Mom's Macaroni And Cheese

Total Time: 30 mins Preparation Time: 20 mins Cook Time: 10 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 4
• 2 (7 1/4 ounce) boxes kraft macaroni & cheese dinner mix, not prepared
• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1 (14 1/2 ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained (i like the petit cut)
• 1 tablespoon mild chili powder (optional)
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup grated cheddar cheese, to garnish (optional)

Recipe

• 1 cook macaroni in boiling salted water until tender; drain.
• 2 mix cooked macaroni with butter, stirring well.
• 3 while macaroni is cooking, cook ground beef, garlic and onion in a large skillet until beef is browned and cooked through.
• 4 drain any accumulated fat.
• 5 add chili powder, salt, pepper, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes (with their juice), mixing well.
• 6 bring meat mixture to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until macaroni is done.
• 7 mix meat mixture with cooked buttered macaroni (do not add any additional milk as package suggests).
• 8 sprinkle contents of cheese packets into pasta and stir until blended.
• 9 serve garnished with grated cheddar, if desired.