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YourhandMyAss -> RE: How do I mimic boxed hamburger helper, from scratch? (1/28/2009 3:35:01 PM)
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We mostly like the cheesy creamy flavors, I do like the gravey'ish type like stroginoff too. creamy and meaty, are our two favorite kinds.
And I wouldn't have a problem with cooking the pasta seperatly, it'd be fun, Daddy has some jumbo shells for stuffed shells work gave everyone to take home, since they had a surplus of the things, it may be fun to put some of the hamburger and stuff into the shells.
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ORIGINAL: Termyn8or
You DON'T want garlic ? I'd reconsider, but onto the topic.
No matter how many varieties of HH they have they are all based on one of three things. First of all they all have the meat and noodles (or potatoes). Their noodles are actually fast cooking and that is the reason for the extra water.If you like pasta al dente add less water. The whole thing comes out thicker as well. If you'd like it creamier or more opaque looking, milk works well for that.
One type of HH is basically what millions of people make without the mix every day. My clan calls it slammers. It consists of the ground beef, some onions and spices etc., and of course the pasta but in this case the pasta is cooked seperately. If you were to take a pound of macaroni, about a pound and a half of meat and an onion, you would get pretty close right there. You will have to spice to taste however. They use spices that I would not, but that is an individual choice.
Another type of HH is the mac-n-cheese type, and some of that does have some tomato sauce in it. If you mix it when you start trying to wing it, that is up to you. Many people like chopped tomatoes in their mac-n-cheese.
The other major type of HH is the gravy type, more like a stroganoff type of thing, but with ground meat and no sour cream. Some serve like Swedish meatballs or something like that with a gravy over noodles.
Now in the three types of HH realize this, when I speak of cheese or tomato sauce, they use dried. There is nothing wrong with that as long as the additives don't get out of hand. However these items are hard to get sometimes, even in "the big city". If you go down to the grocery and ask for powdered, dry tomato sauce they are not likely to have it, nor are they likely to have packets of the powdered cheese used in the cheapo mac-n-cheese mixes, which is the same stuff as what is in the cheese type HH.
The gravy based HH is not so hard, they do sell gravy mixes all over the place. Although I don't use them you might find it hard to duplicate, in fact that is true of any of the HH varieties, but there is one nice thing about giving it a whirl. On top of the fact that you can make it healthier, you might come up with something that actually tastes better.
Note that you are unlikely to reproduce HH exactly, but then while it is good, there is better. I think I have about 60 different spices now and still can't duplicate some things. I don't try anymore. I don't try to beat the Colonel at his chicken game, I just made mine better, at least IMO.
Oh, there's also the chili mac HH, for that just do what you're gonna do to make the basic mac and meat w/tomato sauce, but add chili pepper and possibly extra cumin (there is cumin in most chili seasonings but you might want more "definition" or something like that.
All enhancements are at least on the table. Like brocolli, green peppers ? throw some in the cheese/meat stuff. Mushrooms if you care.
Main thing to remember, you are dealing with pasta, HH uses fast cooking pasta which you might not want. The regualar stuff has more body to it but it requires seperate cooking. If you were to cook it in the meat sauce everything else would be disintegrated by the time it was done. cooking it seperately also gives you the option of spooning the sauce onto the plates on top of the pasta, gives the meal a different feel.
The world is your oyster, on top of all the options this presents to you, any of these varieties of HH type stuff can be used with other things. If you like rice for example, give it a try. Any of them over dumplings as well. Also, there are alot of different types of pasta and I know people who swear that just by using a different variety of pasta the dish tastes different.
On a side note, I try to keep the carbs down in my diet, but I am STILL gaining fucking weight !. I limit myself to max two pasta and two potato dishes per month, and I might have to take it lower.
Speaking of which, potatoes are another thing you can use in place of pasta. In fact a buddy o mine makes a potato, cheese and ground meat dish, bakes it in the oven, and it is pretty damgood. In the basic sense, it is also like an HH. Of course HH has such dishes, but I am not that fond of the dried potatoes. Another buddy makes a kickass tuna casserole, out of scratch except for this and that, like the canned soup he uses in it. You say you might not want that, well then you have to make your own. But that's cooking.
As another said, also look at the ingredients. If you like the flavor, that is a good starting point. Pay attention to the order in which they are listed. There should be a seperate list for the seasoning package in mixed meals, at least in the US. They don't tell you exactly how much of each but they do tell you what is most predominant, it will be higher on the list. Don't be surprised to find garlic powder, MSG, sugar, salt or even monoglucimidequatromethanehydroxylsulfate, whateve that would be. Simple rule of thumb there, if you can't pronounce it you don't want it.
And then they get down to the bottom where it just says "spices". Fret not, for one there is very little of them in there, and they will be found. I have found a few.
By all means, have fun with it. Like when I make killer chicken breast, there are about five different spice combinations I might put on it. Depends on my mood.
One warning though, I had to BUILD a spice rack because nobody made one big enough.
Anyway, I could get more specific if you get more specific, that is, which varieties of HH do you especially like ? If you like the gravy type HH, go sage and thyme. But don't put it in the cheesey mac. I wouldn't put thyme in the chili mac, but the sage might be to your liking. I think the "official" version has it.
The options are near endless.
T
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