting the ground beef with ground turkey and the elbow macaroni with a whole wheat pasta.

Fritos and bananas

Either you LOVE chips or you’re wrong.  (I feel this way about Bacon too!) I am a chipoholic and it is a disease. Genetically predisposed to needing to eat chips – at least daily.  I share this love for chips with Nana.  Recently, Nana had oral surgery and was on a soft diet for nearly two weeks.  TWO weeks!!  Two weeks without chips!!

I. Would. Die.  

Of course, the day before the procedure, Nana had her share of Doritos.  As soon as she had the go ahead from her doctor she cautiously indulged herself in her favorite snack again. 

Oreo

My childhood is filled with many fond memories at Nana and Grandad’s house and lots of them include cooking and eating.  I have a very vivid memory of being at Nana’s and we were sitting on the front porch with Oreo having a snack.  Of course we had chips (Fritos) and bananas.  Sounds like a weird combination, but it’s not!  Crunchy chips and mushy banana is just the right combination of salty and sweet.

Ingredients:

Ripe Banana

Fritos

 Peel the banana.

  Get a Frito and "dip" into the banana.

Eat it.

Fall in love.

You won't regret it.

This is a blog where Nana Marble's kids and grand-kids can post her recipes she gave us and has made for us through the years, along with any other recipes we decide to post!