Saturday Noodle Bake

Name: Saturday Noodle Bake
Prep time: 10 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 6
Ingredients: 3 cups dry 3-minute, quick-cooking elbow noodles; 1 lb ground beef (or ground turkey); 1/3 cup chopped onion; 4 oz cream cheese or reduced-fat cream cheese; 1/2 teaspoon salt; 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper; 1 tablespoon brown sugar; 1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce; 1 can (19 oz.) Progresso™ Soup Tomato Basil; 2 tablespoon butter, melted; 1 cup Wheaties™ cereal, slightly crushed; Grated cheese (for garnish), if desired

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Prep 10 min
Total 30 min
Servings 6

An old family favorite with a new twist of ease, this recipe feeds a bunch with hearty ground beef, noodles and a delish tomato-soup base. MORE+ LESS-

By TBSP Susan

Updated May 23, 2017

Ingredients

cups dry 3-minute, quick-cooking elbow noodles

lb ground beef (or ground turkey)

1/3

cup chopped onion

oz cream cheese or reduced-fat cream cheese

1/2

teaspoon salt

1/4

teaspoon freshly ground pepper

tablespoon brown sugar

tablespoon worcestershire sauce

can (19 oz.) Progresso™ Soup Tomato Basil

tablespoon butter, melted

cup Wheaties™ cereal, slightly crushed

Grated cheese (for garnish), if desired

Steps

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1

Cook noodles as directed on package. Set aside.
2

Brown ground meat with onions. Drain. Add cream cheese, salt, pepper, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, and soup. Stir to combine well. Simmer 5 minutes.
3

In a greased glass baking dish, add half of the noodles, then half of the meat mixture. Repeat layers.
4

In a small bowl, combine the slightly crushed Wheaties™ cereal and melted butter. Sprinkle mixture on top of casserole.
5

Bake for 20 minutes in preheated 350°F oven until heated through.
6

Sprinkle with grated cheese if desired before serving.

Nutrition Information

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size: 1 Serving

Calories: 600
Calories from Fat: 190

% Daily Value

Total Fat: 22g; 33%
Saturated Fat 10g 49% Trans Fat 1g
Cholesterol: 75mg; 26%
Sodium: 910mg; 38%
Potassium: 310mg; 9%
Total Carbohydrate: 75g; 25%
Dietary Fiber 5g 19% Sugars 11g
Protein: 26g

% Daily Value*:

Vitamin A: 15%; 15%
Vitamin C: 4%; 4%
Calcium: 6%; 6%
Iron: 35%; 35%

Exchanges:

4 Starch; 0 Fruit; 1 Other Carbohydrate; 0 Skim Milk; 0 Low-Fat Milk; 0 Milk; 0 Vegetable; 0 Very Lean Meat; 0 Lean Meat; 0 High-Fat Meat; 2 Fat;

Carbohydrate Choice

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

More About This Recipe

My mom was so not a gourmet cook. She was more a practical cook, making dishes that were easy, quick and family-filling. Maybe most important, the recipe ingredients had to be "ordinary" -- you know -- stuff that was in the cupboard and fridge. Nothing fancy, expensive or hard to find. Nothing she couldn't pronounce. My mom called this dish Saturday Noodle Bake at our house. Pretty self explanatory. And, yes, we often had it on Saturdays after a day full of, well, Saturday stuff. I recently re-discovered this recipe and thought I'd take 'er out for a test drive at my house. After kicking the tires, I found a few shortcuts to make it even more perfect for today's busier cooks. My biggest shortcut secret on this recipe is to use 3-minute quick-cooking elbow noodles. You can use whatever pasta you'd like, but these new quick-cooking noods make life so sweet. Cook up 3 cups of dry pasta and set that aside. Then for the remaining stuff, Progresso soup heads an all-star cast of perfectly ordinary ingredients. My mom used to use plain ol' condensed tomato soup, but this ready-to-eat Progresso Tomato Basil has awesome flavor that's subtly upscale. It worked super great in this recipe and -- ok, this is a little thing but I sure noticed it -- the pop-top lid makes using an annoying can opener for your soup a thing of the past. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 20 minutes -- just enough time to set the table and pour the milk. Add salad and bread, and you've got a super filling family meal in minutes! Oh, and about the name. I served it on a Friday and I'm still here to tell about it. Go ahead -- live on the edge.