This beef casserole reminds me of home. I remember my mom making this often when I was a child, and it was always delicious and comforting. It's easy, filling, and pretty healthy. I know your family will love it!
Brown meat in a large skillet or even better, a stockpot-mine ended up overflowing the skillet once I added the other ingredients. I used 1 lb. lean ground beef and 1 lb. lean ground turkey. Drain excess liquid.
Meanwhile, chop an onion, green pepper, and two celery stalks.
Get your other ingredients ready.
Toss the veggies, tomatoes, cream of mushroom, and water chesnuts into the pan. Cook on low for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile boil about 3/4 bag of whole wheat egg noodles-I slightly under cook the noodles as they will continue to cook in the oven.
As you can see in the picture above, my pan was about to overflow so I dumped everything in one of my large pots. Add the cooked egg noodles slowly until you get a nice noodle to beef mixture ratio. Give it a taste test and season as needed. I added a little extra salt and pepper. My hubby added hot sauce to his later.
Pour the casserole into a 9x13 pan and cover with 2 C. shredded cheddar cheese. I was preparing these as a freezer meal (instructions below), so I lined two 9x9 pans with foil before filling.
At this point I froze the casseroles, but you would normally put into a 350 oven for about 30-40 minutes or until hot and bubbly.
Enjoy!
Easy Beef Casserole
Serves 6-8
2 lb. ground beef (could sub half or all with ground turkey)
1 chopped yellow onion
1 large green pepper chopped
1/2 C. chopped celery (about 2 stalks)
16 oz. can diced tomatoes, no salt added
1 can sliced water chesnuts
1 can cream of mushroom soup (healthy request)
3/4 bag whole wheat egg noodles, slightly undercooked
2 C. shredded sharp cheddar cheese
Salt and Pepper to taste
Brown meat in a large skillet or stockpot and drain. Add next 6 ingredients to the meat and cook on low, stirring often for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, boil the noodles according to package but slightly undercooked-they will finish cooking in the oven. Slowly add the noodles to the meat mixture until you get a noodle-beef ratio that suits you. Take a quick taste to see if you need a little more salt and pepper. Adjust seasonings as needed. Pour in a 9x13 casserole dish and top with shredded cheese. Bake at 350 for about 30-40 minutes or until hot and bubbly.
*This is a great freezer meal. I split it in half to make 2 9x9 dishes. Wrap each baking pan in aluminum foil, leaving excess on the edges for wrapping. Spray the bottom of the pans lightly with oil. Add casserole ingredients and top with cheese. Wrap the casserole up and refrigerate in the pan until cool. Then transfer to the freezer still in the pan. Once frozen completely lift the casserole out of the pan and transfer to a large freezer bag. When you are ready to use, pop the casserole back into the same pan you used to freeze it in. You can either thaw in your refrigerator 24 hours before cooking, or cook from frozen and add about 30 minutes to the cooking time.
