What-a-burger Wednesday - Italian Beef & Pasta

My darling husband is somewhat against tomato based sauces. This has effectively ended my go to meal- spaghetti.  He'll eat it red sauces, but he doesn;t enjoy them. So, what's the point?

On another hand I have a friend in TN that is pregnant with twins, and tomato sauce just isn't appealing to her right now. So I asked for some ideas. Her mom had done this a few days ago, and I'm sure I didn;t do it quite right, but it came out good.

Ingredients

• 1 cup frozenseasoning blend
• 2-3 garlic cloves, or 1 heaping teaspoon of minced garlic
• splash of olive oil
• 1 lb lean ground beef or turkey
• 1/2 tsp Original Mrs. Dash seasoning
• 1/2 tsp Italian Seasoning
• 1/4 tsp dried basil*
• 1/4 tsp dried thyme*
• another splash of olive oil
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1 lb whole grain pasta in your choice of shape. I used spaghetti.
• 4 beef bouillon cubes

Directions

1. Saute frozen seasoning blend and garlic in olive oil for a few minutes.
2. Add in ground meat & brown breaking into small pieces.
3. Drain any fat from meat if necessary and return to pot.
4. Add dried herbs and.another splash of olive oil.
5. Stir well to distribute herbs and oil.
6. Cover and reduce heat to low
7. Meanwhile prepare a pot of water for boiling pasta, add boullion cubes and 1tsp of salt.
8. When boiling add pasta (breaking if you prefer) and cook until al dente, as per package directions.
9. Do not pour pasta cooking broth out, but drain pasta by using a slotted pasta spoon and add to meat mixture.
10. Toss to combine, adding a few ladles of pasta cooking broth to add moisture.
11. Serve with garlic bread and if you prefer add more broth to individual bowls.

Carbs & Protein... perfect comfort food!!

Even Mr. Picky loved this and Kaelyn ate two servings. I also meant to add some peas into the dish and forgot.. NEXT TIME!!



*Note: If you use fresh instead of dried herbs, use 3-4x more and add them at the end of thge cooking process.