Hamburger Luscious

I'm not sure I'll get all my Mission 101 things done by the end of 2010, but here's another one to cross off the list - another hearty recipe from the Christian Home Cook Book. I wanted to make a casserole on Sunday that would make a good leftover on Monday, and casseroles are this book's specialty. After reading it again, I'm not sure we even have a skillet big enough to hold all these ingredients! I easily baked it for about 45 minutes at 350 in the oven.

1 lb hamburger
1 stalk chopped celery
2 cups fine dried noodles
1/8 tsp pepper
1/2 lb American cheese, sliced
1 No 2 can of tomatoes
1 small onion, diced
1 tsp salt

Now this is where the recipe shows its age. I wasn't sure what they meant by fine noodles, so I boiled some penne separately, drained it and placed it in the casserole dish. I didn't know what a number 2 can of tomatoes was either! According to the Internet, a number 2 can equals 20 ounces. I used one 14 ounce can of diced tomatoes and about half a large can of crushed tomatoes (the other half going into Wednesday's dinner) and that seemed tomatoey enough. The rest of the recipe goes:

Brown meat slightly in a skillet, season with salt, pepper and onion. Arrange the remaining ingredients in layers as listed over browned meat. Spring salt and pepper over noodles. Cover, bring to a boil on high heat; then reduce to simmer and cook for 30 minutes. Occasionally remove cover and press noodles into the liquid.

It was quite tasty; I didn't know celery could be so flavourful before. That's four recipes from the cookbook I have tried now; one more and I'll be done the goal. My full list can be seen on Livejournal.