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Tac-aroni

October 22, 2009 by Erin, The $5 Dinner Mom 15 Comments

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tac-aroni

I doubled this meal and then froze it in 2 parts: Few dinner portions without cheese. Another few portions with cheese.

After seeing the pasta box on the counter, my oldest asked, “Are we having macaroni for dinner?”

I replied, “Yeah, but this is Taco Macaroni.”

To which he responded, “Yum. Tac-aroni!”

Clever, huh?

Not sure how to pronounce this…Listen below.

Little stinker…trying to tell you we were having spinach!

*Note: Recipe below is for a single meal.  I doubled the below recipe to have enough to freeze.

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Tac-aroni

All the great flavors of tacos, in pasta form!
Prep Time10 minutes minutes
Cook Time45 minutes minutes
Servings - 4 servings

Ingredients 

  • 1 lb. ground beef
  • 1/2 onion, diced
  • 1 Tbsp chili powder
  • 1 Tbsp cumin
  • 2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 lb. elbow macaroni Use rice pasta for a gluten-free meal!
  • 1 1/2 cups beef stock or broth
  • 8 oz tomato sauce
  • 14.5 oz can crushed tomatoes
  • 2 cups frozen corn
  • 1 cup shredded cheese
  • 2 cups frozen greens beans

Instructions

  • Brown ground beef and onion. Drain. Stir in seasonings.
  • Add noodles, stock, tomato sauce and crushed tomatoes to the skillet. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low. Cover skillet and simmer, stirring occasionally, until noodles are tender, about 15 20 minutes.
  • Stir in corn until heated through. Top with cheese and serve.
  • Cook green beans as indicated by package instructions.
  • Serve Tac-aroni with Green Beans.

tac-aroni

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Filed Under: Beef Recipes, Budget Friendly Recipes, Dairy Free Meal Ideas, Gluten Free Recipes, Pasta Recipes Tagged With: corn, green beans, ground beef

Comments

  1. Kate @ Stolen Moments says

    October 22, 2009 at 10:24 pm

    Hey Erin, thanks so much! I’m glad you guys liked it.

    That video is precious. I think I’m going to start calling it Tac-aroni from now on. It’s perfect. And what a little cutie. 🙂

    Reply
    • Erin, The $5 Dinner Mom says

      October 22, 2009 at 10:28 pm

      @Kate @ Stolen Moments,

      I was quite impressed with his creativity on that one! And we’ll be calling it that now for sure!

      Reply
  2. Christine says

    October 23, 2009 at 5:40 am

    This looks awesome!

    Reply
  3. Carrie says

    October 23, 2009 at 8:52 am

    Will try this weekend! Sounds wonderful! We like quinoa elbows over rice pasta elbows for these kinds of dishes . . . it’s closer in consistency to wheat pasta, and it’s flavor is mild enough not to compete with whatever you add to it.

    Reply
  4. Susan says

    October 23, 2009 at 10:53 am

    I have a similar recipe that I have been preparing for years.
    Chili Noodle
    For every 2 cups of dry noodles ( I use elbow) you use:
    1 15 oz. can of diced tomatoes (plain or flavored)
    1 15 oz. can of chili (vegetarian, turkey or whatever you have on hand)
    Boil the noodles- drain. Place in skillet with the tomatoes and chili. Stir. Simmer 10 – 15 minutes. That’s it!
    You can add cheese on top the last few minutes of cooking. I serve with sour cream and corn chips.

    Reply
  5. Shelly says

    October 23, 2009 at 11:44 am

    I’m sad you don’t have a cost breakdown on this one. I’m trying really hard to wean my family from Hamburger Helper because I just hate feeding my family it. But it’s so convenient and inexpensive, which is hard to beat right now. I love trying homemade versions like this, and will be adding this one to my list to try.

    Reply
    • Erin, The $5 Dinner Mom says

      October 23, 2009 at 12:53 pm

      @Shelly,

      After doubling the recipe, it probably made 4 times what a HH would make. Everything was on sale…my best guess would be it was $6 for the doubled version, with the meat on sale, using coupons for the tomato sauce/diced tomatoes and getting frozen corn on sale as well!

      Reply
  6. Melanie @ Mel, A Dramatic Mommy says

    October 23, 2009 at 7:17 pm

    I have this on the stove right now! I’ll be darned if I didn’t forget to pick up a bag of fire roasted corn when I was at Trader Joe’s. I thought that might give it another little kick. Next time!

    Reply
    • Erin, The $5 Dinner Mom says

      October 23, 2009 at 7:24 pm

      @Melanie @ Mel, A Dramatic Mommy,

      That would be a great addition Mel!

      Reply
  7. Tatiana says

    November 21, 2009 at 7:48 pm

    Just made this recipe tonight, it was outstanding! I made it earlier in the day because I was going to be out for most of the afternoon. I put the dinner in a casserole dish and when we were ready to eat, put the cheese on top and baked for 30 minutes….it came out as a casserole! We were very pleased….thank you!

    Reply
  8. Jenn says

    May 26, 2010 at 8:50 pm

    Made this tonight with ground turkey (also threw in some frozen chopped spinach) and it’s a hit! It even made enough to freeze half. You are SAVING MY LIFE with dinner recipes this week!

    Reply
  9. Andrea says

    June 17, 2010 at 6:02 pm

    I used leftover taco meat and black beans to make it! Yum-o!

    Reply
  10. Erica says

    July 10, 2010 at 8:51 am

    Made this last night for dinner! Substituted egg noodles due to the fact that that was what I had on hand..also added some black beans. It was wonderful! Single recipe was enough for us to eat and freeze for later!

    Reply
  11. ashley l says

    July 12, 2010 at 6:27 pm

    I made this tonight, used homemade taco seasoning. I served it w/cheesy cornbread. It was delish!! Thank you!

    Reply
  12. ashley l says

    July 12, 2010 at 6:28 pm

    We had enough to freeze too (two big gallon ziplock bags)

    Reply

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