CREAMY TACO MAC

In an effort to not spend so much money, I'm trying (key word- trying) to not eat out as much. If you know me at all, you know I love to eat out with friends or family. You probably also know that I'm no culinary genius. Tonight I tried a new dish called Creamy Taco Mac, aka Homemade Hamburger Helper. I first saw the recipe on a blog called Delish. I thought it looked easy enough that I could try it.

Ingredients:

1.25 lbs of ground turkey- Because I'm a meatatarian, I used about 1.5 lbs of ground round

8 oz. of dry pasta- I used a full bag of elbow macaroni

14.5 oz. petite diced tomatoes

4 tbsp mild taco seasoning- I used the whole packet, because it's just easier that way

3 oz. cream cheese- I used the whole block of fat free cream cheese; really extra cheese never hurts anything

1/2 c sour cream- I used a cup of low fat sour cream

I also added a handful of cheddar cheese for some extra cheesy goodness

Directions:

Boil the noodles according to the package

Brown meat

Add taco seasoning and tomatoes and simmer for 5 minutes

Drain pasta reserving 1 cup of pasta water

Add cooked pasta, 1 cup of the pasta water, cream cheese (I cut it into pieces so it would melt easier), and sour cream

Stir until cheese is melted

Let simmer for 2-3 minutes (this is when I added the handful of cheddar cheese)

I gave it one final stir and it was ready to eat



Unfortunately, I've had some bad allergy/sinus problems the last couple of days, so I didn't have much of an appetite. But, I needed to cook the meat so I went ahead and made the whole meal. Needless to say, I have a TON of leftovers!!

The picture doesn't really do it justice; it's a lot better looking in person, I promise :).