The Healthy My Ass Cookbook

Mac and Bacon Cheeseburger Casserole

A bacon cheeseburger casserole substituting macaroni for the bun.

Ingredients:

Directions:

Set aside the following: a 13x9" 3 quart casserole dish generously greased with the Butter, the chopped Onion, cleaned and sliced Mushrooms, removing stems if desired, and the Bacon cut into 1/2 inch wide pieces, fried in a large skillet (that has a lid) until it just begins to crisp when the grease starts to foam (it will cook to fully crisp in the oven) and drained on paper towel.

Transfer 2 tablespoons of the bacon grease from the skillet to a 2 quart or larger pot and set aside.  Remove most of the remaining bacon grease from the skillet, leaving a thin layer along with the bacon fragments in the skillet.  Add the onion to the skillet to sauté.  Crumble the Ground Beef into the skillet and cook until it just begins to turn brown.  Add the mushrooms, cover and cook until all the beef is browned and the mushrooms have turned gray.  Drain and discard the grease and liquid.  Season with Garlic Salt and Black Pepper to taste.  Set aside.

Set aside 6 whole slices of the American Cheese and quarter the remaining slices.  Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Prepare the Elbow Macaroni as directed on the package, boiling for the shortest amount of time indicated.

Meanwhile, heat the bacon grease in the 2 quart or larger pot.  Stir in the Flour until smooth.  Stir in the Evaporated Milk and the Milk and heat.  Add each quarter slice of cheese, one by one, to the heating milk to melt while stirring.  Add the Salt and Cracked Black Pepper to taste.

Thoroughly drain the macaroni, stirring with a spoon to release water from inside the elbows.  Pour the macaroni into the buttered baking dish.  Pour the cheese and milk sauce over the macaroni.  Evenly spread the beef mixture over the macaroni.  Distribute the bacon evenly over the beef.  Top with the reserved 6 slices of American cheese.

Bake for about 20 minutes or until bubbling and the cheese on top just begins to brown.  Remove from the oven and let stand 15 minutes before serving.

Notes:

I've also used 1 whole onion chopped and that was good too.

I just recently noticed that the 16-oz. package of Kraft American Cheese has 24 slices that weigh 2/3 of an ounce each, while the 12-oz. package has 16 slices that weigh 3/4 of an ounce each, i.e., those slices are slightly thicker.  Who knew?  Anyway, if you are using more than one 12-oz. package for your one pound of American cheese, use 21 slices, not the 24 slices that come in the one pound package.

See Also:

Mac and Cheese - A creamy baked macaroni and cheese side dish that is a Thanksgiving tradition in African American culture.