Hamburger Helper…

…helps hamburger help her. Remember that? Am I showing my age?

So it’s 5:30 pm. You just remembered that you have to feed your family, again. You haven’t thought about what to eat, but somehow you feel guilty throwing frozen fish sticks and a bag of cheetos at them. You have that frozen brick of ground beef burning a hole in your freezer.

I have your answer. This is the pinch-hit you need on your repetoire when you are very low on the gaf-meter, but not low enough to call for pizza.

This is the easiest one-pot meal you can make and you don’t even need one of those insta machines to do it. You have everything you need in your freezer and fridge right now.

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1 chopped onion
1 hunk of ground meat (I use 2 lbs, but we have 7 eaters)
1 bag of frozen kale (approx 1 fresh bunch per pound of meat)**
Cheese. Lots of shredded cheese.
SPICES:
Salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste.
Cumin + Curry powder (1 tbsp each, per pound of meat)

Get out a big pot. Sauté the onion in a few tbsps of oil. Add the ground beef and kale. (If beef is frozen, you’ll want to defrost it in the mike for a few minutes.) Brown the beef. Add salt, pepper, garlic powder, cumin and curry…stir frequently until it’s all cooked. Stir in a large handful of shredded cheese.

Notes: Honestly you can pick any spice here…you can be pretty creative. This is a great time to try out one of those spice combos they’ve come out with: Rogan Josh, Ras-el-Hanout, Southwestern Ranch, etc. Anything will be good.
Season heavily: about a tablespoon of spice per pound of meat.
Bowl it up, and top with as much cheese as you like.

**I buy fresh chopped kale in the salad section, and freeze it for smoothies or “Hamburger Helper” night. It is about 5 cups.
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Bam. Just fed the family…took 14 minutes. Eating healthy does not mean you also have to be creative every night, too. This is a skeleton of a recipe…consider topping it with a fried egg, or using the leftovers in a breakfast scramble, in egg cupcakes, or throw it in a couple cups of bone broth for a filling soup. For another easy grab-the-hamburger dinner, check out these Creamy Curry Meatballs.