Hamburger Helper Soup

Cakers know their way around ground beef like nobody’s business. With a single pound, my mother could make a casserole, a meatloaf, a burger for the next day’s lunch and a pair of earrings – plus use the Styrofoam tray for chocolate haystacks to take to the next church bakesale.

When it came to full-course dinners, Hamburger Helper helped her hamburger help her make a great meal. (Think about that line too much and your brain starts to hurt bad.) One package of Hamburger Helper provided our family with meat, noodles, a gravy-type liquid and a small mountain of sodium. That's all four caker food groups!

Vegetables aside, this soup is mighty tasty. It comes from the Victorian Order of Nurses cookbook. VONs are nurses who travel to people's homes. Changing a crusty bandage in a hospital is one thing; changing it in someone’s living room is a whole other skill set. I raise my caker fork to the good work VONs do across the land every day. I hope there’s a steaming bowl of Hamburger Helper soup waiting when you get home.

1 lb. ground beef

½ cup onion, chopped

1 package beef noodle Hamburger Helper

5 cups water

1 bay leaf

¼ teaspoon salt (see note)

½ teaspoon pepper

1 (19-ounce) can whole tomatoes

300 gram package frozen vegetables or 2 cups cooked vegetables

Brown ground beef and onion in large saucepan; drain. Stir in sauce mix, water, bay leaf, salt, pepper and tomatoes with liquid; break up tomatoes with fork. Heat to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat. Cover; simmer, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Stir in noodles and vegetables. Return to a boil. Reduce heat. Cover; cook for 10 minutes longer. Remove bay leaf.

Note: I didn't add the salt or I would've been up all night drinking from the garden hose. Again.

Source: Victorian Order of Nurses, Quinte Branch, 95th Anniversary Cookbook