Cheesy Hamburger Casserole

This Cheesy Hamburger Casserole combines simple flavours including a cheese sauce,

Crockpot or Slowcooker?  I can not decide which word to use in this Cheesy Hamburger Casserole recipe. Crockpot is the trade name and slow cooker is another way of saying crockpot?

Slow Cooker recipes are all the rage again. Everywhere you look there are slow cooker recipes showing up left, right and centre. Even Rachael Ray, a confessed non crockpot fan has been presenting crockpot recipes on her show the past 2 years (perhaps ratings were low?).

Cheesy Hamburger Casserole

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Course: Crockpot, dinner, Entree, lunch, Main, Slowcooker

Author: Adapted from The 150 Best Slow Cooker Recipes

Ingredients

• 1-2 tbsp oil
• 1-1.5 lb ground meat
• 1 onion diced
• 4 stalks celery thinly sliced
• 3 garlic cloves minced
• 1 tsp dry mustard
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp each salt and pepper
• 1/2-1 cup beef broth change to chicken if using ground chicken or turkey
• 1 cup tomato sauce
• 4 oz cream cheese softened cut into cubes
• 1 pkg egg noodles cooked just to al dente and buttered
• Pam

Instructions

• In a saucepan heat your oil and cook your ground meat until nicely browned. Set aside.
• In same saucepan cook your onions and celery adding another drop of oil as necessary. Cook until softened.
• Add garlic, mustard, oregano, salt, pepper and cook for about 1 minute stirring continuously.
• Then add in your beef broth and tomato sauce stirring until blended.
• Finally stir in your cream cheese and stir until melted.
• Now you are ready to assemble your meal. Spray your slow cooker with Pam. Spoon in approx. 1 cup of cooked ground meat spreading all over bottom. Add a layer of cooked noodles and then some sauce. Repeat until all ingredients used, finishing with the sauce.
• Now alternately you can pour all the meat on the bottom, spread all the noodles on top and then pour the sauce all over (covering entirely) the noodles. Both ways work.
• Turn on low. In my slowcooker this meal is done in 3-4 hours.
• Your topping (if using) goes on the last 30 minutes of cooking (or until bubbling), just to melt the cheese a little.
• During this time you can drink some wine and ask your partner to make a salad!

In August 2011 many people became aware of the Crockin Girls, (formally Crockpot Girls) a couple of Southern ladies who decided to team up, create a page on Facebook and share some of their crockpot recipes. What they didn’t plan on was getting over 1 million followers in a matter of weeks! Who knew there was such a void for crockpot recipes.

As for me – I am happy to see the explosion of slow cooker recipes since I’ve been using mine since the late 80s and love the variety of recipes to try, not to mention love having dinner ready at the end of a long day.

Here is one that 3/4 in our family enjoy. Think of this as a healthy (no additives) slow cooker hamburger helper. You can use any ground meat you want…I’ve tried both ground beef and chicken….it tastes equally delicious. If you find the dish getting a little dry (because your slow cooker gets to hot like mine) pour a little beef broth in.