Mom's Hamburger Pie

After I finish with this blog I will be caught up! My goal is to do a blog a day, but my first blog was Sunday evening, and that was just an introduction. I didn't want to have two posts back to back, so I waited until Monday to blog about Sunday's dinner. Then I waited until today to blog about Monday's disaster, I mean dinner. :P So now all I have to do is blog about tonight's dinner and I will be caught up! Go me!

Today was a much better day than yesterday. I woke up at 9:30 when TJ was leaving to head up to his Grandpa's to help him out. They're working on a nearby church to fix it up. Apparently today was demolition day, as he came back home covered in dust after tearing down walls.

While he was gone I had my Mary Kay consultant come over to discuss me possibly becoming one. I like the idea of being able to host parties for it to earn some money, but I just don't see that happening right now. At least now with a lot of people. Maybe some people here and there though (I hope hehe). I think I will primarily end up selling it to myself, my sister in AZ, and my brother's fiance. I did decide to become a consultant today though, so if anyone is interested at all in Mary Kay, whether you have questions or would like to purchase something, please drop me a comment somewhere on my blog! :)

Other than that I spent the day pretty lazily. I got my 3rd entry up and thawed some hamburger for dinner. One of those lazy days where I had chores but didn't get to them like I should have. But that's what tomorrow is for right?

Tonight's dinner was Hamburger Pie. It was something my older siblings grew up with, and was still around when I was growing up. Oh, I bet that sounds pretty strange huh? Usually siblings grow up together... so I guess I'll explain. My siblings and I are different. Not different as in we aren't completely related or anything like that, we're different because there is a major age difference between us. Mom was about my age now when she had my oldest sister. A few years after my sister was born, my brother came along. Then about 5 years or so later my sister in AZ came along. They all grew up, and when the sister in AZ was 15, I was born. I think my mom was 43 or 44 when she had me. So my older siblings all grew up together, and then there was me lol I liked to say I had the best of both worlds; siblings when I wanted them, but usually I was an only child XD It's kind of funny to think that my mom and oldest sister were closer in age than my oldest sister and myself. But once again, I digressed from the main point I was getting at, which was dinner!

 This is everything I used in dinner tonight; minus the milk, butter, water, and salt for the potatoes, and either instant minced onion or fresh chopped onion for the beef. All you need is 2lbs of ground beef (or as I call it, hamburger), some salt and pepper, cheese (I prefer to use American slices, but I didn't have enough in the fridge so I substituted shredded cheddar cheese), and instant mashed potatoe

Be sure you preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

EDIT: I actually just realized that when making it this time I left something out. My mom always added onion, and for some reason I completely blanked on it. So when you're browning the meat, be sure to add the onion to it, so I went back and edited the recipe and the notes I posted with the pictures.  

First you brown the hamburger in a skillet. Salt and pepper it for some flavor, add the onion, and be sure to drain it.

While that's cooking add your milk, butter, water, and salt to a small saucepan. I accidentally grabbed a large one but since I had already added my ingredients I just rolled with it. All you have to do is just follow the directions on the back of the instant mashed potato box.

After the liquids have come to a boil, add your potatoes and mix it.

Once the hamburger is done cooking, add it to your 13x9 baking dish.

When the potatoes are done, scoop them onto the hamburger. I used one of those cookie dough scoops to make the balls so I could try to put them evenly over the hamburger instead of just plopping all the potatoes into the middle. It's a trick I just learned today from my brother's fiance for lasagne, so I applied it here.

The reason you put them down like I did is so it's easier to spread them out. Of course, you can do it however you please, but after the fun I had with trying to spread the cheese mixture in my lasagna recipe on Sunday, I figured I'd give this a try!

So, I don't know if you noticed, but I can still see the hamburger. Oops! I didn't make enough potatoes because this is the first time I've done this recipe in this size of a baker. Usually I make it in my poor Deep Covered Baker but.... after last night, I sadly cannot use it :( If anyone needs a reminder, look no further:

Poor baker. It had a long and happy life though! And once I return the lid to Pampered Chef I'll be able to get a replacement. Yay for warranties hehe

So, back I went to my too large saucepan and repeated the process. By the way, I had initially made the 3-4 serving amount. However, I recommend just going with the 7-8 serving size; it will be plenty for a 13x9 baker.

If you don't do what I did (which is think you only need the 3-4 serving amount), then you will need to make these potatoes in a large saucepan.

I repeated the scoop process...

...and then spread the potatoes out. It looks much better this time!

Now cover with however much cheese you want, but be sure to not leave any gaping holes.

Bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes or until heated through, then enjoy! But be careful when taking a bite, the mashed potatoes are VERY hot!!

We enjoyed it with extra bread TJ asked for from Outback last night :P It was yum yum good!

<3 Kate

Hamburger Pie                                   [click to print]

Serves 4-5

Ingredients

1.5-2lbs ground beef
salt and pepper for seasoning beef
2 tbsp instant minced onion or 1/2 cup fresh chopped onion

7-8 servings of box instant mashed potatoes, follow directions on box
milk, butter, water, salt for instant mashed potatoes

American cheese slices, but shredded Cheddar cheese can be substituted

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Brown the hamburger in a large skillet, season with salt and pepper and add onion. While hamburger is cooking, Add your milk, butter, water, and salt for the potatoes to a large saucepan. Bring to a boil. Once boiling turn off heat and add in your potatoes. Be sure to combine well. Drain hamburger and add to 13x9 baking dish. Top with mashed potatoes. Then top with American cheese slices or shredded Cheddar cheese until mashed potatoes are completely covered.

Bake in oven for 30-35 minutes or until heated through. Enjoy!