Lena's Meat and Cheese Goulash
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Why I Love This Recipe
The Christmas Party
Ahh, Christmas! That wonderful time of year when people gather together to celebrate
the birth of Christ. Everyone does their own thing to celebrate on this fantastic occasion. Some
throw huge parties, some just gather together in their families and honor the occasion quietly.
Either way, just about everyone agrees that Christmas time is the best time of the year. But my
class in 2010, well, we celebrated in a rather different matter. We threw a wild party in which
all of us were required to bring in a food item.
“All right, everyone! Let’s eat!” our teacher, Mrs. Boucher, called over the clamor of our
uproarious class. Everyone cheered as we dug in.
Meanwhile, 1 or 2 weeks earlier, all of my class was highly excited about the Christmas
party that was coming. All’s that anyone cared about was who was bringing what. I remember
thinking of the wonderful, meaty, chewy goulash that my mother had made 4 or 5 weeks earlier
and suddenly blurting out, “I’ll bring in goulash!” My teacher, in the middle of talking over the
finer points of the plan with the rest of the class, looked up in surprise. “Joe, what’s goulash?”
she asked. The rest of the class giggled. I guessed at the time that they were laughing at me for
being so off topic, but later on I realized that they were simply amused by the ridiculousness of
the name. I guess the word goulash does sound funny, if you compare it to other words. But
back to the story at hand.
Finally, on the day of the party, I walked into my classroom to see that the only things
that were different were the arrangement of the desks and the fact that there were some extra
tables out for the food that we were to bring in. I also noticed that there was a short silver
fountain on one of the tables. I didn’t find out what that was for until after we ate our food.
Now, I was by no means the first child into the classroom. There was already a small crowd of
kids clustered around the food tables, pretending to be interested in the mysterious fountain,
but sneaking bites of food when the teacher’s back was turned. I saw that Devon Sundquist
had brought in Swedish meatballs like he said he would. Over to the right of his meatballs, I
once again surveyed the fountain with deep interest. There was no water coming out of it,
so what was it used for? I had a funny feeling that I would soon find out. Once everyone had
arrived, Mrs. Boucher called us all to attention. “Class,” she called, “I have an announcement to
make. You all saw the fountain when you arrived, right? Well, that’s not just any old fountain.
It’s a chocolate fountain!!!” The room was filled with cheering for a couple of minutes; so
loud that my teacher had trouble gaining the attention of the class. “All right, everyone! Let’s
eat!” she finally managed to yell out over the noise. Once again, we all cheered as we dug in.
Everyone agreed that the goulash was the best food there! Every time that I eat the fabulous goulash, I remember the Christas Party.
Submitted by: "Joe R."
Ingredients You'll Need
1-2lbs ground beef
1 medium sized onion chopped
1 medium to green pepper chopped
1 lb elbow pasta
2-3 Tbs of each of the following:
oregano
basil
½ - 1 tsp garlic salt (depending on taste)
salt and pepper to taste
Directions
1. Bring water to a boil in a large pot and cook pasta.
2. While preparing pasta, add 3T of olive oil into a large skillet and sauté
chopped onion and pepper until softened; add crumbled ground beef and cook
until beef is browned, stirring occasionally. Drain oil from pan.
3. Add either of the following to the skillet: a large jar of your favorite pasta
sauce; or 2-3 cups leftover spaghetti sauce; or 1 can chopped tomatoes, 1
small can of tomato paste and 3 small cans of water.*
4. Add oregano, basil and garlic salt.
5. Add drained pasta to skillet and stir all ingredients together.
6. Salt and pepper to taste.
7. Serve with grated cheese and enjoy!
*This is a great recipe for using up leftover sauce! If starting from scratch
adjust water to tomato paste so dish is not soupy.
Source: A family recipe