Adaptation

We didn't grocery shop last weekend. I was determined to make what we had bought the weekend before last us another week. (I love ground beef big buys!) I had bought five cans of tuna because they were on sale, so we had an interesting tuna and rice dish Sunday night and then tuna sandwiches Wednesday. We used up the last chicken breast from the freezer for chicken alfredo (we had to buy more alfredo sauce). And then we had one bag of frozen ground beef left. What to do with it? Spaghetti and meatballs? No rice pasta and not enough pasta sauce. Meatloaf? Takes too long to make on a weeknight. 

I turned to CDKitchen.com for some help. There I found a recipe for Cherokee Casserole. Not only was it a fairly quick recipe to make but it used ingredients that we already had in our pantry... with a few adaptations. You can follow the link above to see the original recipe. Below is my adapted recipe for Cherokee Casserole, which turned out pretty good in light of my substitutions and omissions. If you're looking for a quick and easy recipe that will help clear out your cabinets and not your wallet, then this is it!

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
1 tablespoon oil
1 teaspoon salt
Pepper to taste
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon oregano
1/8 teaspoon ground thyme
1 can gluten-free cream of chicken soup (the original recipe calls for cream of mushroom, which I think I would try next time to see how the flavor changes)
2 cups cooked rice
American cheese, cut in 1/2 inch strips

Directions:

Brown beef in oil. Drain. Stir in seasonings, soup and rice. (I only stirred in the seasonings and soup. There was too much rice to fit in the skillet, unless you brown the beef in a pot.) Simmer 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Spoon into baking dish, top with cheese strips. Broil until cheese melts.