Greatest Hits – No Peek Casserole

We seem to be accidentally starting a theme of Greatest Hits recipes this week … tonight with The Husband working late, Nicholas and I were left to our own devices. Usually that means I reach for tortellini, but I decided to go a different route today.

Even though it snowed yesterday, today the temps settled around the mid-40s, which would have been fine if not for the blustery, whipping wind that made it feel much, much colder. Perfect weather for comfort food, if you ask me.

I bought one of those big packages of ground beef at Costco over the weekend and still had about 2/3 of the package to go. I used some of it last night for the Manly Manny’s Chili, so tonight I pulled another recipe from my tried-and-true file and went with No Peek Casserole.

I first found this recipe a few years ago on a coupon message board, of all places, posted by a caterer. Normally I tend to shy away from recipes that are a can of this and a package of that, but this is one of those exceptions. If you can spend ten minutes browning the ground beef, and wait patiently while the oven does its thing for a little over two hours, you will be justly rewarded. The end result? Deliciously smooth and creamy meat to pour over big, fat egg noodles. Something about those ingredients blending happily in the oven makes this meat sauce concoction that is swoon-worthy. So, so good. You may be tempted to cut down on the time in the oven, but I wouldn’t. Although it’s just fine after the one-hour mark, it’s oh so much better after the full amount of time. Nicholas and I killed the time by decorating the Christmas tree for his bedroom, perfect.

Nicholas tends to be a little picky about meat … some days he can outeat me when The Husband makes steak. Other days, it’s met with a very swift “yuck.” When he saw dinner tonight, he said “eww,” but knew the rules and tried it. A few minutes later, he came up for air after polishing off nearly his entire plate. He didn’t ask what it was, and I didn’t offer, allowing him to be more caught up in the pasta portion of the dish to notice the “brown stuff.” And neither him nor The Husband say boo about the mushrooms in the dish, so bonus points for that.

No Peek Casserole

1-1/2 lbs ground beef, cut into bite size pieces
1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 package dry onion soup mix
1 can mushrooms
2/3 cup milk

Preheat oven to 300F. Brown meat over high heat. Lower heat and add the rest of the ingredients. Mix well. Pour into lightly greased covered casserole dish and bake for 2-1/2 hours. No peeking! Remove from oven and serve over hot noodles or buttered rice.

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