{Recipe} CREAMY “Hungarian” Goulash

I know I’ve posted a “Hungarian Goulash” recipe in the recent past but this one is different.  Years and Years and Years ago in time BC (Before Children.  Well actually Before Marriage but I didn’t like the sound of those letters together) I had a boss who made this incredibly tasty and yummy hamburger hotdish thingy for lunch.  He called it “Hungarian Goulash”.  Since I always think of a tomato based sauce when I think of goulash I’ve put the word “Hungarian” in quote marks and added the word creamy.

My daddy used to make something very similar but it wasn’t creamy (or tomatoey (yes I know that is not a word.) He called his “hash”.  Neither of them however, used the crock pot.  This recipe combines the green pepper and onions  my dad added with the creaminess my boss, Rick, used  and added the convenience of the slow cooker.  I include green beans giving this dish a flavor that resembles the Minnesota favorite “Tator Tot Hotdish”.  For those of you not from the upper Midwest a hotdish might be called a covered dish or around here casserole. 

What you need:

• 2  lbs ground beef
• 1/2 medium green pepper diced
• 1 rib celery, diced
• 1 sm onion, chopped (if your family likes onion you could use a medium.  I often will use 1/4 to 1/2 of a large sweet onion such as a Walla Walla onion.
• 6-8 potatoes, cut in to large chunks
• 2 (14 oz) cans cut green beans (or 2 cups frozen)(drain the beans)
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 cans (10 3/4 oz) cream of mushroom soup

What to do:

• brown the hamburger with the green pepper, celery, and onion. Ground beef should be cooked through and onion translucent.  (OR what I actually do is brown several pounds of ground beef with celery, green pepper and onion and then portion out meal sized amounts in quart freezer bags and freeze. About two cups of this cooked meat mixture is equal to 1 pound of ground beef.  I use four cups of this “meat mix” when making this recipe)
• Combine ground beef mix with potatoes and green beans in the crock pot.
• cover with the cream of mushroom soup
• Cover and cook on low for 8-9  hours or on high 4-5 hours.

Despite the huge amount that this recipe makes (8 servings?) I have yet to have any leftovers.  I think maybe I need to serve more than just a salad as a side dish if I want to have some of this for myself for lunch the next day!

Submitting  this to the Schoolhouse Review Crew Blog Cruise Recipe Share which will be live Tuesday February 26. 

This recipe is also linked up to Try a New Recipe Tuesday!