Mom's (Make Ahead) Dried Beef Casserole ~ Only Healthier

Today I am sharing a family recipe that came from my Mom.  Only this time, I made it using homemade cream of mushroom soup.  

As you can see, my original recipe card is well used.
 
This casserole is so easy to make and the best part is that you can make it up the night before, and simply pop it into the oven the next day.  And don't forget that your dried beef, cheese, and condensed soup (and even goat's milk) can be frozen (eliminating trips to town and saving you cash).  Having chickens to lay your eggs is a bonus too.

The original recipe also calls for American cheese sliced thinly.  We now use shredded mild cheddar cheese, but you could play around and try other cheeses too.

Simply add one "can" of condensed cream of mushroom soup (for mine, I am doubling so you'll see more in the bowl), and 1 cup of milk.  Stir until it becomes creamy.  Recipe states to cream the soup alone, but when you use homemade, it's already creamy (happy note).

Add 1 cup mild cheddar cheese, 3 Tablespoons finely chopped onion, 1 cup uncooked elbow macaroni, and 1/4 pound of dried beef cut into bite size pieces.  Stir to combine.  Slice 2 hard boiled eggs and add them to the mixture.


Pour mixture into a buttered (1 1/2 qt.) casserole dish.

Cover your dish with a lid or foil, and place in the refrigerator for 4 hours or overnight.  

Bake 1 hour at 350°F.  Serves 4-6.

Doubled recipe fits in a 9 x 13 size baking dish nicely.


This recipe was a favorite of mine when I worked full time, and had to drive 3 young children to two different daycare facilities.  I'm so glad by the last two kiddos, that had decided to stay home.  I was up very early, and I had no choice to use two daycare facilities.  Back in that day, most daycare's that accepted infants did not accept older children.  Anyway, I was a very busy Mom, and had very little time to cook once I got home.  And again, on my drive home, I would have to pick up my 3 kids at two places.  Those were some very long days.

This recipe is pretty frugal too.  I can't wait to try this with our goat's milk next.  I have to say, baking it with homemade condensed soup made a huge difference in taste, and after taste - no heart burn from processed food, and no over saltiness.  

I'm now on the hunt for USA made wooden recipe boxes, to start recipe collections for my kids.  We do have a binder family recipe book we created several years ago, but I want to use boxes for the kids.  I may just have Hubby make them for me.

I am making more condensed soups today, and need to make a trip to the store.  Another snow storm is heading our way in a few days.